Nature: Deploy heat officers, policies and metrics

I am thrilled to have a new Comment piece on heat governance, Deploy heat officers, policies and metrics, published in Nature with coauthors Sara Meerow, David M. Hondula, V. Kelly Turner, and James C. Arnott.

“Heat is an outlier hazard — invisible, frequently chronic and subtly pervasive. Unlike for flooding or wildfire, no single organization or department is responsible for coordinating responses for extreme heat.”

In the piece, we call for researchers and decision-makers to:

  • Advance heat equity that address systematic racial and income disparities,
  • Mitigate heat in the built environment,
  • Manage both chronic and acute heat risk,
  • Coordinate local initiatives and integrate planning efforts,
  • Develop and use consistent metrics to measure progress, and
  • Build national institutions to support local efforts.

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