Making extreme heat impacts visible in frontline communities. Working in Boston, Phoenix, and New Orleans. A project at Boston University School of Public Health funded by a Climate Impact Award from Wellcome Foundation.
About CATCHContact us
CATCH PI Patricia Fabian was recently awarded the Resilient Boston Award, recognizing leaders that are preparing Boston for the impacts of climate change, including sea level rise, severe weather events, and extreme heat, for her "data-driven research and collaborative leadership in environmental health which has directly advanced resilience, equity and public health policy within Boston’s schools and frontline communities".
This new database provides a collection of policies that affect populations' heat sensitivity and ability to adapt to extreme heat. Search by topic, vulnerable population, intervention, location, and more! Check back frequently - we are constantly expanding the cities included in this database.
Although millions of individuals are vulnerable to extreme heat, frontline communities include neighborhoods and groups of people that:
Historical factors and inequities play a strong role in exacerbating the impacts of extreme heat for frontline communities.
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Heat is a "silent killer" - meaning it lacks the visible devastation of other extreme weather events, such as storms, and often has severe impacts on health by exacerbating other health issues such as chronic illnesses.
Exposure to extreme heat results in more emergency room visits, more hospital admissions, and more deaths than hurricanes, floods, and tornadoes combined.
Disadvantaged communities within cities systematically experience heat exposure health impacts at disproportionately higher rates.
In the last twenty years, extreme heat events have increased in frequency and duration, affecting millions of people globally.
working with partner organizations
and community-based organizations
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in three cities focused on climate-resilience work
Gender inequality sees women labour in poor quality housing despite soaring temperatures, with solutions limited, expensive and inadequate
Nearly a fifth of all Pakistani households rely on solar energy, but the people installing and cleaning these panels have little to no protection
Life in the favelas surrounding Brazil’s capital brings the health risks of extreme heat – a symptom of the global inequities of green space access
As rising temperatures place huge pressure on health, Jai Das is testing affordable ways to cool houses and change lives
While refrigerants in air conditioners and heat pumps are keeping people healthy amid global warming, some experts fear a secret climate impact
