Rising global temperatures are leading to a significant increase in the use of air conditioning around the world. Although air conditioning is effective, it cannot be the only solution we have to deal with our warming planet. In Part 2 of our series Extreme Heat – Building Differently, we discuss the lessons learned across place and time and examine some of the passive cooling techniques upon which our ancestors relied to stay cool before air conditioning.

For residents of communities in wildfire prone areas, knowledge of wildfire safety is essential. While it is difficult to predict exactly where or when a fire will start and how quickly or how far it will spread, you can prepare yourself and your family by learning what to do before, during, and after a wildfire event.

An often-overlooked engineering marvel, spillways perform a vital role in flood control and are enormously important to the safety of the communities and citizens located downstream from a dam.

Our building choices affect urban warming, but they also impact how we experience the heat. Learn how cool and green building options may be used to help lower urban temperatures and increase our ability to cope with, adapt to, and survive extreme heat events.

Around the world, cities are significantly warmer than neighboring rural and suburban areas. The main driver for these higher temperatures is the built environment. Learn more about how our building and developmental choices impact our city temperatures and contribute to the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect.

As El Niño returns in 2026, it’s important to understand this phenomenon, including how it occurs, its influence on weather throughout the United States, and the specific regions it affects most.

Nearly every corner of the US is susceptible to some type of flooding. As climate change continues to intensify, sea levels rise, and weather events get more extreme, flooding is expected to increase, so it’s important to know the difference between the three primary types of flooding: fluvial, pluvial, and coastal.

Hot temperatures tend to make people cranky, but heat’s impact on our mental health goes much deeper than that. In this, the 3rd article from our Extreme Heat series, we delve into the impact of extreme heat on our mental health, including how preexisting mental illness, substance use disorder, and certain medications contribute to risk, and compound the impacts. Image credit: NOAA

Extreme heat is the number one cause of weather-related deaths in the United States - yet most of the time, heat-related illnesses and deaths can be prevented. Learn why the heat is so dangerous, who is most vulnerable to heat-related illnesses, and what you can do to keep yourself and others safe in extreme heat.

Image Credit: KTNV

100-year and 500-year floods have become more prevalent over the past few decades. Learn what these terms mean and find out how to keep your loved ones safe during a major flooding event.

Temperatures across the globe have been increasing, leading to more extreme weather events, higher daytime and nighttime temperatures, and more widespread and longer-lasting heat waves. Learn more about the dangers posed by rising temperatures and extreme heat in this article, the first in our upcoming series on extreme heat.

As hotter and drier weather from climate change increases the risk of wildfires and urban sprawl exposes more communities to potential fire disasters, all citizens should know the risks and understand the simple actions they can take to make themselves and their neighbors less vulnerable to wildfires.