A massive heat dome has settled over the Central and Eastern United States this week, subjecting nearly 160 million people to dangerous temperatures exceeding 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.7 degrees Celsius) and exposing one of the many deadly consequences of the profit motive of production. Tuesday marked the peak of the heat wave, with cities from Boston to Philadelphia experiencing their hottest temperatures in over a decade.

The human toll of the heat dome is mounting rapidly. In St. Louis, a 55-year-old woman died after going without water or air conditioning for at least three days, according to police. In Dallas, postal worker Jacob Taylor, 51, died Saturday while working in the medical district as temperatures reached the mid-90s, the second such death of a postal worker in two years following Eugene Gates Jr.’s heat-related death in June 2023.

Boston reached 102 degrees Fahrenheit (38.8 degrees Celsius) Tuesday, setting a new June temperature record, while Philadelphia hit 101 degrees Fahrenheit (38.3 degrees Celsius) for the first time since 2012. Providence, Rhode Island, recorded 100 degrees Fahrenheit, also a June record; and Newark, New Jersey, tied its June record of 103 degrees Fahrenheit (39.4 degrees Celsius). New York City nearly reached 100 degrees Fahrenheit for the first time in over a decade.

The heat wave has caused widespread medical emergencies. In Paterson, New Jersey, 16 people were hospitalized and over 150 evaluated for heat-related illnesses during high school graduations Monday. In Washington D.C., six people required hospitalization for heat-related conditions at a baseball game, while the Washington Monument was forced to close due to extreme temperatures.

The heat dome has also exposed the deteriorating state of critical infrastructure across the country. At Weiss Memorial Hospital in Chicago, the complete failure of an aging air conditioning system forced the evacuation of 45 patients as interior temperatures reached 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32.2 degrees Celsius). Patients were transferred to West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park, only to face similarly dangerous conditions with temperatures rising to 88 degrees Fahrenheit (31.1 degrees Celsius).

Harold O’Connell, 83, was among those transferred. His daughter Diane, an attorney, described the experience as “a nightmare,” stating that “they had some very vulnerable people and took them out of a bad situation and put them into an even worse situation on purpose.” O’Connell went 30 hours without seeing a doctor and without proper medication during the transfer.

In addition, transportation systems have buckled under the extreme heat. A CNN report noted that an Amtrak train stalled in a tunnel in Baltimore, trapping passengers in sweltering conditions for over an hour. In Washington D.C., rail speeds had to be reduced as track temperatures reached 135 degrees Fahrenheit (57.2 degrees Celsius). And in Wisconsin, more than 50 road sections buckled under the heat, with similar failures reported in Missouri.

The crisis has far-reaching consequences. Construction workers, landscapers, warehouse employees and factory workers across the affected region are being forced to labor in dangerous conditions with inadequate cooling systems. Most manufacturing facilities lack climate control equipment, with air conditioning installed only when heat affects production processes or materials, not worker safety.

Moreover, the federal government has never established any workplace heat protection standards. The Biden administration slow-walked a proposal for federal heat safety rules and never finalized it, leaving workers without protections as the climate crisis intensifies. Only five states have implemented their own heat protection regulations, leaving millions of workers to the mercy of profit-driven employers, who routinely ignore worker safety when it conflicts with production demands.

The heat wave starkly illustrates the class divisions within American society. While wealthy areas maintain reliable air conditioning and cooling systems, as well as more stable power distribution, working class communities face disproportionate risks. An estimated 12 percent of US households—approximately 39 million people—lack air conditioning entirely. Even those with cooling systems face a cruel choice between financial hardship and heat-related illness, as many cannot afford the electricity bills required to run air conditioning.

This crisis has been deliberately exacerbated by the Trump administration’s assault on programs that help low-income families afford utilities. Trump’s budget proposal for fiscal year 2026 completely eliminates funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which subsidizes utility bills for millions of working class households. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has already attempted to lay off all LIHEAP staff, signaling the administration’s intention to abandon families to choose between cooling their homes and basic necessities like food and rent.

In states like Vermont and New Hampshire, where extreme heat is less common, 67 percent and 77 percent of residences respectively lack air conditioning. These communities, unaccustomed to such temperatures, are particularly vulnerable as the climate crisis makes extreme heat events more frequent in traditionally cooler regions.

Urban areas face additional challenges from the “heat island effect,” where concrete and asphalt absorb more heat than vegetated areas, creating higher temperatures in densely populated working class neighborhoods that often lack adequate green space and cooling infrastructure.

The current heat dome represents part of a broader pattern of increasingly severe weather events driven by capitalist-induced climate change. The high-pressure system creating the heat dome is “near historic” in strength, with meteorologists noting that such events are becoming more frequent, intense and longer-lasting as global temperatures rise. Even the phrase “near-historic” has lost a certain amount of gravitas as extreme weather events characterized as “once per decade” or “once per century” occur with increasing regularity.

Climate scientists have directly linked the increased likelihood and severity of heat waves to human-caused greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel burning, including reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) specifically noting the connection between heat waves and global warming. Now, workers are living the reality of scientists’ warnings, with June 2025 already witnessing record-breaking temperatures across the country and a heat wave starting unusually early in the year.

The National Weather Service warns that oppressive conditions will continue throughout the week, with dangerous overnight temperatures remaining above 80 degrees Fahrenheit (26.6 degrees Celsius) in many urban areas, preventing the human body from fully recovering from daytime heat stress.

Federal and state responses to the heat emergency have proven wholly inadequate to protect public health and safety. Unlike other natural disasters, heat waves do not trigger Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) aid, leaving communities to face the crisis with limited resources. While some cities have established cooling centers and heat warning systems, these measures reach only a fraction of those in need. The response remains piecemeal and underfunded, reflecting the broader failure of the capitalist system to prioritize human welfare over private profit.

Energy companies have called for conservation to protect aging electrical grids, but millions of workers and poor families cannot afford the electricity bills required to run air conditioning even when it is available. This creates a deadly choice between financial hardship and heat-related illness or death. It also demonstrates the lack of preparedness of the energy companies themselves, which have for decades refused to modernize power grids to account for increasing power needs as Earth’s climate changes.

The ongoing heat crisis demonstrates that addressing climate change and protecting working people from extreme weather requires fundamental changes to the economic system. The profit motive that drives capitalism is incompatible with the rational, scientific approach needed to combat climate change and ensure workers’ safety.

A socialist reorganization of society would prioritize human needs over corporate profits, implementing comprehensive workplace safety standards, ensuring universal access to cooling systems, and rapidly transitioning to renewable energy sources. Only through the expropriation of the wealth of the capitalist class and democratic workers’ control of production can society address the climate crisis and protect workers and future generations from its devastating effects.