"Advocating for Urgent Action: Addressing Extreme Heat in the U.S."

Kathy Baughman McLeod, senior vice president and director of the Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center, is advocating for the U.S. and the world to take extreme heat more seriously. She is pushing for the appointment of "chief heat officers" in cities, the categorization and naming of heat waves, and improved data collection on heat-related illnesses and deaths. Baughman McLeod emphasizes the need for clearer data to create a sense of urgency and save lives, as human-caused climate change is making heat waves more frequent and intense. She calls for targeted public awareness campaigns and government action to mitigate the impact of extreme heat.