對于不斷升溫美國城市，窮人往往感覺最深

對于不斷升溫美國城市，窮人往往感覺最深

When Shakira Franklin drives from West Baltimore to her job near the city's Inner Harbor, she can feel the summer heat ease up like a fist loosening its grip.

當(dāng)夏奇拉·富蘭克林從西巴爾的摩開車到她在城市內(nèi)港附近的工作地時(shí)，她能感覺到夏天的熱度像一個(gè)攥緊的拳頭放松一樣減輕了。

"I can actually feel me riding out of the heat. When I get to a certain place when I'm on my way, I'll turn off my air and I'll roll my windows down," says Franklin. 

“我真的能感覺到我正在遠(yuǎn)離炎熱。當(dāng)我在路上到達(dá)某個(gè)地方時(shí)，我會(huì)關(guān)掉空調(diào)，把窗戶搖下來，”富蘭克林說。

Franklin isn't imagining that. Her neighborhood, Franklin Square, is hotter than about two-thirds of the other neighborhoods in Baltimore. It's also in one of the city's poorest communities, with more than one-third of residents living in poverty.

富蘭克林并沒有這么想。她所在的富蘭克林廣場比巴爾的摩其他三分之二的街區(qū)都要熱。這里也是該市最貧窮的社區(qū)之一，超過三分之一的居民生活貧困。

Across Baltimore, the hottest areas tend to be the poorest and that pattern is not unusual. In dozens of major U.S. cities, low-income neighborhoods are more likely to be hotter than their wealthier counterparts, according to a joint investigation by NPR and the University of Maryland's Howard Center for Investigative Journalism.

縱觀巴爾的摩，最熱的地區(qū)往往是最貧窮的地區(qū)，這種模式并不罕見。美國國家公共廣播電臺(tái)和馬里蘭大學(xué)霍華德新聞?wù){(diào)查中心聯(lián)合開展的一項(xiàng)調(diào)查顯示，在美國幾十個(gè)主要城市，低收入社區(qū)比富裕社區(qū)更有可能變得更熱。

Those exposed to that heat are often a city's most vulnerable: the poorest and, our data show, disproportionately people of color. And living day after day in an environment that's literally hotter isn't just uncomfortable, it can have dire and sometimes deadly health consequences — a fact we found reflected in Baltimore's soaring rates of emergency calls when the heat index spiked to dangerous levels.

那些暴露在高溫下的人往往是城市中最脆弱的群體:我們的數(shù)據(jù)顯示，他們是最貧窮的人群，而且是不成比例的有色人種。日復(fù)一日地生活在一個(gè)更熱的環(huán)境中不僅僅是不舒服，還會(huì)帶來可怕的、有時(shí)甚至是致命的健康后果——我們發(fā)現(xiàn)，當(dāng)高溫指數(shù)升至危險(xiǎn)水平時(shí)，巴爾的摩的緊急呼救率不斷飆升，。

According to a Howard Center analysis of U.S. census data and air temperature data obtained from Portland State University and the Science Museum of Virginia, the hottest neighborhoods in Baltimore can differ by as much as 10 degrees from the coolest.

根據(jù)霍華德中心對美國人口普查數(shù)據(jù)和波特蘭州立大學(xué)和弗吉尼亞科學(xué)博物館獲得的氣溫?cái)?shù)據(jù)的分析，巴爾的摩最熱的社區(qū)與最冷的社區(qū)之間的溫差可能高達(dá)10度。

And Baltimore is not an extreme case. NPR analyzed 97 of the most populous U.S. cities using the median household income from U.S. Census Bureau data and NASA's thermal satellite images. In more than three-quarters of those cities, we found that where it's hotter, it also tends to be poorer. And at least 69 had an even stronger relationship than Baltimore, the first city we mapped.

