Escape the heat.

In 2003, a record heat wave claimed 35,000 lives in Europe. Thirty-five thousand lives! Temperatures soared to 104 degrees Fahrenheit and remained unusually high for two weeks. In France alone, 14,000 lives were lost to the scorching temperatures.

99% of Texas suffers from severe drought conditions.

Unfortunately, the weather does not seem to be providing any relief in the near future. In fact, temperatures will likely continue to rise, and the number of extremely hot seasons experienced per decade will increase. August of 2003 was the hottest August on record in the northern hemisphere, but Texas just experienced its hottest summer on record in 2011. At the same time, drought conditions become all the more dire.

Heat waves have been called "silent killers." They claim more lives each year than hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods combined, often taking the elderly, the very young, or the chronically ill. Some predict that the worldwide annual death toll from climate change will reach 500,000 people per year by 2030. That's half a million!

Increasing temperatures are, in part, the result of human activity. And to escape the heat, people will resort to air conditioners, releasing even more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere...

What if we can't stop it? Instead of spending summer afternoons on the beach, at the park, at the pool--outside-- we will probably have to go indoors during the hottest part of the day. Instead of a welcome friend after a cold winter, the summer sun will become a threatening menace.