Rising temperatures in Durham leaving many behind
Patricia Murray sat in her home office toward the end of a weeklong heat wave, the third for the year with temperatures exceeding 90 degrees, describing how she keeps cool without air conditioning even as Durham’s summers get progressively hotter.
“When I know I’m going out in the afternoon, I’ll wring out [a towel] and put it around my neck,” said the spry 68-year-old, who also uses box fans and ceiling fans to push cooling breezes through her home. “I suggest if you don’t have air conditioning, that’s a lifesaver — got to have a ceiling fan.”
As heat-trapping pollution increases temperatures globally, and concrete and hardtop landscapes intensify heat in Durham and other cities, Murray’s strategies provide a snapshot of what it might take to survive for people who live on fixed incomes and can’t afford cooling.