Cities are appointing “heat officials” to respond to the threat of warming

Cities around the world are responding to the threat of rising temperatures by hiring “top heat managers” to tackle a problem that will exacerbate climate change.

Miami-Dade County, in a high-density climate change on Florida’s coastal population, will name Jane Gilbert as the world’s first heat director on Friday. Athens, the Greek capital with the highest temperature in Europe, and Freetown in Sierra Leone are hosting similar events. Other vulnerable cities will remain the same but the pandemic has held them back.

“We are known internationally for the rise in sea level and the risks posed by floods. What we don’t know is that heat hazard, “Gilbert told the Financial Times.” I’ve been in Miami for 26 years. [and] I feel a change in temperature, ”he added. “How many more hot days we have.”

The event is part of an initiative organized by the Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center, which provides support to communities facing extreme weather through a network of experts in public health, finance and climate science.

It was tied to 2016 last year the hottest year on record, Arctic Circle temperatures rise to a record 38C. The cities of Sydney, Australia and Los Angeles on the west coast of the US were destroyed in 2020 by horrific temperatures and sparked fires in the surrounding area.

Cities can be particularly hot due to the density of people and buildings, the addition of heat-retaining materials such as concrete, air-conditioning units that pump hot air, and the lack of green space.

In the US, it’s hot it kills more people than any other weather-related event each year, according to the national weather service.

It is often said to be a “silent killer” because the effect is much less than that of other dramatic events, such as typhoons and fires.

Between 1998 and 2017, more than 166,000 people worldwide died as a result of heat waves, according to World Health Organization.

“Most heat-related deaths are not caused by heat stroke or heat exhaustion,” but by cardiovascular or respiratory problems that occur when the body is stressed, said U.S. climate scientist Laurence Kalkstein.

One factor is what people are accustomed to in the heat, he explained. “It’s not usually the actual intensity of the heat that is most dangerous, it’s the variability of the summer climate.”

Miami-Dade is already in danger due to a number of threats associated with climate change, including hurricanes, floods and rising sea levels. Work is underway to make the region more resilient, among other things raising roads and flood-resistant buildings. Gilbert was also Miami’s first senior resilience officer, a position he created in 2016.

In her new role, she will work with local authorities, academics, and community groups to identify and develop responses to vulnerable populations in the face of extreme heat.

Solutions could include the creation of “resistance centers” to help people cool off in heat waves, ensure bus stations are in the shade, and talk to employers (especially in the agricultural and construction sectors) about their policies for particularly hot days.

Extreme heat “is our small, minority and weaker wealth. . . more communities, ”Gilbert said, noting that many cannot afford air conditioning or run alternative generators to power outages that could occur in hurricanes.

In Freetown, the weather has changed “tremendously” over the past decade, city mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr said. Temperatures rose and the rainy season became shorter but more intense, creating more flooding.

He added that fires caused in the summer are especially dangerous for thousands of people living in informal settlements with large populations.

The priorities for the Freetown chief heat officer, who is yet to be appointed, will be to gather data on the impact of the hot weather, contact the medical community and plant more trees.

Athens Mayor Kostas Bakoyannis said the extreme heat was “one of the biggest threats to the city’s livability and economic prosperity.” Urban areas would look different as they adapt to climate change, such as more tree cover cooling and water features, he added.

Miami-Dade and others hope to pilot a new heat wave designation and classification system similar to the one used for storms. Such a system would be important to alert and educate people, said Kathy Baughman McLeod, director of the Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center.

“We have a hurricane season, we need a hot season,” he said.

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