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Don't you think heat waves suck? 20 photos show how old-timers beat the heat.

Lately it can feel like we've somehow accidentally opened a portal to the heart of the sun.

[rebelmouse-image 19530551 dam="1" original_size="750x421" caption="Pictured: Phoenix, Arizona. Image from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center/Wikimedia Commons." expand=1]Pictured: Phoenix, Arizona. Image from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center/Wikimedia Commons.

Unfortunately, heat waves are getting stronger and more common today, thanks to climate change. According to this article by The Guardian, a third of the world is at risk of dangerous heat waves today. While heat waves are hitting us more frequently now than in the past, 100 years ago people still had to deal with the occasional temperature spike. How did they do it?

The pictures from then show how people coped in ways as surprising as they are relatable.

Here are 20 examples of what I mean:

1. Need ice? That's going to require a little more muscle power than just walking over to your freezer.

Not going to lie, that looks incredibly refreshing. Photo from 1932. Photo from Francis M.R.Hudson/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images.

2. Back then, ice didn't come in plastic bags from a freezer outside 7-Eleven. You had to get it delivered.

August 1911. Photo from Topical Press Agency/Getty Images.

This photo's from 1911, just a couple years before the first electrically-powered home refrigerators hit the scene. Before then, the ice box was literally that — a box kept cool by giant chunks of ice.

3. Of course, once you carry that load of ice in, you have to have a little sit. Sometimes on it. With an ice cream.

Damp shorts are a small price to pay for the most refreshing chair ever. Photo from Fox Photos/Getty Images.

4. At some point, you decide your fashion sense is less important than keeping cool.

It's hard to keep a stiff upper lip when you have the funnies sitting on your head. July 1913. Photo from Topical Press Agency/Getty Images.

5. Wet pants are a small price to pay for a chance to go wading.

A group of girls goes wading into the Serpentine in London's Hyde Park. August 1911. Photo from Topical Press Agency/Getty Images.

6. And everybody's gonna need a hat.

These men are so happy about their hats, it's almost inappropriate. Circa 1928. Photo from Topical Press Agency/Getty Images.

7. Edwardian gentlemen know to act normally even if one is sweltering in a suit and bow tie. For comfort, one may remove one's jacket only.

Aww, yeah. May 1914. Photo from Topical Press Agency/Getty Images.

8. If you've ever lived anywhere super dry, you know all about spraying the driveway to keep the dust down.

1925. Photo from Topical Press Agency/Getty Images.

9. Or taking an extra bath to cool off before bed.

August 1919. Photo from Topical Press Agency/Getty Images

10. Summer is the perfect time to take a day off and hit the beach with your friends.

May 1925. Photo from Topical Press Agency/Getty Images.

11. And everyone else's friends too, apparently.

A beach in Bognor Regis in 1933. Photo from Topical Press Agency/Getty Images.

12. At some point, it's hot enough to ignore the signs and just jump in a public fountain.

1912. Photo from Topical Press Agency/Getty Images

13. And live your whole life in the water.

Circa 1930. Photo from Hulton Archive/Getty Images

14. Literally — your whole life.

Can't imagine doing that with a Macbook. Circa 1937. Photo from Topical Press Agency/Getty Images.

15. Summer is the time when swimwear becomes daywear then eveningwear.

1929. Photo from Fox Photos/Getty Images.

16. No matter what you're wearing, lounge around in general. It's too damn hot to do anything else.

That is the slump of man who's decided that it's too hot to care anymore. Paris, 1929. Photo from Hulton Archive/Getty Images.

17. Get some sun.

1933. Photo from Topical Press Agency/Getty Images.

18. Of course, in a heat wave, you've got to make sure to watch our for your animal friends too.

May 1936. Photo from E. Dean/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images.

19. Especially if that means letting them join for a dip.

Horses in the Thames. 1935. Photo from David Savill/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images.

20. Or making sure they've got the right accessories.

1928. Photo from Fox Photos/Getty Images.

As the Earth gets warmer, heat waves are likely to increase in both frequency and strength, so take a page from these summer-sun veterans and play it safe.

Drink plenty of water. Keep an eye out for signs of heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Try to do outside chores in the morning or evening, when it tends to be less hot, if you can.

