As the climate warms, heat waves become increasingly intense and dangerous, increasing the risk of extreme heat becoming sick or killing people. But even if federal climate action stagnates in the United States, local governments can step in to protect their residents.
Candice Youngblood, a lawyer at EarthJustice, a nonprofit public interest environmental law organization, said ordinary people can participate in pushing their governments to strengthen emergency preparedness. It might look like attending a council meeting, joining community organizations and gathering neighbors.
“Our local elected officials, they serve us, so you can go to their offices, discuss with them the issues you care about and make sure the decisions they are making are serving our interests and the world we are trying to create,” Youngblood said.
There are only a number of ways in this article that local governments can immediately have a direct impact on residents’ quality of life, health and safety as they face increasingly extreme weather.
1. Help residents experiencing homelessness find safe permanent housing.
Extreme heat is the deadliest weather hazard in the United States, and climate change makes heat waves more frequent and severe.
Heat waves are especially dangerous for those who do not have reliable access to safe indoor shelters. A growing number of studies have shown that hot overnight temperatures can be particularly deadly. People are at a higher risk of dying when they sleep in places without air conditioning on hot nights.
Mary Frances Kenion, vice president of training and technical assistance at the National Alliance, said all states in the U.S. lack the shelter to protect people from extreme temperatures.
“As these weather-related extremes increase, people must start thinking about emergency preparation and responses with homeless people throughout the year as well as to those who are homeless,” she said.
Kenny said local governments could create safer conditions for unacceptable residents by adopting a housing priority strategy. Housing-first approach prioritizes those who are providing permanent housing for homeless people so that they can go through the steps to find new jobs or to deal with mental health challenges, while their heads are stable.
“Ending homelessness in the United States is achievable,” Kennyon said. “Permanent housing strategies are the direct solution to homelessness.”
Researchers show that housing-first policies are more effective in helping people stabilize their lives than temporary solutions, such as adding more shelter beds. But Kenion acknowledges that temporary solutions are often necessary as communities work to build more housing.
Many cities in the United States have achieved success in implementing housing priority programs. Just in 2012, Houston, Texas, the sixth largest homeless population in the United States that year, the city is committed to unifying the entire public and private organizations under an action plan called The Way to Home, committed to housing priority. Martha Teichner of CBS reported in April 2024 that Houston’s homeless population has dropped by 63% since then, and more than 30,000 people have been placed in permanent housing.
If you want to participate in the end of homelessness, you can find and support affordable housing and housing justice organizations in the community, attend and speak at relevant city council meetings or lobby city officials.
Read more: 13 tips on climate change lobbying elected officials
2. Provide public communications and resources during heat waves.
Although people have increased health risks to climate change to strengthen calories
Ocean waves, many people still don’t know that heat poses a danger to their bodies or resources that may help them stay cool.
In a 2024 interview, climate change and public health expert Kristie Ebi told Yale Climate Connections that it would save lives if local governments develop early heat wave warnings and response plans. She stressed that “responsive” components are crucial.
“The smoke alarms make no sense without fire engines,” Naveen Rao, senior vice president of health programs at the Rockefeller Foundation, responded in an interview with Times journalist Harry Booth.
In the early 2000s, many American cities introduced thermal warning systems, but they often failed to save lives. In a 2018 paper, Brown and Harvard researchers reported the impact of warnings on mortality rates in 20 cities. They found that in most cases, warnings do not result in a decrease in heat death.
The exception to Philadelphia is that researchers estimate that average life saved for each health alert issued. The researchers assumed that the city's strong response plans differed.
When Philadelphia declares emergency heat, activate the following services to keep residents alive and cool:
- The hotline (a special helpline number) is open to people with health problems or problems.
- Cooling locations are available to the public.
- The Homeless Office has added its outreach.
- Utilities closures were suspended.
- Philadelphia’s Animal Care and Control Team enforces other pet safety measures.
The city also reminds people of health risks. Warnings are issued on city websites via free email and text services, “When daytime temperatures reach 90s or triple digits, accompanied by high humidity for two or more days, dehydration, heat exhaustion and hot winds will occur.”
It is important to note that heatwave warnings are often caused by predictions from the National Weather Service, with many offices understaffing following the Trump administration’s layoffs. If the predictions are privatized, as proposed by the 2025 project, or become inaccurate due to staffing or data issues, the city may have to find new ways to decide when to send a warning.
