Rapid Anthropology Consulting

This week I gave a talk on?Heat + Health + Human Rights?to first-year medical students - a presentation I’ve given many times. But this time was different. I wrestled with whether to address the relentless, real-time assaults on the healthcare system, the medical community, science, and research. And if I did, how? The story is already grim. Even before the Executive?Dis-Orders?began dismantling the healthcare system, heat and human rights were rarely prioritized by climate scientists, environmental writers, healthcare providers or policymakers - And now? It’s anyone’s guess what will be deprioritized next. For too long, extreme heat has been framed as an infrastructure and energy issue, sidelining public health. This narrow focus has left countless communities without the essential resources, tools, and knowledge needed to navigate an increasingly hot planet. As a medical anthropologist, I understand the power of the narrative, the necessity of a holistic framework, and the urgency of injecting empathy into the discourse on heat. So I chose to anchor my talk in the crisis at hand, fully aware that doing so would make an already bleak story even bleaker. I also knew this was unconventional. Climate scientists have long insisted that messaging must remain hopeful—even when hope feels out of reach. I had seen this insistence on hope before. Years ago, while teaching at a medical school, I watched attendings train residents and interns on how to deliver bad news: keep the information minimal, the tone reassuring, the message hopeful—even when survival was unlikely. I was always skeptical of this Panglossian approach to patient care. In the end, I found hope in the unhopefulness of my talk. The students’ responses were measured, pensive, and sober. But the discussion didn’t end in despair - it pivoted toward action. Together we explored what it would take to make extreme heat a real public health and medical priority. What new visions, curricula, collaborations, and frameworks would be necessary to drive impactful change? This time was different. Rose Jones, PhD

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Check out the new blog for Rapid Anthropology Consulting. It's an Extreme Heat Rant ... enough with the physics, meteorology, and quantification of extreme heat. #NotGoodEnough

As summer gets underway and cities are tasked with developing heat mitigation and adaptation plans, I have been thinking about what this looks like for Dallas and other urban heat island cities. Check out my latest blog.