According to the United Farm Workers, three female grape pickers died in California this week, most likely because of the heat, said ABC News–Kero/Bakersfield. One woman died after she left the bathroom and fainted. A second woman passed away while waiting for an ambulance, which finally arrived an hour after being called. Little is known about the death of the third woman.
Nathaniel Johnson at Grist said we can expect to see more heat-related fatalities in American agriculture, as poor working conditions are exacerbated by climate change: “Temperatures reached 108 degrees up and down California’s San Joaquin Valley, far above the average high temperatures in recent years. California requires employers to provide shade and water to farmworkers, but workers lose money if they spend time cooling off in the shade. They are usually paid by the amount they pick rather than by the hour. And sometimes the water and shade stations are on the far side of large fields.” Undocumented workers, he added, are particularly vulnerable, because they lack health insurance and may work even if they don’t feel well.