This is a new one!
Argue all you want about the cause of climate change. The 911 calls still come.
No one dials 911 to report climate change. They call because the water is over the doorsill. They call because a neighbor on the third floor, in an apartment with no air conditioning, stopped answering the door. They call because the road they were told to evacuate on is already under two feet of water.
In my 20 years wearing a badge in East Providence, I learned that the public rarely argues with a police officer about causation. They want the problem handled now. That instinct is worth borrowing for a debate that has been stuck for a generation.
So set aside whatever you believe about carbon, computer models, and international accords. Look at it the way an investigator looks at a case. What does the evidence on the ground actually show, and what does it oblige us to do about it?
What it shows, first, is a workload changing under our feet. Ambulance dispatches nationally rise somewhere between 6% and 18% during heat waves. Boston EMS has measured call volume climbing roughly 14% once the temperature clears 90 degrees. A research letter published this year in the Journal of the American Medical Association found heat-related EMS activations rose 65% nationwide between 2019 and 2024, with the sharpest acceleration in lower-income ZIP codes, which is to say the same neighborhoods that already generate the heaviest call volume for everything else.
You know what happens when it gets cold? Ambulance dispatches rise, as do 911 calls. Meh, probably also your fault for driving a fossil fueled vehicle.
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