And keep an eye out for tricky reporters and cameras because, who knows, in 100 years, you might end up on a list just like this one.

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In 1904, a schoolteacher named Lewis W. Hine started photographing immigrants as they arrived at Ellis Island.

Photography turns light into a palpable record of a moment in time, which is incredible when you think about it. And Hine knew just how powerful those moments could be.

An Albanian woman from Italy at Ellis Island in 1905 (left) and an Armenian man in 1926 who was fleeing persecution in Turkey (right). Photos by Lewis W. Hine/The New York Public Library.

Hine was working as a teacher and photographer at the Ethical Culture School in New York City when he started taking his students on field trips to Ellis Island to show them the conditions of millions of immigrants.

He believed that if people could see images of the abuse and injustices that were happening in America, it might make social reform a reality.

And, eventually, his dream started coming true. He's now known for creating images that brought to light scenes of child labor, poor living conditions, unemployment, immigration, and human ingenuity.

After he left his teaching position, he went on to work with the National Child Labor Committee — which lobbied for the abolition of child labor — to document and expose the exploitative practices in the United States. His photos were used in publications all over the world, and they inspired many people to fight for change.

Self-Portrait by Lewis W. Hine/Wikimedia Commons.

By capturing intangible moments of reality, Hine connected human faces to society's wrongdoings.

Here are some of the thousands of images that Hine took during his life — pictures that brought dignity to millions of Americans and helped enact positive change:

Hine gave voice to the voiceless in an era when communication was limited.

A group of Slavic immigrants at Ellis Island in 1905. Photo by Lewis W. Hine/The New York Public Library.

“There are two things I wanted to do. I wanted to show the things that had to be corrected. I wanted to show the things that had to be appreciated,” Hines said about his work.

Group of immigrants from Italy at Ellis Island in 1905. Photo by Lewis W. Hine/The New York Public Library.

He followed the immigrant experience to the tenement buildings in major cities and helped expose terrible living conditions.

A mother and her two children live in one room on the top floor of a building in New York. Photo by Lewis W. Hine/The Library of Congress.

His work with the NCLC often required him to sneak into factories and workshops with a disguise to avoid notice.

Two young boys working a spinning frame at a mill in Macon, Georgia, in 1909. Photo by Lewis W. Hine/The Library of Congress.

"There is work that profits children, and there is work that brings profit only to employers. The object of employing children is not to train them, but to get high profits from their work,” Hines said in 1908.

Workers take a break at the Newberry Mills in South Carolina. Photo by Lewis W. Hine/The Library of Congress.

Through reform and laws enacted on the state and federal level, “by 1920 the number of child laborers was cut to nearly half of what it had been in 1910,” according to the National Archives.

Donnie Cole, known as "Our Baby Doffer," hesitantly said his age was 12 when asked by Hine. A doffer is someone who replaces spindles in spinning frames. Photo by Lewis W. Hine/The Library of Congress.

His work with National Research Project of the Work Projects Administration exposed the indescribable conditions of everyday people during the Great Depression.

Callie Campbell, 11 years old, picking cotton in Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma. When asked about her job, she said, "No, I don't like it very much." Photo by Lewis W. Hine/The Library of Congress.

His photos championed hardworking everyday people, which is most vividly shown in his incredible photos of the construction of the Empire State Building.

Two ironworkers connecting beams on the Empire State Building in 1931. Photo by Lewis W. Hine/The New York Public Library.

Hine was a beacon of humanism at a time when the world was rapidly changing. He was a champion for the exploited. He was an activist.

He was also an incredible pioneer of documentary photography in America.

Despite the power of his work, the changing times of the Great Depression stalled interest in his work, and he died in poverty in 1940. Over the years, though, his legacy has grown exponentially since his death. His investigative photos are still a stark reminder of the kinetic effect images can have on society.

By recognizing the need for change and using his photography skills to help usher it along, Hine demonstrated the true power of images.

That's something that inspires me, and other photographers, daily.

His photos are humbling reminders of the struggles of everyday people at the dawn of the modern era. They're a reminder that each of us can change the world, even if it's in a small way. And they're a reminder of the hurdles America has overcome to get to where we are today.