вЂњPeople were not expecting the government to do anything,вЂќ Perea said. They could look around their neighborhoods and see streets and parks that had been neglected for years. In Phoenix, local residents worked with researchers and city and county officials to develop hyper-local heat plans.Дavid Crummey, Courtesy of Melissa GuardaroДЄt first, people were distrustful. A coalition of community based organizations, including Chispa, researchers from Arizona State University and the Nature Conservancy, and city and county officials came together to create hyper-local heat plans for the three neighborhoods most at risk in the Phoenix metropolitan area. When outsiders try to communicate with them вЂњfrom the top down,вЂќ it goes nowhere.ДЄ few years ago, Perea participated in a project that took a different approach. So people, community members, they donвЂ™t buy it. вЂњWhen people from the outside come to these communities, they already have the solutions. Too often, Perea has seen government officials and nonprofit organizations come into neighborhoods like West Phoenix to try to tell people what to do without bothering to listen. Though it may sound basic, Perea says that the first step towards adapting to the heat is to talk with the people who are most at risk. вЂњRight now itвЂ™s happening in Phoenix, but soon, itвЂ™s going to be happening everywhere,вЂќ Perea said. These steps offer an example for other cities throughout the country that are grappling with deadly heat. While more needs to be done, Phoenix does have protocols in place for when extreme heat hits, and was the first city in the country to fund an office of heat response and mitigation. But in many ways, the city is better prepared than others that are experiencing more and more extreme heat due to climate change. вЂњPeople are still dying, and every heat death is an unnecessary death,вЂќ she said. Melissa Guardaro, a research professor at Arizona State University. In Phoenix and in other cities across the country, Perea and countless others have been working to help those who are the most vulnerable keep safe from the rising temperatures. The areas that were redlined are still the hottest areas within cities - sometimes by 18 degrees Fahrenheit, Shandas found. вЂњFor communities of color, immigrant communities, and lower income communities living in those historically redlined areas, disinvestment brought lots of concrete, asphalt in the form of highways and freeways, big box stores, industrial facilities,вЂќ said Shandas. He found that areas that underwent redlining - the governmentвЂ™s practice of excluding people of color from federally-insured mortgages - were consistently hotter than other areas. Vivek Shandas, a professor of climate adaptation at Portland State University, analyzed temperatures in 108 different urban areas.

Like many other aspects of climate change, extreme heat highlights inequities, such asВ who lives in a neighborhood with plenty of shade and green space, and who lives in a neighborhood with more pavement than parks. Last year, there were 338 heat-related deaths in Maricopa County, where Phoenix is located - the most of any county in Arizona.

Heat is the number one weather-related killer in the U.S. One of his top priorities is to protect the people in West and South Phoenix who are most likely to suffer, get sick, and even die from extreme heat. A former construction worker, heвЂ™s now the organizing director of Chispa Arizona, a grassroots group that fights for clean air and water, healthy neighborhoods, and climate action in Latino communities. For many in the hottest city in America, summer is something to survive. Summer is not something to look forward to in Phoenix, Arizona.

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