巴爾的摩并不是一個(gè)極端的例子。美國國家公共電臺(tái)利用美國人口普查局的數(shù)據(jù)和美國國家航空航天局的熱衛(wèi)星圖像得出的家庭收入中值，分析了美國人口最多的97個(gè)城市。我們發(fā)現(xiàn)，在這些城市中，超過四分之三的城市，越是炎熱的地方，往往越是貧窮。至少69個(gè)城市的（溫度和貧富的）關(guān)系甚至比我們繪制的第一個(gè)城市巴爾的摩還要緊密。

This means that as the planet warms, the urban poor in dozens of large U.S. cities will actually experience more heat than the wealthy, simply by virtue of where they live. And not only will more people get sick from rising temperatures in the future, we found they likely already are.

這意味著，隨著地球變暖，美國幾十個(gè)大城市的城市貧民實(shí)際上會(huì)比富人經(jīng)歷更高的溫度，這僅僅是因?yàn)樗麄兯幼〉牡胤?。我們發(fā)現(xiàn)，未來不僅會(huì)有更多的人因?yàn)闅鉁厣叨?，而且很可能已?jīng)生病了。

"Before I knew it, I was gasping for air"

“在我意識(shí)到之前，我已經(jīng)喘不過氣來了。”

In the summer of 2018 in Baltimore, when the heat index reached 103 degrees — the threshold deemed dangerous by the National Weather Service — EMS calls increased dramatically citywide for potentially fatal heat stroke. But calls increased for chronic conditions too: EMS calls for chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD) increased by nearly 70%. Calls for respiratory distress increased by 20%. Calls for cardiac arrest rose by 80%. And those for high blood pressure more than doubled. Other conditions also spiked: psychiatric disorders, substance abuse, and dehydration, among others.

2018年夏天，巴爾的摩的高溫指數(shù)達(dá)到103華氏度(美國國家氣象局認(rèn)為很危險(xiǎn)的臨界值)，全市緊急醫(yī)療服務(wù)中心(EMS)接到的潛在致命性的中暑電話大幅增加。但是接到慢性疾病的電話也增加了:EMS接到慢性阻塞性肺疾病(COPD)的電話增加了近70%。接到呼吸窘迫的電話增加了20%。接到心臟驟停的電話上升了80%。而高血壓患者的人數(shù)則增加了一倍多。其他癥狀也急劇增加:精神疾病、濫用藥物、脫水等。

The heat affected residents citywide. From 2013 to 2018, Medicaid patients in Baltimore's hottest areas visited the hospital at higher rates than Medicaid patients in the city's coolest areas. The low-income patients in the city's hot spots visited more often with several conditions, including asthma, COPD and heart disease, according to hospital inpatient and emergency room admissions data from Maryland's Health Services Cost Review Commission.

高溫影響了整個(gè)城市的居民。從2013年到2018年，巴爾的摩最熱地區(qū)的醫(yī)療補(bǔ)助患者就醫(yī)率高于該市最冷地區(qū)的醫(yī)療補(bǔ)助患者。馬里蘭州衛(wèi)生服務(wù)成本評估委員會(huì)的住院病人和急診室入院數(shù)據(jù)顯示，生活在城市炎熱地區(qū)的低收入患者因多種疾病就診的頻率更高，包括哮喘、慢性阻塞性肺病和心臟病。

In the Franklin Square neighborhood of West Baltimore, Shakira Franklin knows the link between heat and health all too well. She says her asthma is triggered by heat.

在巴爾的摩西部的富蘭克林廣場附近，夏奇拉·富蘭克林非常清楚炎熱與健康之間的關(guān)系。她說她的哮喘是由熱引起的。

Pavement — particularly if it's black — absorbs heat and holds it in. At night, a city of more than 1 million people can be as much as 22 degrees warmerthan its surroundings. Even the buildings themselves, Stone says, can create a sort of canyon that traps heat.

人行道——尤其是黑色的路面——吸收熱量并將其固定住。晚上，一個(gè)擁有100多萬人口的城市可能會(huì)比周圍溫度高22度。甚至建筑本身,可以吸收熱量。

Given these elements, it makes sense that many low-income areas are hotter than richer areas.

考慮到這些因素，許多低收入地區(qū)比富裕地區(qū)更熱是有道理的。

Lower-income parts of the city tend to have less green cover. That's something that we see across a lot of cities.

城市中低收入地區(qū)的綠化覆蓋率往往較低。這是我們在很多城市都能看到的。