2023 White House Summit on Building Climate Resilient Communities

On Thursday, September 28th, President Biden is holding a White House Summit on Building Climate Resilient Communities to amplify the leadership of climate resilience practitioners nationwide. Dr. Lisa Patel, Executive Director of the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health, will join leaders playing key climate resilience roles throughout the country — educators, resource managers, construction workers, city and state resilience officers, and local and Tribal leaders — to inform government leaders on how federal programs and funding can best deliver improvements in health, equity, and safety.

After a summer of record-breaking heat waves and predictions for a worse year of extreme weather events to come, health professionals throughout the country have worked collaboratively with their communities to create a health-powered coalition for change. In Nevada, health professionals are working with community-based organizations, arborists, and state/local officials to implement urban forestry plans to reduce the urban heat island effect. In Virginia and Florida, we’re working with departments of public health to prepare for the effects of extreme heat. And across the country, hundreds of us are working to make where we work a part of the climate-health solution, working with our hospitals, clinics, and schools to introduce measures of resilience like installing solar, transitioning transportation fleets to electric vehicles, and ensuring community preparedness during extreme weather events.

Our journey to climate-resilient communities is just beginning. We are grateful for this Administration’s focus on climate resilience, and our network stands ready to work closely to ensure that our solutions to climate change are centered in health and equity.

You can live stream the event here (no registration required). Speakers during the event will include:

• Deputy Administrator Jainey Bavishi, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
• Secretary Deb Haaland, U.S. Department of the Interior
• Senior Advisor to the President Mitch Landrieu
• Assistant Secretary for Health Admiral Rachel Levine, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
• Chair Shelley C. Lowe (Navajo), National Endowment for the Humanities
• Chair Brenda Mallory, White House Council on Environmental Quality
• Senior Advisor to the President John Podesta
• Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway, Madison, WI
• Homeland Security Advisor Liz Sherwood-Randall
• National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi