by MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — Jane Gilbert was enjoying the mild temperatures and gentle breeze in early March as she hurried between meetings.
She knows the heat will be here soon enough.
Here at the Miami Beach Convention Center, Gilbert and hundreds of scientists, policymakers, activists and business leaders have gathered for the Aspen Ideas: Climate conference, a three-day event to discuss global warming solutions and adaptations.
Gilbert is the chief heating officer for Miami-Dade County, which counts more than 2.6 million people on the southeastern tip of Florida. In 2021, she became the first person in the world with that title, and since then she has been joined by a handful of others in cities around the world who are dealing with the reality of extreme heat in a warming world.
Gilbert said the top heat officials stay in touch through a group chat on WhatsApp, sharing tips with each other and suggesting policy changes.
“I talk to the chief heating officers in Phoenix and LA the most, but I’ve learned from Melbourne, Australia, Santiago, Chile, and Athens, Greece,” she said. “That kind of sharing of resources is one of the greatest strengths and satisfying aspects of my job.”
In South Florida, known for its tropical conditions, Gilbert’s job is to help protect residents from extreme heat and humidity and make the county more resilient to extreme heat exacerbated by climate change.
Of particular concern are the most vulnerable when temperatures rise: children, the elderly, homeless populations, people who work outside and low-income communities.
“If you live and work in air conditioning and can have a car with air conditioning, you’ll probably be fine. We’re not really worried about you,” Gilbert said. “It’s that field worker, it’s that person who can’t stay cool at home, it’s that person who has to wait an hour at a bus stop that’s not safe.”
Her work to reach those most at risk was critical last year, when Miami had its hottest summer on record.
“In the 14 years leading up to 2023, we averaged six days a year that reached a heat index of 105 degrees or above,” Gilbert said. “Last summer, we had over 42 days, so it was seven times higher than average.”
Many predictions suggest that things will only get worse.
The planet, as a whole, notched the hottest year in recorded history in 2023. Climate scientists have said that this year could be just as hot – if not hotter.
Gilbert recalled the kind of pushback she faced when she was appointed from people who saw the heat as a way of life in this part of the country. Why, of all places, would South Florida need someone solely focused on the south?
“It’s always been hot here, but we’ve had 77 more days with temperatures over 90 degrees than we had 50 years ago,” she said. “That’s a different level of hot.”
Heat is often called the “silent killer” and kills more people in the United States each year than any other weather event, according to the National Weather Service. Gilbert said emergency visits to heat-related rooms also increased last summer when temperatures peaked.
Studies have shown that this part of Florida could experience 88 days of the year, or about three months, by mid-century, with a heat index temperature at or above 105 degrees Fahrenheit. Heat index values represent what temperature feels like to the human body when humidity and air temperature are combined.
For Gilbert, the projections show there is no time to waste.
This month, ahead of the heating season, her team is reaching out to renters and owners about affordable ways to cool their homes. As was the case last year, there will also be training programs for health care practitioners, homeless outreach workers and summer camp providers.
Gilbert said the biggest priority is to reach the most vulnerable and tailor the message to different communities. That’s why efforts to raise awareness about the dangers of extreme heat and how people can prepare are spread on the radio, on social media and through community channels in English, Spanish and Haitian Creole, which she said.
Next month, her team’s outreach will not go into what employers can do to keep their workers safe. The efforts took on new importance after the Florida Senate last week approved a bill that would prohibit cities and counties from adopting requirements for mandatory water breaks and other workplace protections against extreme heat beyond what is required by the federal law.
Labor organizations have said banning local governments from setting workplace heat standards would harm the health and safety of people working in construction, agriculture and other industries that require workers to be outside.
Gilbert said the legislation is of great concern because construction workers are up to 11 times more likely to suffer heat-related illnesses during extreme heat events compared to the average person, and farm workers are 35 times more likely probable. It will be a priority in the coming months to educate those workers about their rights even without local heat rituals, she said.
Despite the challenges, Gilbert said, she and her colleagues can still make progress pushing employers to follow general rules set by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Part of that will be educating employers about how a heat safety plan would improve productivity during the hottest months, increase employee retention, result in fewer workers’ compensation claims and other positive economic benefits.
“That’s where we have to double down,” she said. “We are building our relationship with our OSHA office to highlight the good actors and possibly call out the bad actors.”
Gilbert, formerly the chief resiliency officer for the city of Miami, knows how to tackle legislative challenges. Nor does she mind that this week’s climate change conference is being hosted in a city often called “ground zero” for the country’s climate crisis.
“Florida is kind of a political hot potato, and I’m used to climate as a political issue,” she said. “But we do what we can, right?”
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
