Climate advocates and policy experts are offering North Carolina lawmakers a blueprint to better promote public health and climate resiliency.

The report from the group CleanAIRE NC has a number of recommendations. Among them are disaster recovery reform and integration of environmental and health data. The report called for addressing extreme heat as a public health necessity by providing cooling infrastructure to underserved communities and heat islands.

Crystal Dixon, associate professor of practice in environment and sustainability at Wake Forest University, said such efforts will help save lives.

"There are a lot of people that don’t have a lot of cooling resources and things that create comfortable conditions," Dixon pointed out. "Honestly, it’s a luxury to have a working HVAC these days. With that said, vulnerable communities are just exposed to uninhabitable homes during heat events."

In 2025, nearly 6,000 North Carolinians went to the emergency room for a heat-related illness. Only 1,000 of those visits were from workplaces.

North Carolina is still recovering from Hurricane Helene, which damaged infrastructure, businesses and homes across the state.

Andrew Whelan, director of communication strategy for CleanAIRE NC, said the report is a useful tool for lawmakers as they dig into resilience gaps.

"It provides policymakers with the evidence-based 'why' and the community-supported 'how' all in one place," Whelan explained. "We really feel that it can be used as the basis to advance a lot of policies that will really be aimed at improving community health."

The group plans to share its findings with policymakers, public health experts and community organizations in hopes the recommendations will get a serious look.

Source: Public News Service