> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.possibilities.news/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Disaster & Desecration - URL: https://www.possibilities.news/hajj-extreme-heat-culture/ - Published: 2024-06-27T12:00:43.000Z - Updated: 2024-07-03T16:53:06.000Z - Description: The deaths from extreme heat in this year's Hajj pilgrimage underscore the ways climate disaster will taint sacred rites of passage. - Author: Yessenia Funes **LISTENING:** *to Chappell Roan on repeat* **FEELING:** *better* **SEEING:** *my weekly calendar reminder to GO OUTSIDE this weekend* Every week, I take a look at the extreme weather events killing people. I don't do this accounting to be sensational or morbid. I do this to inform. To show the ways climate change is already harming people — most of whom did very little (if anything) to contribute to the planet's heating. My goal is also to honor the lives of those lost. That's why I call the section Rest in Power. Well, last week, I looked at the number of people who died during this year's Islamic Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia. When I wrote the newsletter, some 550 people were believed to have died due to extreme heat. Now, the [number](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/23/world/middleeast/hajj-pilgrim-deaths-saudi-arabia.html?ref=possibilities.news) has shot past 1,300. [Subscribe here](#/portal/account/plans) Welcome to **Possibilities**, a creative climate newsletter on the possibilities that lie where crisis meets community. I’m **Yessenia Funes**, and I believe extreme heat needs to be treated as the emergency it is. I'm not religious, so I don't fully understand the desire to walk miles and miles beneath the sun to feel closer to God. I know that all Muslims are expected to take the journey at least once in their lifetime, but why must they die for it? If the Saudi Arabian government knows this happens every year, it should be investing in more accessible infrastructure to keep people safe. #### º ⋱・♡ Donate! ♡・⋰ º Want to help me pay photographers and writers to contribute to the newsletter? I've created an Artist Fund for anyone who wants to donate outside their regular subscriptions. Once I reach $100, I'll be able to license my first image from a photographer. Donate [here](https://buy.stripe.com/5kAbMJahWdQU3K0dQQ?ref=possibilities.news). If you'd prefer to donate funds to whatever my needs may be (not explicitly the artist fund), you can donate [here](https://buy.stripe.com/aEU2c9ahW5ko2FW4gh?ref=possibilities.news). [According to the New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/23/world/middleeast/hajj-pilgrim-deaths-saudi-arabia.html?ref=possibilities.news), the government offers permits for the journey, which comes with access to air-conditioned buses and tents, but these packages can cost between $5,000 to $10,000\. Who has such disposable money available? I sure don't. It's a nasty business, apparently, and one that deserves stronger regulations to keep people safe. Even as someone who doesn't follow a religion or believe in a God in the traditional sense, I can respect a person exploring the meaning of life. I can sympathize with wanting to walk the path of your ancestors. At some level, I know that discomfort and pain can show us revelations or make us feel divine. I did a sweat lodge ceremony once in college, and in my physical distress, I felt more proximity to spirituality than I ever have (and I was completely sober). [Bushfires Are ‘Obliterating the Cultural Memory’ of Australia’s Aboriginal PeopleThe deadly, ongoing bushfires in Australia have been burning for months. Around Christmas, however, the glittering orange flames grew closer to the community of East Gippsland in eastern Victoria, home to more than 46,000 people. Alice Pepper, an indigenous community organizer with the Gunaikurnai people, among them.![](https://i.kinja-img.com/image/upload/c_fill,h_80,q_80,w_80/743983ef40322777a7049971bf4faeae.png)GizmodoHome![](https://i.kinja-img.com/image/upload/c_fill,h_675,pg_1,q_80,w_1200/cyaiwvixbwri86moba0e.jpg)](https://gizmodo.com/bushfires-are-obliterating-the-cultural-memory-of-austr-1840933953?ref=possibilities.news) How can leaders protect cultural practices as our planet enters a period of extremes? People across the globe need access to these histories that bind them. In the U.S., many Indigenous cultures require [ancestral plant medicines](https://atmos.earth/plant-medicine-climate-change-indigenous/?ref=possibilities.news) that are being lost to the changing climate. In Australia, devastating bushfire seasons have erased many scarred trees from the landscape. These trees are sacred to Aboriginal people because they carry marks from their ancestors. The scars originate from the harvesting of bark for canoes or special baskets called coolamons while keeping the trees alive. I wrote about this for Earther back in 2020. I've always wondered what my life would look like if it held some meaning beyond the tangible — if I worshipped some God or entity. It's the last week of Pride in New York, and the closest I've come to congregation is on the dance floors of the city's sacred queer spaces. Will climate change come for them, too? My [latest story](https://atmos.earth/queer-communities-brace-for-supercharged-hurricane-season/?ref=possibilities.news) for Atmos reminds me that, for some, the climate crisis is already desecrating the few spaces we LGBTQ+ folks have. 