A senior executive defense consultant with the South Florida Defense Alliance (SFDA) www.southfloridadefensealliance.org, Pamela Berkowsky has worked in defense and defense-related sectors for more than three decades. Certified as a Climate Communicator by the CLEO Institute, Pamela Berkowsky focuses on resiliency and the national security implications of climate change, particularly the impacts on U.S. military installations, personnel and operations. Climate change is causing stress on the planet and climate scientists continue to warn that it remains the greatest threat to human health in recorded history. Heat is one of the most dangerous, deadly, and under-discussed dangers of climate change. Heat and drought pose a significant threat to the American economy, global food and water supplies, and the emergency response system in general. In recognition of the need to raise public awareness of the increasing severity of and risks from excessive heat events, naming and ranking heat has emerged as one of many public policy responses to the climate crisis, while Florida’s Miami-Dade County has named the first-ever Chief Heat Officer to focus on this “silent killer”. Heatwaves are growing increasingly deadly, and according to a study published earlier this year in Nature, heat is not an equal opportunity climate threat. In fact, around the world people living below the poverty level are 50% more exposed to the “urban heat island effect” in which pavement and concrete absorb more heat than trees and grass, thereby driving up temperature levels. The Extreme Heat Resilience Alliance (an international coalition built by the nonpartisan Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center at the Atlantic Council) has made addressing these racial and urban “zip code” inequities a priority. The Alliance is also seeking to improve public health data collection and to create public insurance mechanisms to assist cities in accessing funding and resources for heat wave mitigation and response measures.

1. Climate Change -- Dangers of Heat Wave
Pamela Berkowsky

2. Introduction
A senior executive defense consultant with the South Florida Defense Alliance
(SFDA) www.southfloridadefensealliance.org, Pamela Berkowsky has worked in
defense and defense-related sectors for more than three decades. Certified as a
Climate Communicator by the CLEO Institute, Pamela Berkowsky focuses on
resiliency and the national security implications of climate change, particularly
the impacts on U.S. military installations, personnel and operations. Climate
change is causing stress on the planet and climate scientists continue to warn
that it remains the greatest threat to human health in recorded history. Heat is
one of the most dangerous, deadly, and under-discussed dangers of climate
change.

3. Heat and drought pose a significant threat to the American economy, global
food and water supplies, and the emergency response system in general. In
recognition of the need to raise public awareness of the increasing severity
of and risks from excessive heat events, naming and ranking heat has
emerged as one of many public policy responses to the climate crisis, while
Florida’s Miami-Dade County has named the first-ever Chief Heat Officer to
focus on this “silent killer”. Heatwaves are growing increasingly deadly, and
according to a study published earlier this year in Nature, heat is not an
equal opportunity climate threat. In fact, around the world people living
below the poverty level are 50% more exposed to the “urban heat island
effect” in which pavement and concrete absorb more heat than trees and
grass, thereby driving up temperature levels.

4. The Extreme Heat Resilience Alliance (an international coalition built by the
nonpartisan Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center at the
Atlantic Council) has made addressing these racial and urban “zip code”
inequities a priority. The Alliance is also seeking to improve public health
data collection and to create public insurance mechanisms to assist cities in
accessing funding and resources for heat wave mitigation and response
measures.