In the same week Donald Trump was found guilty of 34 felonies stemming from a straight-to-DVD sex scandal involving the tempestuously named Stormy Daniels, Florida’s orange growers are again grappling with their own extreme weather crisis.

Decades of destructive hurricanes, drought and incurable disease have slashed Florida’s orange production from 200 million 90-pound boxes in 2004 to 18.1 million in 2022-2023.

Florida’s orange industry has rebounded from extreme weather in the past, including catastrophic freezes between 1960 and 1990. But extreme heat poses a new, relentless threat.

It can weaken orange trees, allowing the deadly and incurable citrus greening disease to spread. It’s one of the most serious bacterial infections among citrus plants and thrives in hot temperatures.

The rapid increase in global temperatures has also caused more frequent and destructive hurricanes and droughts, damaging citrus crops and allowing the disease to spread more easily. The disease now affects nearly every Florida orange grove and 40% of those in Brazil, the world’s largest orange producer. Because of drought and citrus greening, the South American nation expects a 25% decrease in its yield compared to last year.

Drought-hit California farms once thought to be free from the worst of the disease, are seeing worrying signs. As a result, the price of orange juice doubled.

While even the most hackneyed Hollywood screenwriters would not write a screenplay intertwining the political fate of Trump and the mighty orange, there’s something to it.

I’m calling it Pulp Friction. I’ll save Return of the Pith if orange groves bounce back.

If Trump wins, he has promised to reverse Joe Biden’s green agenda while prompting Congress to reverse climate and environmental laws like the historic Inflation Reduction Act—the nation’s flagship climate law and a symbol that the world’s economy and one of the world’s top polluters is committed to battling climate change.

Amid the orange turmoil, beleaguered farmers could soon face one of the most dangerous and destructive hurricane seasons in recent decades. And just like American voters, they are pondering a similar question:

Is it time to switch fruits?

But the issue of heat extends beyond agriculture. This week in the Meltdown, we explore how extreme temperatures are killing people in record numbers.

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Drizzle

In the United States, over 2,300 deaths were attributed to excessive heat last summer, marking the highest toll in 45 years, according to an analysis of CDC data by the Associated Press.

The record-breaking and deadly figure emerged as heat waves swept across the country throughout the year and broke records in regions unequipped for such temperatures, like the Pacific Northwest.

Experts warn that the official death toll likely underestimates the actual impact, as heat-related deaths can be overlooked or not mentioned on death certificates.

“they’llIn the last five years, we are seeing this consistent and record kind of unprecedented upward trend,” Dr. John Balbus, director of the Office of Climate Change and Health Equity at the Department of Health and Human Services, told the AP. “And I think it’s because the levels of heat that we have seen in the last several years have exceeded what we had seen in the last 20 or 30.”

The intense heat caused hundreds of deaths in Texas, Arizona and Nevada, where nearly three-quarters of last summer’s heat-related fatalities occurred, despite these regions being supposedly better prepared for high temperatures. Phoenix experienced 30 consecutive days of temperatures exceeding 110 degrees—the longest stretch since at least 1940.

Nearly 650 people died from heat-related illnesses, according to Maricopa County’s official public health report on the deaths. Heat is a silent killer. Outdoor workers in the farming and construction industries are often hit the hardest by extreme heat, while the elderly and those without adequate air conditioning are also at risk.

Read More: Who’s at risk from extreme heat?

Compost Dump

While the world’s orange growers search for a new fruit and citizens adapt to deadly heat, America’s choice of president seems more critical than ever.

As you stand in the voting booth in November, pencil wavering, you could reelect Joe Biden, the oldest person to serve as president in history. Or you could go for climate denier Donald Trump, or what about the anti-vaxxer environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy?

Your choice could save lives and oranges.

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See you next week.