3. Thermal safety protection is required for outdoor workers.
People working outside hot weather are disproportionately attacked by heat-related diseases and deaths. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, a total of 986 workers in the United States died from 1992 to 2022.
Outdoor work that requires physical exercise is the most dangerous during heat waves. Although only 6% of the U.S. workforce, construction workers account for 34% of all workplace heat deaths reported by the EPA. Globally, researchers estimate that farm workers face a 35% higher risk of heat-related death compared to workers in other industries.
Phoenix residents are no strangers. In 2024, the city has 143 days of temperatures rising to 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
The Phoenix City Council unanimously passed a decree in March 2024 requiring city contractors and subcontractors to develop a plan to prevent heat-related illnesses and injuries in the workplace.
Workers at the city-owned Phoenix Airport began organizing in 2019 for thermal protection. Victoria Stahl works for the Local 11 Unite here, which union represents hotel and food service staff at the airport. Starr said working with other unions and stakeholders made the process more successful and led to the passage of the ordinance.
“When you have an alliance, you can not only get different voices and different concerns, but you can make a bigger noise,” she said. “People are saying together, ‘No, it’s a problem and we need to fix it. You need to treat us with dignity and respect, you need to give us what we need so we don’t get sick or possibly die from a stroke at work.”
The union organization could be particularly strong, Starr said. However, if you can’t get a union, you can first talk to other community members, build alliances with other vulnerable groups, and then go to the city council to testify with elected officials or meet one-on-one.
For those who wish to be part of the alliance building, Stahl recommends considering others are vulnerable to warm influences – she has specially brought together unwelcome people and veterans and joined the organizations that support them.
“It really started, it was just a conversation,” Starr said. “A lot of people don’t realize how much they have in common and what they are struggling with, and others are working on it.”
The ordinance passed around Phoenix, Miami-Dade County, Florida, is moving towards passing similar protections. In response, Florida passed a law that prohibits local thermal safety laws. Texas did the same thing the year before.
“I’m glad Phoenix might be the first to pass this,” Starr said. “But it’s also very sad that more and more workers across the country are not using the same protection, because despite the extreme heat of the Phoenix, we are not the only ones.”
4. Reduce air pollution from city buses and trucks
Another way cities can save lives is to transfer public transportation and city fleets to electric vehicles. According to a study by researchers at Harvard, University of Birmingham, University of Leicester and University College London, the air pollution caused by burning fossil fuels is one in five deaths worldwide.
In the United States, many buses and trucks run on diesel fuel. Respiration in diesel pollution can cause asthma and worsen heart and lung disease. According to the California Air Resources Commission, in California, diesel pollution is called particulate matter, resulting in an estimated 730 cardiopulmonary deaths, 160 hospitalizations and 370 emergency room visits. The board said diesel engines emit about 70% of the cancer risk of air pollutants in California.
On hot and sunny days, particulate matter in traffic exhausts can turn into ozone pollution, which can also exacerbate the lungs. Air pollution also has cognitive effects and has been shown to harm students and workers’ performance.
In Los Angeles County, environmental justice and labor organizers with the Los Angeles County electric bus and truck alliance have been pushing for electrification of city buses and fleets.
“That's the truck that carries our goods, the mail truck in every community, the school bus that takes our kids to class, and the school bus that brings our children to the public transport fleet,” said Candice Youngblood, an attorney at EarthJustice.
In some ways, thanks to their efforts, the third largest public transportation fleet in the United States, Los Angeles Metro, is committed to transitioning to an all-electric fleet by 2030. While some progress has been made, including completely vibrating a bus line, the city said in 2024 that a full transition to electric buses will need to be completed until 2035.
Youngblood said the league is pushing the city to speed up and prioritizes transitions ahead of the 2028 Olympics, which will be held in Los Angeles.
She said the city has the opportunity to demonstrate leadership, especially as federal investment declines.
“We see cities really fighting in the first Trump administration,” said Janbrod. “When Los Angeles initially committed to an all-electric fleet, that was during the first Trump administration,” he said. “It is crucial that countries and regions continue to demonstrate leadership and pave the way forward.”
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