MIAMI, FL — May 2, 2022 — Today, more than 100 local, national and global leaders, experts, and partners convened at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County at the Forum on Global Resilience led by the Atlantic Council’s Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center (Arsht-Rock) to take on today’s and tomorrow’s climate and resilience challenges.

The Forum, the first-ever focused on human resilience to extreme heat, explored proven, innovative, and scalable solutions for building resilience to climate impacts through conversations with the mayors and chief heat officers (CHO) of the cities of Athens, Greece; Freetown, Sierra Leone; Miami-Dade County, Florida; Monterrey, Mexico; the governor and the CHO of Santiago, Chile, and experts in the field.

Three major announcements were also unveiled at the inaugural event, including:

• The start of “Heat Season” for Miami-Dade County. Marks the first time that any city or municipality, globally, has declared a Heat Season. Under the oversight of the County’s Chief Heat Officer, Jane Gilbert, and Mayor Levine Cava — in collaboration with Arsht-Rock — Miami-Dade will be enacting a comprehensive PSA campaign including social, multilingual TV, radio, bus shelter and bus ads; posters; information pamphlets; and magnets, to raise awareness about the dangers of extreme heat and to elevate heat to the same level of importance as hurricane preparedness. This awareness campaign will run each year from May 1^st to October 31^st and is informed by a heat vulnerability study and recommendations from Miami-Dade’s Climate and Heat Health Task Force. The Heat Vulnerability Assessment shows which neighborhoods and populations in the County are most at-risk for heat-related illnesses (areas with high urban heat islands or high land surface temperatures, higher proportions of outdoor workers, households with children, living in poverty or mobile homes) and that extreme heat contributes to ten times more deaths in Miami-Dade County, annually, than are currently reported.

• The naming of May 2^nd as “Adrienne Arsht Day”. Miami-Dade County Mayor, Daniella Levine Cava, dubbed May 2^nd “Adrienne Arsht Day” to honor her extensive generosity, contributions and leadership in building a more resilient and culturally vibrant County.

• Gaming partnership with Unity. Unity Technologies and the Atlantic Council’s Arsht-Rock Resilient Center are partnering to create a more resilient future through gaming. Played by billions of people around the world, video games are not only forms of entertainment but also drivers of culture, thought and action. Together, Unity and Arsht-Rock will research, test, and iterate how we can increase climate change resiliency for millions through this unique medium. We will engage deeply with game developers, scientists, policymakers, and gamers themselves to address the climate crisis. 

“Each year, Miamians face an average of 154 days with a heat index of at least 90 degrees Fahrenheit. That is the temperature at which everyone could get sick, regardless of whether you are a top athlete, an outdoor worker or just enjoy time outside in nature,” said Miami-Dade County Mayor, Daniella Levine Cava. “Miami Dade is known internationally for its vulnerability to sea level rise and hurricanes, and we have been fortifying our infrastructure, updating building codes and strengthening our resilience in these two areas for decades. But up until recently, extreme heat wasn’t on our radar. That is why we have just launched our new Heat Season campaign with the goal of raising awareness about the risks of extreme heat.”

We are done collecting evidence. This Forum was about accelerating action to address the climate impacts we are facing and protecting communities from its growing dangers, particularly extreme heat. The launch of the annual Heat Season campaign—the first in the world—will give our vital heat awareness work the same level of importance that is traditionally placed on hurricane preparedness each year, and our partnership with Unity will help us reach millions of people around the world through video games.

Kathy Baughman McLeod, SVP & Director of the Atlantic Council’s Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center

About the Adrienne-Arsht Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center 

The Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center (Arsht-Rock) builds individual and community resilience in the face of climate impacts. We pledge to reach one billion people around the world with resilience solutions to climate change by 2030.  For more information please visit https://www.onebillionresilient.org/ or follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

About Unity Technologies

Unity (NYSE: U) is the world’s leading platform for creating and operating real-time 3D (RT3D) content. Creators, ranging from game developers to artists, architects, automotive designers, filmmakers, and others, use Unity to make their imaginations come to life. Unity is the foundation upon which the world’s most powerful digital content is created. Specifically, Unity’s platform provides a comprehensive set of software solutions to create, run and monetize interactive, real-time 2D and 3D content for mobile phones, tablets, PCs, consoles, and augmented and virtual reality devices. In the fourth quarter of 2021, Unity had, on average, 3.9 billion monthly active end users who consumed content created or operated with its solutions. The applications developed by these creators were downloaded, on average, five billion times per month in 2021. For more information, please visit www.unity.com.