The Danger of Global Warming

Deadly Heat Waves More Likely

Last summer’s heat wave caused major damage despite some lessons learned from the deadly heat waves that struck Europe in 2003 and Chicago in 1995.

The U.S. heat wave of 2006 was one of the worst in recent memory -- not only because of its severity, but also because of its reach and length. It lasted nearly a month and swept across the entire country, cutting a swath of record or near-record temperatures from southern California to the East Coast. Hundreds of people died, crops withered, wildfires raged, roads buckled and electric grids struggled to provide power to sweltering customers. Tens of thousands of New York residents lost power for over a week.

Global warming doubles chance of "killer" heat waves

How does climate change fit into the 2006 heat wave? It's impossible to pin a single weather event on global warming, since weather fluctuates naturally. Trends, however, are a different story. Climate models predict a trend of more wild weather. Global warming loads the dice to roll "heat waves" or "intense rainstorms" more often than milder "warm days" or "gentle rains." (Stott et al.)

Chicago 1995: Preview of life in a warmer world

In July 1995 the climate dice rolled "heat waves" for Chicago. For Pauline Jankowitz, an elderly woman, the stretch of heat nearly cost her her life. As told in Eric Klinenberg's gripping account, Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago, on the advice of a friend Jankowitz changed up her routine. She ventured out of her apartment when the heat became unbearable, caught an air-conditioned bus to an air-conditioned market and shopped until she felt rejuvenated. As she told Klinenberg, that time in July was "the closet I've ever come to death." For others, it was too close—739 people perished.

Chicago's temperature spike began July 13 when the temperatures hit a record 106 degrees Fahrenheit. The mercury didn't fall below 90 degrees Fahrenheit for five days. In those five days, a lethal combination of high humidity and hot nighttime temperatures offered little or no escape from the heat. Vulnerable populations, such as the elderly and low-income people, were hit especially hard.

While Jankowitz was able to cool herself at home with wet towels, a fan and a rickety, old AC unit, 49,000 homes lost power—and air conditioning. (Klinenberg) The Centers for Disease Control later concluded access to air conditioning could have saved hundreds of lives. Instead, the morgue overflowed, and nine 48-foot refrigerated meat trucks were brought in to store the bodies. (Semenza et al.)

Those who needed medical help often reached it too late, after heat exhaustion or heat stroke set in. By the second day, medical emergencies exceeded capacity. Ambulances drove around with nowhere to unload. About 23 hospitals went on "bypass," meaning their doors were closed to new patients.

Chicago 1999: Some lessons learned

In July and August 1999, another scorcher hit Chicago. Because of lessons learned in 1995, the Windy City's health and emergency systems responded much better. The 103 heat-related deaths that occurred were many fewer than in 1995's tragedy. But losing dozens of residents to heat-related emergencies is still not acceptable, and with even hotter temperatures in the future, the death toll can be expected to rise.

Unfortunately, Chicago is just one example of our increasing susceptibility to heat waves.

Heat waves have grilled other parts of the U.S. over the past two decades, with deadly consequences. A 1980 heat wave claimed 1,700 lives in the East and Midwest; in 1988 another East/Midwest heat wave killed 454 people; the 1995 heat wave also claimed lives in Philadelphia, Milwaukee and St. Louis in addition to Chicago's losses, and in 1998, more than 120 people in Texas died from a heat wave.

Europe 2003: Most lethal heat wave

The world's deadliest heat wave on record struck Europe in 2003, considered the hottest European summer in five centuries. High temperatures broke records in many countries. England hit a historical high on August 10 when the thermometer in Gravesend-Broadness, Kent hit 100.6 degrees Fahrenheit. In Germany, an all-time record of 104.4 degrees Fahrenheit was set on August 8.

The extreme temperatures led to a tragic loss of life. A staggering 27,000 people died as a result of the relentless heat, breaking all records for heat-induced fatalities. In France alone, where hospitals were overwhelmed, more than 14,000 people died.

Survivors of the intense heat also suffered. Dehydration, heat stroke and fevers were common. Advanced stages of shock were hard to treat. Some suffered irreversible brain damage from advanced fevers.

Medical costs soared. The heat wave prompted the French government to fund an extra $45 million for elderly people and hospitals, and led French health officials to up France's health spending by $6.8 billion over five years.

There have always been heat waves, but as the global temperature rises, heat waves like these are expected to become more frequent.

Marketing Management

is a business discipline focused on the practical application of marketing techniques and the management of a firm's marketing resources and activities. Marketing managers are often responsible for influencing the level, timing, and composition of customer demand accepted definition of the term. In part, this is because the role of a marketing manager can vary significantly based on a business' size, corporate culture, and industry context. For example, in a large consumer products company, the marketing manager may act as the overall general manager of his or her assigned product

From this perspective, the scope of marketing management is quite broad. The implication of such a definition is that any activity or resource the firm uses to acquire customers and manage the company's relationships with them is within the purview of marketing management. Additionally, the Kotler and Keller definition encompasses both the development of new products and services and their delivery to customers.

Noted marketing expert Regis McKenna expressed a similar viewpoint in his influential 1991 Harvard Business Review article "Marketing is Everything." McKenna argued that because marketing management encompasses all factors that influence a company's ability to deliver value to customers, it must be "all-pervasive, part of everyone's job description, from the receptionists to the Board of Directors."

This view is also consistent with the perspective of management guru Peter Drucker, who wrote: "Because the purpose of business is to create a customer, the business enterprise has two--and only these two--basic functions: marketing and innovation. Marketing and innovation produce results; all the rest are costs. Marketing is the distinguishing, unique function of the business."

But because many businesses operate with a much more limited definition of marketing, such statements can appear controversial, or even ludicrous to some business executives. This is especially true in those companies where the marketing department is responsible for little more than developing sales brochures and executing advertising campaigns.

The broader, more sophisticated definitions of marketing management from Drucker, Kotler and other scholars are therefore juxtaposed against the narrower operating reality of many businesses. The source of confusion here is often that inside any given firm, the term marketing management may be interpreted to mean whatever the marketing department happens to do, rather than a term that encompasses all marketing activities -- even those marketing activities that are actually performed by other departments, such as the sales, finance, or operations departments. If, for example, the finance department of a given company makes pricing decisions (for deals, proposals, contracts, etc.), that finance department has responsibility for an important component of marketing management -- pricing.