Chief Heat Officers in LA, Miami & Phoenix Share Lessons Learned
Was Live Fri, Sep 29, 2023
Guest Speakers
- Jane Gilbert, Chief Heat Officer, City of Miami, Florida
- David Hondula, Director of the Office of Heat Response and Mitigation in Phoenix (INVITED)
- Marta Segura, Chief Heat Officer of the City of Los Angeles
Event Overview
Extreme heat and its effects on populations, particularly those who are vulnerable and poor, has been moving to the forefront in cities and counties around the United States. Over the last couple of years, we have seen the emergence of a new position in some local governments: Chief Heat Officer or a similar title, for public servants in charge of raising public awareness and information campaigns around extreme heat as well as overseeing municipal measures that respond to the problem.
Heat already kills more Americans than any other weather-related incident and the climate crisis has made those events increasingly deadly. Miami, a city with a tropical climate that makes its temperature more dangerous, Phoenix, the hottest largest city in the country and Los Angeles, a city that experts predict to have five times more heat waves by 2050, are the three profiled here by their “heat-fighting” leadership.
We will hear from them about the strategies they are using to undertake this unprecedented task.
