New recommendations for preventing heat-related illness during extreme summer weather have been drawn up in a collaborative report from the University of Washington Center for Health and the Global Environment (CHanGE) and the Climate Impacts Group (CIG).
The June 20 report offered both short-term emergency response strategies and long-term risk reduction tools to mitigate effects of extreme heat. In order to prevent future illness and death during heat events, the report suggests that an extensive, statewide mobilization will be necessary.
The 22-page report offers a thorough list of strategies. Transportation to cooling centers, providing air conditioning in low-income housing, increasing shade via tree cover or green roofs, and better legal protections for outdoor workers are all highlighted as key recommendations.
CHanGE has developed an additional resource called the Climate Health and Risk Tool (CHaRT), which will allow local administrators to see how environmental, climatic, and socioeconomic factors will affect a specific community.
Managing extreme heat episodes requires comprehensive management at the administrative level, but all citizens can make a positive impact according to Jason Vogel, interim director of the UW CIG.
“When thinking about extreme heat, I think we need to move past thinking of ourselves as ‘regular citizens’ because so many people have a role to play in protecting public health in small, but meaningful ways,” Vogel said in an email. “This can be a very individual thing — supporting your local community-serving nonprofit or volunteering as a heat health monitor or checking in on your elderly neighbor.”
For individuals such as rental property owners or those who employ outdoor workers, it is crucial for them to recognize the important role they have in ensuring the safety of others.
“Do you own a rental property? Then you may literally define the conditions that your renters live in,” Vogel said. “Are you in the upper ranks of an employer of outdoor workers or indoor workers in buildings without AC? Again, you can raise the issue and provide crucial relief from the heat.”
The report highlights the need for coordinated efforts in several different capacities. The City of Seattle has opened up cooling centers and offered other resources to manage the heat, but it has become clear that these efforts on their own do not provide a permanent solution to the problem.
Short-term and long-term action is needed in regards to managing extreme heat. While episodes require immediate attention and resources, time between to prepare and even prevent is crucial. Dr. Jeremy Hess, the director of CHanGE, says this tool acknowledges both.
“There’s the longer-term, multi-year time frame,” Hess said. “That’s a completely different set of challenges. This tool allows for that planning on multiple time scales.”
Reach News Editor Sofia Schwarzwalder at [email protected]. Twitter: @schwaarzy
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