CLIMATE RESILIENCE
Why Does Durham Need This Resource and How Should You Use It?
Understanding Extreme Heat
Think about a scorching summer day in July, the sun blazing overhead, the air heavy with heat and humidity. Now imagine those hottest days stretching on longer and longer each year, with summer refusing to loosen its relentless grip. This experience, familiar to most readers especially after this summer, is a result of “global warming,” or, to use the more accurate terminology, “climate change.” While global warming does not fully describe all of the extreme weather caused by an overall warming planet, it underscores the pivotal role of heat in how people are experiencing our changing climate. Climate change intensifies the Earth’s water cycle, making wet places wetter, dry places drier, and shifting wind and weather patterns, making cold seasons colder and snowier in some places, and summers more brutally hot in much of the world. Changing water cycle patterns can also cause more frequent and severe droughts, which help set the stage for extreme heat.
In the U.S., nearly 80% of the population lives in urban areas, making them particularly susceptible to rising temperatures, because heat is worse in cities thanks to the urban heat island effect. Summers are projected to become harsher, especially in Southern states like North Carolina. Although Durham remains one of the most forested cities in the South, accelerated development threatens these natural resources. As cities like Durham expand rapidly, urban sprawl — or unplanned growth outward — often occurs at the expense of local ecosystems, including the forests that help protect Durham from extreme heat.
Why Durham?
How cities are built significantly affects heatwave intensity. While climate change guarantees more frequent heatwaves, local urban planning decisions determine how severe the impacts will be. Urban areas currently experience an average of six heatwaves per year, which marks a significant increase from just two heatwaves per year in the 1960s. Adopting innovative and sustainable urban planning strategies can considerably lessen, or mitigate, these impacts.
Durham faces unique heat-related challenges because of its urban structure and rapid growth and development. Historically marginalized communities, including Black and Brown and low-income communities, are particularly affected, often living in neighborhoods with limited greenery. Durham’s specific vulnerabilities, including high humidity, extensive impervious surfaces (roads, parking lots, roofs), reduced green spaces, and a mix of urban, suburban, and rural landscapes, require customized solutions. High humidity exacerbates heat-related health risks in Durham, making it harder for residents to cool down, which is an example of a local challenge often overlooked by national and state-level heat management resources.
This resource addresses Durham’s distinct vulnerabilities by providing tailored, data-driven solutions, which supports equity and promotes community resilience. The recommendations in this resource align closely with the North Carolina Heat Action Plan Toolkit, ensuring local strategies effectively meet state guidelines.
Who Will Benefit From This Resource?
This resource is designed specifically for:
Residents in Urban Communities
Heathcare Professionals
Individuals Vulnerable to Heat Stress
Scientists and Researchers
Community Organizers and Grassroots Groups
Local Policymakers and Decision-Makers
Heat and Climate Justice
Extreme heat is not just an environmental issue, but also a social justice and equity issue. Marginalized communities, including low-income residents, people of color, older adults, and outdoor workers, disproportionately suffer from extreme heat. These groups often live in hotter neighborhoods, lack adequate cooling resources, and face greater health risks, due to historical discrimination practices like redlining and systemic disinvestment (communities repeatedly being denied funding, resources etc., due to unfair policies).
This resource emphasizes using targeted and equitable programs to ensure no community member is left behind. By identifying and addressing these inequities, Durham can advance long-term resilience and promote fair access to opportunities for all.
Breathing Life into the NC Heat Action Plan Toolkit
North Carolina’s Office of Recovery and Resilience (NCORR) created the Heat Action Plan Toolkit to help local communities anticipate and respond effectively to extreme heat. The NCORR toolkit provides statewide guidelines; this resource applies and adapts those guidelines specifically for Durham. This local adaptation ensures that heat resilience strategies are practical, effective, and relevant to Durham’s specific community needs, infrastructure, and climate risks.
What is Durham Already Doing?
The County and City of Durham, the State, the federal government, and various nonprofits each have agencies and programs to address heat stress and create resources and policies to better respond to the ongoing climate crisis.
