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Hello and welcome to the Excerpt. I'm Dana Taylor. Today is Sunday June 16, 2024. May 2024 marked the 12th straight month of record warm temperatures for the planet.

Here in the U.S. temperatures across the country are likely to break records again this summer,

increasing health risks to those spending long periods outdoors, from construction workers,

to migrants illegally crossing the border.

Temperatures in the Pacific Northwest are also expected to be high and for the many without air conditioning, that will be dangerous.

Government and business leaders have long struggled to cope with protecting people from the heat.

Is this our new normal?

Our guest Kathy Bothman McCloud is the founder and CEO of Climate Resilience for

all a nonprofit dedicated to protecting vulnerable

communities from extreme heat. Thanks for joining us Kathy. Thank you for

having me. Last summer broke records across the country with extreme temperatures.

Are we expecting more of the same this summer?

Yes, we are.

And one of the things that's most concerning is that the weather phenomenon of El Nino is lessening, is abating.

And scientists are now in some uncharted territory is to understand why is heat accelerating the rate that it is when El Nino is going away.

And so it is still expected those high temperatures and high humidity and new phenomenon where we've learned about

heat domes and we've seen atmospheric rivers and so we're in new territory but the

temperatures and the conditions that the human body and our infrastructure and our society is facing is in uncharted waters.

Kathy, which communities are most at risk here and how do we protect them?

Communities in cities and towns all over the world,

...