- Healthbeat
- Posts
- What to do about the heat? Speak up
What to do about the heat? Speak up
Coming out of this week’s heat advisory, you may be wondering: What are cities doing to prepare for more sweltering days of extreme temperatures?
Rebecca Grapevine
July 31, 2025
Hi, Atlanta!
Compared to 1970, Atlanta now sees almost two more weeks of extreme heat every year. Coming out of this week’s heat advisory, you may be wondering: What are cities doing to prepare for more sweltering days of extreme temperatures?
One answer is Atlanta’s’ Climate Resilience Action Plan Framework. This is a community-based initiative “to build a stronger, healthier, and more climate-ready city.” The Mayor’s Office of Sustainability and Resilience is taking community input on the plan at events. It’s a chance to voice your concerns.
Here are a couple of places they’ll be: the Piedmont Park Arts Festival on Aug. 16-17; at the Northside Branch Library on Aug. 26; and at City Hall on Sept. 30. Learn more here.
Meanwhile, Decatur worked with Agnes Scott College to craft a comprehensive Climate Resilience Plan. State Rep. Marvin Lim, a Norcross Democrat, has led efforts to track heat and its impact on residents. One tracking effort even led to a new bus shelter in a high- traffic stretch of Jimmy Carter Boulevard.
Hyperlocal efforts are important because even in Hotlanta temperatures can vary widely, depending on location. It’s difficult to measure across the metro area because there’s a shortage of data, Georgia Tech professor Brian Stone told me earlier this year.
Some people are more vulnerable to heat-related illness or even death: children, the elderly, pregnant people, and those who lack air conditioning.
So too are outdoor laborers, like farmworkers and construction workers. Emory University nursing professor Roxana Chicas and other Atlanta researchers have developed a wearable device that measures heat’s impact on worker’s bodies – and prompts them to rehydrate and take breaks. Chicas pointed to a 2016 study that found farmworkers are 35 times more likely than others to die from heat-related causes.
Some local governments have opened cooling shelters this week and officials encourage us all to check on our neighbors.
Read up on how to stay safe in the heat, and how to recognize symptoms of heat-related illnesses in our guide.
ICYMI
Here’s a recap of the latest reporting from Healthbeat:
The Grapevine 🍇
Georgia Tech professor M.G. Finn explains how a rigorous approval process ensures vaccines are safe. (Rebecca Grapevine / Healthbeat)
Science for Georgia hosted a “How Vaccines Work” event at Sceptre Brewing Arts in Oakhurst last week. Georgia Tech professor M.G. Finn gave an illuminating presentation, breaking down the long, rigorous approval process for vaccines and why they are safe. It was fascinating.
What I’m hearing from readers:
Backed by NIH funding, this tech is a powerful example of community-informed public health innovation designed to protect those most vulnerable to climate extremes. Thank you Rebecca Grapevine for writing and sharing this exciting story and innovation.
What Do You Know?
Test your knowledge of public health topics. Today’s question:
Who created the polio vaccine? |
Tell Me More
What public health issues are you thinking about? What stories should I be looking into? You can reach me at [email protected], post a comment, or reply to this email.
In health,
Rebecca
Looking for your next read? Check out these other great newsletters.
|
|
|
|
Reply