Preparing for Rising Temperatures with Dr. Laureen Husband

Today we're talking about a topic that everyone in our audience will certainly be familiar with.....And That. Is.

 Heat.  This weekend, New York Times bestselling author Jeff Goodell will be in town to discuss his book, The Heat Will Kill You First. The downtown main library will be hosting an interview with the author at 2 p. m. on Saturday, May 18th.  This event is co-sponsored by the St. John's Riverkeeper and the Jacksonville Climate Coalition. It's free and open to the public.

So given that we have this high-profile author coming to town, we thought it would be good to talk about heat in Jacksonville.  Those of you that have been with us for a while might remember that we talked about urban heat earlier this year with Dr. Adam Rosenblatt. If you missed it, it's worth a listen here.

Adam did a great job of explaining the science behind why areas such as downtown are up to 20 degrees hotter than areas like San Marco on any given day.  Today, we're going to focus on the health impact of living in a hotter world, specifically in hotter cities. Jacksonville experienced record breaking heat last summer, and the trend is only going to continue over time. 

So the question is: How do we protect ourselves and our neighbors in the face of this new normal? My guest today, Dr. Laureen Husband, is going to help us answer those questions.

Jacksonville Climate Coalition

Transcript

Understanding the Impact of Heat

Lori Ann Santamaria 0:00

Welcome to Sustainable North Florida . I'm your host , Laurie-Anne Santamaria .

Dr. Laureen Husband 0:06

We often displace that to think about hurricanes , but heat is the number one imminent danger to Floridians right now that we need to be thinking about that . We need to ensure that we are responding to .

Lori Ann Santamaria 0:21

Hi and welcome to Sustainable North Florida . I'm your host , Lori Ann Santamaria , and today we're talking about a topic that everyone in our audience will certainly be familiar with , and that is heat . This weekend , New York Times bestselling author Jeff Goodell will be in town to discuss his book The Heat Will Kill You First . The downtown main library will be hosting an interview with the author at 2 pm on Saturday , May 18th , and the event is co-sponsored by the St John's Riverkeeper and the Jacksonville Climate Coalition . It's free and open to the public . So , given that we have this high- profile author coming to town , we thought it would be good to talk about heat in Jacksonville .

Lori Ann Santamaria 0:58

Those of you that have been with us for a while might remember that we talked about urban heat earlier this year with Dr Adam Rosenblatt for a while might remember that we talked about urban heat earlier this year with Dr Adam Rosenblatt , and if you missed it , it's worth a listen . Adam did a great job of explaining the science behind why areas such as downtown are up to 20 degrees hotter than areas like San Marco on any given day . Today , we're going to focus on the health impact of living in a hotter world , specifically in hotter cities . Jacksonville experienced record-breaking heat last summer , and the trend is only going to continue over time . So the question is how do we protect ourselves and our neighbors in the face of this new normal ? My guest today is going to help us answer those questions and more . Dr Laureen Husband , welcome to the show . Thank you so much . So , Dr . Husband , you and I originally met through our work at the Jacksonville Climate Coalition , but you wear many , many hats throughout the community . Can you tell us a little bit about your background ?

Dr. Laureen Husband 1:51

Yes , so I initially came to Jacksonville as the director of Healthy Jacksonville with the Florida Department of Health in Duval County and in that capacity I was responsible for facilitating coalitions to address the emerging problems around public health in our city and in our state .

Lori Ann Santamaria 2:35

I'm able to do population health type interventions that address the root causes of hunger , which is mostly poverty and things like increasing urban heat and other climate challenges that we're having around the world . So let's start with the fair question that many people have , which is we live in Florida . It's hot , it always has been . What's the big deal ? We live ?

Dr. Laureen Husband 2:44

in Florida it's hot . It always has been . What's the big deal , though ? It's not just hot , it's exponentially hot . So , for example we've already seen this is we're in the spring season , so today is May 14th , but just last week we experienced heat in . I think it was 96 degrees Fahrenheit was the predicted heat was 96 degrees Fahrenheit was the predicted heat , but because of the high humidity that we experienced in Florida , temperatures felt like over 100 degrees , and this is just the spring . So that is making a significant difference to a lot of people , most especially individuals who are vulnerable , which includes senior citizens , people with chronic conditions and children , and then particularly individuals who do not have adequate air conditioning or they don't have any tree canopy in their yards or on their street . For those people , what once felt like 100 degrees for some of us probably felt like 110 , 117 degrees in some parts of our communities .

Lori Ann Santamaria 3:45

That's a really big difference when we have these heat advisories that come through . So all summer at Taba we get these heat advisories occasionally . Is there a difference in types of heat , or when should people be looking out to protect themselves ?