Durham has identified several climate priorities, including mitigating the flooding impacts, water shortages, and extreme heat.
Durham was the first county in North Carolina to include climate change and public health as a chapter in its Community Health Assessment. Every three years, Durham County Department of Public Health, Partnership for a Healthy Durham, and Duke Health conduct assessments to identify and provide insights into the community’s overall health and well-being. The latest community health assessment was released in 2023. The next one is due in 2026.
Residents can participate in the Durham County Community Health Assessment by watching out for door-to-door teams and volunteer for surveys. You can also partner with the coalition Partnership for a Healthy Durham to be more involved with the Community Health Assessment. The link to the coalition webpage can be found here.
In July 2021, over 150 volunteers from Raleigh and Durham County spent a day gathering temperature readings that helped map the region’s urban heat islands. Their efforts produced high-resolution temperature and heat-index maps for both cities, pinpointing the hottest and coolest neighborhoods and measuring the temperature gaps between them.
Operation Fan Heat Relief Program:
- This is a summer program intended to provide urgently needed cooling resources for older adults and adults with disabilities. The service provider in Durham for this program is Center for Senior Life. For assistance with this program, contact Niya Carrington at 919-688-8247.**
** People from other counties in North Carolina looking to access this program can find the service providers for their counties here.
Increasing Urban Forest Cover Through Tree Planting:
- The Durham Urban Forest Management Plan’s goal with this program is to preserve and protect Durham city trees and plant additional tree cover. One of the program’s main goals is to prioritize planting areas on the basis of air and water quality, and heat intensity. Tree types were chosen based on tolerance to drought, heat, and adverse urban planting conditions. Community members can keep track of tree canopy coverage in their neighborhood by clicking here. Residents can also request a tree to be planted in the public right-of-way adjacent to their property by filling out this Tree Request Form. For any other public tree care needs and information on potential planting sites, you can click here.
Center for Disease Control (CDC) Resources:
- The CDC communication toolkit on Climate Change, Extreme Heat provides tools showing the connections between health and the environment, especially climate-related environmental public health issues.
- The CDC Heat & Health Tracker offers localized data on heat and health to help communities plan for and respond more effectively to extreme heat events such as records of extreme temperatures, heat-related deaths, and social and environmental conditions that make people vulnerable to extreme heat.
NC Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS):
- The NCDHHS has extensive resources on Summer Heat Emergency Data and Prevention Tips, including an option to sign up for Heat Health Alert System. Once you sign up, you will receive heat alerts by email when the weather forecast is projected to reach unhealthy heat levels.
North Carolina Disease Event Tracking and Epidemiologic Collection Tool (NC DETECT 2023):
- NC DETECT provides useful links to webinars and training videos, especially on step-by-step guidance for using the Heat Maps Report.
North Carolina Department of Labor (NCDOL) Beat the Heat and Agriculture Heat Illness Prevention resources:
- NCDOL provides important resources for both employers and employees on how to protect themselves from extreme heat. The “Beat the Heat” campaign helps employers and workers prevent heat-related illnesses through training materials, hazard alerts, sample safety plans, and a heat index app.
- The Agriculture Heat Illness Prevention page offers specific guidance for farm employers and workers, including prevention program templates, brochures, and training tools.
Hazard Mitigation funding databases:
- This website provides resources such as information on the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) that provides funding for state, local, tribal, and territorial governments to develop hazard mitigation plans, buyout hazard-prone property, and construct projects that reduce or mitigate future disaster losses in their communities. However, please note this fund is only available after a presidentially declared disaster. More information about this funding can be found here.
How to Use This Resource
We encourage users to navigate directly to the sections most relevant to their role or needs. Use these resources to create tailored heat management plans and advocacy strategies, engage effectively with local initiatives, and collaborate across sectors to build a resilient Durham.
Heat Waves: A Resource Guide for Durham
SCSJ’s Heat Waves resource addresses Durham’s distinct vulnerabilities by providing tailored, data-driven solutions, which supports equity and promotes community resilience.