Great essay. I lived on a Panamanian Caribbean island and know the Costa Rican East coast well. The humidity and heat are extreme, and power and water outages are the norm on the island.

There weren't any resorts near me, so I don't know if they had AC. I used fans to cool me down at night and sat in the Sea when I wasn't working, but the water wasn't much cooler than the air temperature.

I try not to think about the island's climate change impacts because it makes me feel sick. However, the locals are more accustomed to the elements than Northerners. They know how to keep cool and adjust to power failures, and they're community focused.

Extreme weather will lead to deaths and dire conditions, but the affects will devastate North American cities and people who have never lived without AC and energy. We'll die trying to kill each other for an ice cube.

I lived in Australia during the 2019 - 2020 bushfires, and the average temperature was 1.5C higher than previous years. The country's landmass is almost the size of the US, and a lot of it was in flames while smoke and heat suffocated us. I can't imagine this being the norm or warmer weather.