Dr. Laureen Husband 3:58

You know , for me the answer would be lately . It seems like you need to be protecting yourself against heat all year round in Florida . But what I have particularly paying attention to is the persistent high nighttime temperatures . So it used to be that even if we saw 95 degree days , our temperatures would dip during the night to be , you know , at least to 60 , 70 degrees Fahrenheit , you know , at least to 60 , 70 degrees Fahrenheit . But sometimes we're seeing that those temperatures , when they are up to 95 or 100 degrees 104 , those temperatures are only going down maybe 10 degrees lower .

Dr. Laureen Husband 4:36

So our environment is not having time for respite , to cool down , our homes are not cooling down , our sidewalks are not cooling down and this continuous exposure to heat is preventing our bodies from recovering . It's preventing the plants around us from recovering . It's actually killing a lot of small vertebraes when there's extended long sessions of heat . So those persistent heats that we're seeing during the day and the night , they're making it very , very uncomfortable , because at least we could count on nighttime for things to be a little bit more comfortable . But that's not happening lately .

Lori Ann Santamaria 5:14

Yeah , I think that's a really important point that not many people are aware of . People tend to take a look at the highest temperature throughout the day , and while that is certainly dangerous from a long-term perspective , really it's also important to see what's happening at night in that temperature gradient . So while nighttime might be cooler , if it's just a little bit cooler , your body doesn't have that chance to recover , and then that chronic stress on the body really makes an impact . Can we talk a little bit about what happens to the body in extreme heat ? What symptoms might somebody start to realize ?

Dr. Laureen Husband 5:42

Um , dehydration is the first sign . When you start to sweat , you're losing a significant amount of fluids from your body . And then there's the electrolyte imbalance Sweating depletes the body's salts and minerals , which leads to a disruption of your cellular functions and which also impairs your muscles and your nerve activity activity . That's when you start feeling . You know , after sweating on a hot day you might start feeling confused . Your body is cramping up , you feel kind of disoriented and that means you've already lost too many electrolytes . And then there's heat exhaustion and stroke . So I think on any given day , once the temperatures go above between 104 to 107 , you are at a high risk of experiencing heat exhaustion and stroke and you should immediately try to go to a place where your body can stop sweating and you can release that heat by getting cooler .

Lori Ann Santamaria 6:47

By getting cooler , you know , if you don't have any air conditioning around you , getting into a body of water like a pool or jumping into a lake might help , yeah , and so there are quite a few things there that you mentioned that might be easier for some people than for others , right ? So certainly , as we mentioned earlier in the show , there's potentially a 20 degree difference in temperatures in various neighborhoods throughout the community . So some potentially a 20 degree difference in temperatures in various neighborhoods throughout the community . So some neighborhoods are hotter and actually in those neighborhoods that are hotter you have people that might also be more vulnerable to heat . And what you just mentioned , you know , going into AC , hopping into a pool . That might not be easy for these folks .

Dr. Laureen Husband 7:20

Yeah , for most of our communities the tree canopy has been destroyed over time . The first place I actually noticed the urban heat effect was early on in the 1990s when I first visited Houston , and Houston is a huge city that has very little . You know , downtown Houston used to have very little tree canopy and they're working to remedy that . But similarly the downtown Jacksonville does not have a lot of tree canopy . But if you visit our historical communities like San Marco , riverside , springfield , alhondale , you start to see more tree canopy

The Impact of Urban Heat

Dr. Laureen Husband 8:00

. But as you go into our low income areas and places where you know our new developments are coming , the tree canopy is not as present and actually people tend to cut down the trees because of misinformation around hurricane prevention , windstorm damage protections and not understanding that actually that may seem like the solution but it's actually making things worse Because as you reduce your tree canopy you actually allow for that wind to come through your neighborhood and decimate anything that's standing , because trees usually act as a buffer .

Dr. Laureen Husband 8:39

But not only do they act as a buffer , but they also help to reduce the heat .

Dr. Laureen Husband 8:44

Think of you walking down a sidewalk in a neighborhood that has trees during the heat of summer versus walking down in a neighborhood that has no trees the one that has no trees you get direct penetration to your skull , direct sun rays hitting your skull , and in places where you have a huge tree canopy those rays are buffered .

Dr. Laureen Husband 9:07

You have a layer of intervention before that heat hits your skin and therefore it feels much less so . Low-income neighborhoods , like I just stated , tend to have less tree canopy and I know that we have a targeted strategy that will be coming in place for the city of Jacksonville to increase tree canopy in every neighborhood , but first starting with our low income areas , where those trees have been decimated , and then there's the action of groups in our historic neighborhoods , neighborhoods . So you have all these resident-led initiatives where residents work to protect especially old trees , because those provide the most effective tree canopy in terms of protections for residents and protections for houses , homes for birds and other creatures . So , folks in those historic neighborhoods , they're organized enough that they ensure that if there's a development coming , they are in place to make sure that those developers are having to go through all the different legal avenues before they are allowed to cut a tree down , and that's the difference .

