Record Heat Wave Threatening Much of US
March 25, 2026
After setting records across the Southwest, a “gigantic heat dome,” likely fueled by climate change, is heading east “and may end up being one of the most expansive heat waves in American history,” the AP reports. Extreme heat can be hard on everyone, but as Danae Hernandez-Cortes notes on an Issues podcast, environmental stresses often hit people in disadvantaged communities the hardest. She recounts how, as an economist, she is working to understand the consequences of different environmental policies, how policy trade-offs affect different groups, and how we can create policies to protect communities most at risk from climate change.