🌀 👛 In case you weren't aware, you can always adjust your subscription [here](#/portal/account/plans). The newsletter has several tiers, so if you're able to give more or need to give less, please adjust it as you see fit! 📘 I'm also giving y'all a first look into my attempt to write my children's book. I [wrote](https://www.possibilities.news/a-year-of-possibilities/) about this a few weeks ago, but here is the [landing pag](https://www.possibilities.news/childrens-book/)e where I'm keeping track of all the editions where you can find what I've shared so far. ## Rest in Power **While we can't say for certain that climate change led to these specific weather events (we need attribution studies for that), we do know that the Earth's rising temperatures are already creating more disasters like these.** Tropical Storm Alberto left [four people](https://apnews.com/article/tropical-storm-alberto-mexico-texas-f337703900f312aaefc4d34ddd8e5e8f?ref=possibilities.news) dead in Mexico. The Midwest was experiencing flooding earlier this week, which [killed](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c6ppp4z85y0o?ref=possibilities.news) at least one person in South Dakota. Wildfires are killing again. Last week, two people [died](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/19/us/new-mexico-wildfires.html?ref=possibilities.news) in New Mexico. About eight people remain [missing](https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/25/us/new-mexico-wildfires-missing/index.html?ref=possibilities.news) as of Tuesday. In southeastern Turkey, at least 11 people are [dead](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/6/21/at-least-five-killed-in-southeast-turkey-wildfires?ref=possibilities.news) from more wildfires. In Hawaii, 68-year-old Claudette Heermance [died](https://www.business-standard.com/world-news/hawaii-wildfire-death-toll-hits-102-as-another-victim-succumbs-to-injuries-124062500228%5F1.html?ref=possibilities.news) after succumbing to her injuries from the historic Lahaina wildfires last year. ## Currently Reading [From Bloomberg Green](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2024-06-26/texas-is-us-weather-battleground-of-warring-storms-floods-heat?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTcxOTQwNTUwOCwiZXhwIjoxNzIwMDEwMzA4LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJTRk9NR1dEV0xVNjgwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJGMkY1NTFERTc4ODA0RkJBOTk5NEFBMTQ5RTM1NjQ3RCJ9.PhgnxQFAuQ6AZjhPlSYtirE%5F47PuLdOxcYV3NnBGKj0&ref=possibilities.news): "Texas—not California or Florida—has been the US epicenter of extreme weather for decades." Tribal nations have a right to protect their cultural secrets and treasures. One federal clean energy project is challenging that. [B. 'Toastie' Oaster has the story for High Country News.](https://www.hcn.org/issues/56-7/how-federal-rules-and-a-lack-of-protection-for-sacred-indigenous-sites-left-the-yakama-nation-with-an-impossible-choice/?ref=possibilities.news) I'm currently reporting a story about the global plastics treaty, so this [special report](https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/interactive/2024/microplastics-air-human-body-organs-spread/?ref=possibilities.news) from Simon Ducroquet and Shannon Osaka at The Washington Post on the health harms of microplastics is feeling especially urgent. [Adam Mahoney zooms into the reality of Beaumont, Texas, for Capital B News](https://capitalbnews.org/exxon-beaumont-community/?ref=possibilities.news): "Oil helped attract Black residents to the city in the early 20th century, ushering in a new level of economic stability, but now it’s left a majority-Black community captured under its reign." Food workers are boiling in restaurant kitchens — they're demanding more protections. Grist's new food writer Frida Garza [speaks](https://grist.org/labor/heat-waves-are-making-restaurant-kitchens-unsafe-workers-are-fighting-back/?ref=possibilities.news) to them. ## Poetry when you bury me, do you promise to adorn my tomb in wildflowers? and by tomb, I mean tree I want to play in the forest even after I can no longer breathe some people are buried in war zones others in a hellscape of industry and rot I hope I find them in the forest I hope they get to play, too \-ylf- ****What are you reading and seeing? Share in a comment.** **See you next week. xx** \- Yessenia