Climate drove me from city for good

This article was written by Michelle Higgins and was published in the Toronto Star on June 20, 2024.

The city’s heat and humidity ultimately led Michelle Higgins to leave for Ireland, where the summer skies are often as grey as the castle ruins and air conditioning is scarce — because it’s so rarely needed.

As the heat dome wreaks havoc on Toronto, you might feel like you’re losing your grip. Trust me, I get it.

During my first summer in the city, after leaving Western Canada where I grew up, I worked for a startup at Queen Street and Spadina Avenue, where about 10 of us, crammed in a small room with a lacklustre window air-conditioning unit, sweated over whirring laptops. There was only enough curtain to cover part of the window, so we yanked it back and forth throughout the day, taking turns baking in the sun while constantly shifting to block its glare from our screens.

Forget the low salary, the long commute and the fact that we kept tripping over each other’s power cords. The worst thing about that job was the heat. I stressed over how to dress — what was appropriate for the office, but also appropriate for the office temperature? I struggled to concentrate on my work and — when it proved frustrating — to maintain my composure. The heat exacerbated the stench wafting from the curbside garbage bins on the short walk from my streetcar stop to the office. Sometimes I dry heaved as I walked by. At night in my non-air-conditioned house, I would press a frozen can of 7Up to my neck and forehead, while a lone fan hummed maddeningly in the corner. I dreaded the arrival of the next hot day. I wasn’t made for this sensory nightmare; I wasn’t built for UV rays.

I was stressed, tense and moody; I was tired all the time.

Perhaps I was suffering from seasonal affective disorder; just not, as you might expect, in winter.

That was the first of the five summers I spent in Toronto and — contrary to what seems to be the average person’s experience — the summertime was a lowlight of my time in the city. Mercifully, I moved on to more air-conditioned pastures, professional and domestic, but outside remained outside. It was the heat and the humidity. I felt like a boreal fern transplanted to the tropics.

I stubbornly applied black eyeliner. It melted down my face and into my eyes, turning them red. My clothes became limp and soggy mere moments after I put them on. My hair gave Monica Geller in Barbados vibes and my temperament was pure Lucy Van Pelt (if Lucy had a potty mouth).

At my worst, I was like an overheated computer moving in slow motion, not responding to prompts. My eyes a pair of spinning rainbow wheels. Or a computer that has short-circuited, sparks flying. Do Not Touch!

I attribute one August breakup to my inability to cope with the weather — at least in part. I was irritable, and lethargic and glum. “You don’t understand,” I wanted to tell my ex. “You broke up with summer me. You haven’t even met autumn me! I’m sorry for the things I said when I was hot.”

Worst of all — though research confirms that heat negatively affects mood, energy and cognitive function — I seemed to be alone in my suffering. While the sun leached my reserves, my friends appeared to be feed off its solar power. They suggested outings to the Beach or Toronto Island (my preference: a chilly mall or movie theatre) and rolled their eyes when I balked at eating outside (hello — bugs!). I marvelled over the fact that their levels of enthusiasm, patience and good humour didn’t correlate with the rise and fall of the mercury.

On less-oppressive days, I enjoyed the hot months in Toronto, iced coffee in hand, lapping up the shade of Trinity Bellwoods Park or the fresh air along the waterfront. But when I decided to leave the city, the climate was a major factor. I fled in April — just in time to avoid one more sweltering summer. I now live in my parents’ native Ireland, where the summer skies are often as grey as the castle ruins, air conditioning is scarce — because it’s so rarely needed — and I feel like I can finally breathe.

As Toronto stews under the heat dome, perhaps lovers of patio season can understand how I felt during a typical Toronto summer. From this temperate island, where the temperature is hovering around 16 C, I’m tempted to be smug. But my heart goes out to you all.

Author: Ray Nakano

Ray is a retired, third generation Japanese Canadian born and raised in Hamilton, Ontario. He resides in Toronto where he worked for the Ontario Government for 28 years. Ray was ordained by Thich Nhat Hanh in 2011 and practises in the Plum Village tradition, supporting sanghas in their mindfulness practice. Ray is very concerned about our climate crisis. He has been actively involved with the ClimateFast group (https://climatefast.ca) for the past 5 years. He works to bring awareness of our climate crisis to others and motivate them to take action. He has created the myclimatechange.home.blog website, for tracking climate-related news articles, reports, and organizations. He has created mobilizecanada.ca to focus on what you can do to address the climate crisis. He is always looking for opportunities to reach out to communities, politicians, and governments to communicate about our climate crisis and what we need to do. He says: “Our world is in dire straits. We have to bend the curve on our heat-trapping pollutants in the next few years if we hope to avoid the most serious impacts of human-caused global warming. Doing nothing is not an option. We must do everything we can to create a livable future for our children, our grandchildren, and all future generations.”