Extreme heat contributes to nearly half a million deaths each year. As a member of UNCDD-CLP and of UNEP Nature for Life Hub’s Learning For Nature, living and working in the arid region of Southern California, I support and in fact have implemented the UNEP's 50@50 activation launched on June 2, Heat Action Day, to confront extreme heat taken place in so call swelling cities.
Since May 2026 I've engaged an educational campaign titled "CIEDM Actions for Heat Resilience & Safety @ Arcadia Ecohome" during a three-week span to take part in three national and international awareness campaigns for heat awareness and preparedness: National Heat Safety Week on May 18–22, National Heat Awareness Day on May 29, and Global Heat Action Day: June 2, today. As extreme heat intensify in cities, we need trees and green spaces even more to help protect our health, livelihoods, and safety, and urban landscapes can be designed and managed as essential community resilient infrastructure.
At the Arcadia Ecohome, Arcadia, California, we CIEDM foresters have grown a Microforest of 500+ trees as a nature-based solution to cool our neighborhood and the Ecohome itself. I am spreading this posting and sharing my comments as part of our educational campaign to raise awareness of what we can do in swelling cities.