The Hottest Summer on Record is upon us: How Airbnb can save lives & Bumble can make us planetary guardians

While summer isn’t officially here, record breaking heat has already closed schools in Asia and Africa widening the learning gap for millions of children. In Central America they in the middle of heat wave which has already resulted in countless fatalities, namely in Mexico — and hotter days are on the horizon. Europe is bracing itself for the summer, as last year heat related deaths increased across the continent. In the United States, heat kills more people each year than hurricanes, floods and tornadoes combined and is starting to become a workplace issue.

We are past the eleventh consecutive month of record breaking heat and global heat deaths are projected to increase by 370%.

As planetary scientists observe and analyze the latest climate data, politicians draft climate policies, and diplomats continue to negotiate cooperative climate agreements, there is room for a “whole of society” contribution to this situation. In my national security work, when we refer to “whole of society” approaches we mean that everyone from individuals to businesses has a stake and impactful role to play.

There is a lot of work to do. But what if, in a small way, our individual interactions with Airbnb and Bumble could play a role in saving lives this summer and finding local community mitigation strategies?

What if Airbnb could help prevent heat deaths?

Heat deaths can be prevented with air conditioning, however, many people around the world do not have air conditioning. Because of this, there has been a rise in “Cooling Centers”. These are air-conditioned buildings (private or public) which are designated as a space for people to cool off. This is an important mitigation strategy to prevent heat illness and heat deaths.

As people travel around the world, and may not always have access to air-conditioning, it is important that they be able to identify and find cooling centers in their vicinity. The same applies to locals. While public libraries and malls are good places to go, more cooling centers are needed.

As the largest platform in the world for listing properties, they are in a unique position to create an option for anyone anywhere in the world to list a cooling center. Businesses, stadiums, school gyms, skating rinks, museums and many others could list their building as a cooling center during heat waves (or the whole summer).

Given these buildings will have capacity limits, they can be listed on Airbnb with the capacity they can hold and for the hours the buildings stay open. Locals and travelers with no place to escape the heat can book the days or hours they want to spend in the cooling center.

With a tweak to the Airbnb site, a “Cooling Center” tab could pop up that would save lives — and even bring people together. Why shouldn’t we give it a try?

What if Bumble could make us “heat wave” guardians of our community?

The Atlantic says everyone is tired of swiping, the Independent says we are experiencing dating app fatigue and Time magazine says the youngest generation in the dating scene is ditching dating apps all together. Apparently dating is broken, communities are in and celibacy is trending. Given the landscape, Bumble acquiring the community building app Geneva seems to be on point with our social state.

Branded as “the online place to find your offline people”, Geneva’s focus is on meeting people that are in your city and physical proximity. This is perfect for local communities who want to collaborate during a heat wave. During excessive heat there are many vulnerable communities such as children, asthmatic individuals, elderly, homeless and many more. Examples of previous local community responses include:

· A mom’s group in Oregon that took it upon themselves to offer free lunch services for kids when the Portland Public Schools cancelled free lunch because of the heat.

· Resilience intervention workers in Montreal checking in on the homeless population during heatwaves.

· In Washington, 85 residents from across the city volunteered to help with their “Spokane Beat the Heat” campaign to work on Heat Island mapping and educating the community to understand and respond to heat waves.

· In the English countryside a lady was worried about the heat impacting the children of her neighborhood school. When she found out they didn’t have the facilities to make popsicles, she took it upon her self to make over a thousand at home and personally deliver them to the school.

These are just a few acts of concerned community members who wanted to make a difference during a heatwave. In 2023, leading climate scientist Johan Rockström created the Planetary Guardians initiative which is an independent collection of leaders with a mission to advocate for more investment in climate science and awareness of climate metrics. However, the general public can also play a role. People want to help and be a force of good for their community and Bumble can play a role in helping facilitate community groups such as “heat wave” guardians. In this circumstance heat wave guardians could raise awareness about the dangers of heat and mitigation strategies, as well as collectively organize to support their community in the unique way their community needs. Geneva’s platform has the tools to be an online place to find the offline heatwave community of people who want to help.

Leveraging its new acquisition, Bumble could play a positive role in communities this summer. Why shouldn’t it explore how it can provide digital platforms to serve heat wave guardians this summer?

Everything counts and we all can make a difference together.

*For those interested in understanding the health effects of excessive heat, check out the US Center for Disease Control’s page with things to watch out for and tips to say safe.

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