Uploaded December 2024 | Updated September 2026, 8 hours ago
Migrant farmworker Juan José Ceballos died in North Carolina in July 2024 on a day that reached 101 degrees Fahrenheit. José Arturo González Mendoza, a 29-year-old farmworker from Mexico, died in North Carolina’s sweet potato fields on a hot September day in 2023 — though recent autopsy results do not point to heat as the primary factor in his death.
These men are two out of many deaths raising awareness of heat risk at work in the state, the nation, and around the globe. Not only outdoor employees, such as construction workers and farmworkers, but indoor employees such as warehouse and restaurant workers, are at risk. Despite the huge health threat, it’s been difficult to implement regulations at any level. Our panelists will discuss why people like Ceballos die, what could or should happen to protect them, and what stands in the way of those protections.
This panel discussion was presented in Raleigh, NC Nov. 8, 2024 by the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing as part of a workshop, "Living and Working on a Hot Planet: Reporting on Climate Change and Human Health." The workshop program, organized by CASW New Horizons Program Director Amber Dance, was offered in connection with ScienceWriters2024 and was funded by a grant from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund.
The occupational health session was moderated by Nicolás Rivero, climate solutions reporter for The Washington Post. Panelists were:
• Ashley Ward, director of the Heat Policy Innovation Lab, Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability, Duke University
• •Neza Xiuhtecutli, senior grassroots advocacy coordinator for the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition
Clermont Ripley, co-director of the Workers' Rights Project, North Carolina Justice Center
Migrant farmworker Juan José Ceballos died in North Carolina in July 2024 on a day that reached 101 degrees Fahrenheit. José Arturo González Mendoza, a 29-year-old farmworker from Mexico, died in North Carolina’s sweet potato fields on a hot September day in 2023 — though recent autopsy results do not point to heat as the primary factor in his death.
These men are two out of many deaths raising awareness of heat risk at work in the state, the nation, and around the globe. Not only outdoor employees, such as construction workers and farmworkers, but indoor employees such as warehouse and restaurant workers, are at risk. Despite the huge health threat, it’s been difficult to implement regulations at any level. Our panelists will discuss why people like Ceballos die, what could or should happen to protect them, and what stands in the way of those protections.
This panel discussion was presented in Raleigh, NC Nov. 8, 2024 by the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing as part of a workshop, "Living and Working on a Hot Planet: Reporting on Climate Change and Human Health." The workshop program, organized by CASW New Horizons Program Director Amber Dance, was offered in connection with ScienceWriters2024 and was funded by a grant from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund.
The occupational health session was moderated by Nicolás Rivero, climate solutions reporter for The Washington Post. Panelists were:
• Ashley Ward, director of the Heat Policy Innovation Lab, Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability, Duke University
• •Neza Xiuhtecutli, senior grassroots advocacy coordinator for the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition
Clermont Ripley, co-director of the Workers' Rights Project, North Carolina Justice Center