Lori Ann Santamaria 10:24

So that's interesting to know that those different groups are doing that in Jacksonville . You mentioned the city first , so who is doing that ?

Dr. Laureen Husband 10:30

So yes , there's Green Scape . Jacksonville , I think , is leading the charge to improve the tree canopy in Jacksonville . Quantifying that in our city laws is important because then it will ensure that over time it's not something that we just do during one administration , but it's something that will be done by residents of Jacksonville over time , unless that law , or whatever the strategy , is no longer adopted , which I don't see happening .

Lori Ann Santamaria 11:01

So making sure that we have enough trees and the right kinds of trees right , Not palm trees and things that are not going to provide a lot of shade , but making sure that we have enough trees and the right kinds of trees right , not not palm trees and things that are not going to provide a lot of shade , but making sure that we have the right trees in the right places . That's certainly going to help us in the future . But how do we deal with the here and now for people that are exposed to this urban heat ? What city resources are available or what neighborhood resources are available to them ?

Dr. Laureen Husband 11:23

Yeah , so just last summer we had the first opportunity to demonstrate what air conditioning as spaces for residents to go to and most neighborhoods are . Almost every neighborhood in Jacksonville is within a few miles of a library or a community center , so ensuring that people have those resources available , and I think there's also talk about maybe utilizing some of the assets that JTA has for folks who may not have opportunities to go to a library or community center . If we have JTA buses that are operating and those buses are fully air-conditioned , why can't we also use those spaces during extreme heat events ? I know the city is working on public awareness programs . So is the Department of Health to educate people , and this is a statement that I've heard Anne , our chief resiliency officer , say that heat actually is the most dangerous thing that we have to deal with in Florida , and we often displace that to think about hurricanes , but heat is the number one imminent danger to Floridians right now that we need to be thinking about that . We need to ensure that we are responding to .

Dr. Laureen Husband 13:00

And then the other strategy is healthcare services Having our physicians , our clinical centers , our health departments , clinics , etc . Educating our health caregivers about the different conditions that get exacerbated by heat , for example , upper respiratory conditions , chronic conditions all get exacerbated by heat . Stroke-type symptoms in both elders and children also get exacerbated . So educating the population as well as educating our healthcare services to know to look for those symptoms , with people coming in that the conditions they might be presenting might be related to heat , is something else that's happening . And then there's community-based programs that non-profits such as ours are considering , which is ensuring that we're providing access to our air-conditioned spaces .

Dr. Laureen Husband 13:59

So we were just talking about our new facility that will be opening on the north side . So we'll definitely be considering how do we utilize our asset for our neighbors around us who may not have air conditioning , that they can come during the day and get some respite , as well as having hydration stations all around the city of Jacksonville . You know that's something we haven't talked about , but I would love to see more hydration stations around the city of Jacksonville in different neighborhoods for folks to be . You know , as we're encouraging people to participate in walks , physical activity , also knowing where your hydration stations are . If we could have some hydration stations around the Emerald Trail , that would be fantastic , because going on a long you know bike ride or long run without knowing where your water is . It's kind of scary as we continue to get warmer and warmer in our state .

Lori Ann Santamaria 14:54

Yeah , all of that makes a lot of sense . So when we talk about vulnerable populations , Lorene , one thing that comes to mind , or at least to my mind , is people that work outside , so people that might be in construction roofing , certainly agricultural workers If their job requires them to be in the heat . How can these people protect themselves , and are there regulations in place ?

Dr. Laureen Husband 15:15

So those have been reduced through the state , and so now workers have to be really intentional . I would encourage you know everybody to ensure that you have a water source on your body If you're going to be working outside . If you're not able to take those water breaks , ensuring that you cover your head with a hat , maybe having a mister to keep your body cooled , if at all possible . Wearing some clothing with sun protection already as part of it and those cool wicking fabrics so that you're not retaining heat but you're able to release heat and sweat is able to evaporate and not be retained in your clothes .

