We are just entering summer and already some parts of the country are under heat advisories. The first heat wave of the season started last Friday, literally, on the first official day of summer and has been impacting about 128 million Americans from Louisiana to Maine. The US West, including California, hasn’t been impacted by this particular heatwave. But it’s only a matter of time. In fact, what you might not know is, extreme heat is now the leading climate-related health hazard in California. It claims more lives annually than any other climate threat.

To understand what this growing climate threat means, who is at most risk, and to learn about some actions we can take to protect ourselves, Earth Island Journal editor-in-chief and Terra Verde cohost Maureen Nandini Mitra talks with Bibiana Martinez, a public health researcher with Heluna Health, a California-based public health research organization that works to improve health equity, and Walker Wieland, manager of the California’s new CalHeatScore program, a pilot project that ranks risk from extreme heat by ZIP code and seeks to protect vulnerable populations from heatwaves.

Resources:

Use the CalHeatScore tool to check out heat conditions in your region and also join the program’s listserv to get notices of upcoming webinars and workshops on the issue.

Read this Heluna post to lear learn more about staying safe in the heat and identifying signs of heat illness.

The post Coping with Extreme Heat appeared first on KPFA.