WEBVTT - How Do Heat Officers Work?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio, Hey

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<v Speaker 1>brain Stuff Lauren Vogelbaum. Here. The cities around the world

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<v Speaker 1>are appointing Chief Heat Officers to respond to the public

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<v Speaker 1>health impact of climate change in cities like Miami and

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<v Speaker 1>Phoenix in the US, Athens, Greece, and Freetown, Sierra Leone.

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<v Speaker 1>These Chief Heat Officers investigate potential short and long term

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<v Speaker 1>heat mitigation efforts as they study ways to reduce risks

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<v Speaker 1>of global warming and other changes ranging from psychological stress

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<v Speaker 1>to premature death. According to the World Health Organization, extreme

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<v Speaker 1>temperature events are increasing in frequency, duration, and magnitude in

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<v Speaker 1>recent years. The number of people impacted by heat waves

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<v Speaker 1>has risen into the hundreds of millions, with some populations

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<v Speaker 1>being disproportionately affected because of where they live or how

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<v Speaker 1>much they earn. The emergence of a Chief Heat Officer

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<v Speaker 1>position in these cities largely stems from an initiative of

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<v Speaker 1>the Adrian Arsched Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center and similarly minded

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<v Speaker 1>foundation boards. The position, which these foundations not coincidentally help fund,

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<v Speaker 1>is designed to help local policymakers develop tools and strategies

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<v Speaker 1>to ease the burden of climate change. Especially when it

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<v Speaker 1>befalls the world's most vulnerable populations. As we've discussed before

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<v Speaker 1>on this show, excessive heat can cause exhaustion, confusion, or

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<v Speaker 1>even heart attacks, and can exacerbate existing health conditions such

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<v Speaker 1>as cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. And it's most likely to

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<v Speaker 1>impact people who do physical labor outdoors or who don't

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<v Speaker 1>have access to air conditioning at work or at home.

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<v Speaker 1>One Jane Gilbert, who had previously served local government in

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<v Speaker 1>a consulting capacity, was appointed as Miami's first Heat Officer

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<v Speaker 1>in early serving both the Municipality of Miami in Miami

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<v Speaker 1>Dade County, it falls to her to usher local leadership,

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<v Speaker 1>both public and private through impending environmental changes. Gilbert, like

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<v Speaker 1>her colleagues around the world, is expected to create a

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<v Speaker 1>joint public and private task force that would identify existing

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<v Speaker 1>vulnerabilities and future risks, and then create a plan to

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<v Speaker 1>address these risks through government departments and the community at large.

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<v Speaker 1>Climate change is an issue plaguing governments everywhere, even municipal

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<v Speaker 1>governments in relatively insulated cities like Beverly Hills. Because of

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<v Speaker 1>climate change concerns, that city recently decided to take a

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<v Speaker 1>fresh look at its sustainability initiatives for the article. This

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<v Speaker 1>episode is based on How Stuff Work. Spoke by email

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<v Speaker 1>with Windy Nystrom, a Beverly Hills City commissioner and co

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<v Speaker 1>chair of the city's Community Advisory Committee Climate Action and

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<v Speaker 1>Adaption Plan. A Nicetroom who earned a master's degree in geology,

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<v Speaker 1>Earth sciences and geochemistry, works as an environment, mental and

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<v Speaker 1>pollution risk management expert in the City of Beverly Hills,

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<v Speaker 1>like many municipalities, is considering policy lead initiatives to environmental

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<v Speaker 1>damage in small and large ways. Nice From said, we

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<v Speaker 1>recently passed a plastic utensil ordinance where plastic cutlery is

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<v Speaker 1>no longer provided in takeaway meals unless specifically requested. It

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<v Speaker 1>is a small step, but we are progressing, and we're

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<v Speaker 1>currently working with the Clean Power Alliance to take Beverly

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<v Speaker 1>Hills from renewable energy to ad It'll take time and

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<v Speaker 1>require a bit of public outreach, communication and education, but

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<v Speaker 1>we're making steady progress. As historic heat roasts the Western

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<v Speaker 1>United States and other areas, it's claiming lives. Between the

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<v Speaker 1>years of twenty about twelve thousand people died prematurely from

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<v Speaker 1>heat exposure every year in the United States. By the

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<v Speaker 1>time we usher in a new century, heat exposed is

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<v Speaker 1>expected to claim a hundred and ten thousand lives each year. Here.

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<v Speaker 1>To complicate matters, it's likely that heat exposure will unequally

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<v Speaker 1>affect people according to income. A study published in the

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<v Speaker 1>journal Nature in May reported that a person whose income

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<v Speaker 1>is below the poverty line experiences more heat exposure than

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<v Speaker 1>a person who can afford to live in a spacious

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<v Speaker 1>neighborhood with grass and tree cover. Gilbert, Miami's heat resiliency officer,

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<v Speaker 1>told Time magazine in it can be thirty degrees fahrenheit

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<v Speaker 1>or sixteen celsius cooler outside under tree cover than in

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<v Speaker 1>an open pavement area, but trees also sequester carbon absorbed

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<v Speaker 1>stormwater and have mental health benefits. An area with densely

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<v Speaker 1>located buildings, parking lots, and roads is essentially an urban

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<v Speaker 1>heat island because these construction materials absorb and retain heat.

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<v Speaker 1>In US cities, black and Hispanic citizens are more likely

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<v Speaker 1>to live in an urban heat island. This disparity and

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<v Speaker 1>the unequal distribution of risk is known as heat equity,

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<v Speaker 1>and in many places, including Miami and Miami Dade County,

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<v Speaker 1>it's becoming undeniably prevalent. As Gilbert told Time, her role

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<v Speaker 1>is to identify and address those inequities while marshaling municipal

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<v Speaker 1>and county governments through new policies and initiatives. For example,

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<v Speaker 1>along with planting trees and educating at risk populations about

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<v Speaker 1>their rights during a heat crisis, Gilbert will help local

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<v Speaker 1>leaders take a long view on actions that could reduce

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<v Speaker 1>reliance on air conditioning, then the greenhouse gas emissions that

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<v Speaker 1>go with it. It's a role that's expected to become

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<v Speaker 1>increasingly necessary in coming years. Today's episode is based on

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<v Speaker 1>the article Miami and other cities installed cheap heat officers

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<v Speaker 1>to combat climate change on hous to works dot com,

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<v Speaker 1>written by Laurel dam The brain Stuff is production by

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<v Speaker 1>Heart Radio in partnership with how stuffworks dot Com, and

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<v Speaker 1>it's produced by Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts my Heart Radio,

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