Lori Ann Santamaria 15:57

So , to clarify , I believe that the legislation that was passed at the state level was specifically preventing local governments from passing ordinances that would protect worker safety with respect to heat , and so , basically , what that does is it puts the onus on individual employers . So hopefully , you work for an employer that's taking care of those issues . If not , then personally taking responsibility for it as much as you can , as you mentioned , I think will be important . You can , as you mentioned , I think will be important but I think we also do need to encourage our local employers to be thinking about their workers that they have out , you know , out in the field , on rooftops , things like that , to make sure that they're giving their workers the appropriate breaks , making sure that they're staying hydrated , all of those things that you mentioned . I think it should be incumbent upon employers to be doing that as well . Yes , I agree , thank you .

Lori Ann Santamaria 16:47

Okay , lorene , you run the Duval County Food Policy Council and I know you like to remind us all the time , and I think you're completely correct , that everything is connected . So how does climate change in general , and maybe urban heat specifically , how does that connect to our food system ?

Dr. Laureen Husband 17:02

So , for one , we just talked about worker safety . Most farm workers are at high risk of heat-related illnesses , which can lead to serious health outcomes and affect their ability to work , and we just talked about worker safety protections . So now you are leaving it up to individual employers to implement those safety protections , and farm workers are really at a disadvantage because they're one of the lowest paid groups . And , you know , I question if employers , in this case , whether it's corporate farmers or individual farmers if they're already paying their workers a very minimal fee for their labor , I somewhat I am what is the word Maybe skeptical . I am very skeptical whether they will improve worker safety measures for their employees , because we have been working really hard to increase how much farm workers are paid .

Dr. Laureen Husband 18:04

The other part is crop productions Because of the high temperatures that we're currently experiencing in Florida . We have noticed that those high temperatures are stressing plants , they are reducing yields , they are affecting the quality of produce , thereby impacting food security and prices . And , to be honest , we're having to look at especially during , you know , late spring , all the way to the middle of the fall , we're having to look at alternative crops that we can grow in Florida , because some of the traditional crops that we have relied on to feed our population . The higher heat are posing a challenge to their growth and therefore we may not be relying on them to feed our populations . We'll have to adjust the kind of crops we're growing based on what we have seen , the evidence around the world , what crops are doing well , you know high yielding crops around the globe based on heat .

Dr. Laureen Husband 19:03

So the other part is economic impact . When you lose crops for farmers , that's financial stability . When you lose crops for farmers , that's financial stability . So if they're not able to make the money because the heat conditions are too high , then we end up seeing more farmers actually in our food lines , which I tell people . It's really not funny that the people who are growing us food are also people who are relying on our food lines to feed their families because their food production has gone drastically much lower than they used to to be competitive .

Lori Ann Santamaria 19:40

That's really a sobering thought that the people that are producing our food are standing in food lines . That's really . I guess it makes sense . It's just , it's really . Yeah . So this has been a pretty heavy topic , I think you know climate change in general is a while .

Dr. Laureen Husband 19:51

I'm excited about having an actual plan around putting tree canopy , you know , like the tree of Jacksonville becoming a thing , and ensuring that we're looking back to history to help dictate what types of trees native trees were here before we started growing ornamental trees , because we know the native flora and fauna that existed had gone through the stress of time to ensure that it was the right type of canopy for our world . And as long as we go back to those strategies , I can see we will actually be making a change . And I grew up in a very small town in Kenya and during the time I was growing up I watched my community as it adopted Western modes of agriculture , start to experience a lot of erosion and they cut down trees and we started seeing some of the same conditions we're seeing now . And it took one woman her name is Professor Wangari Madai who started the Treeing of Kenya and charged every woman and child to plant at least 10 trees

Environmental Transformation and Climate Action

Dr. Laureen Husband 21:20

a year .

Dr. Laureen Husband 21:20

In our village and within a 10-year span of leaving my country and going back Lorien , I was able to see places that used to be environmental galleys , where water was just sliding down the mountains and down the valley . When I came back , it was this beautiful , lush environment full of trees , where people had managed to figure out how to grow food alongside trees instead of taking down the trees , recognizing the important role that trees play in our environment and also recognizing the personal responsibilities that we all have to take care of the earth in our daily living and living alongside the earth as a partner and not as something we need to conquer .

Lori Ann Santamaria 22:06

Oh , wow . Thank you , lorraine . That's a beautiful story and I really cannot think of a better note to end this episode on . Thank you so much . Thank you . If you're in town this Saturday , may 18 , please come check out the live interview with Jeff Goodell . The author of the Heat Will Kill you First , as we get ready for the summer heat , the Jacksonville Climate Coalition will be posting information about what you can do to protect yourself and your loved ones . You can check us out at wwwjaxclimateorg . Here's today's one good thing . This week , the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission , also known as FERC , issued a sweeping reform to transmission grid planning . According to the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy , that's a big deal for the Southeast . The measure will require regional utilities to improve their ability to connect to clean energy resources at the pace required to decarbonize the electricity sector .