With North Carolina sweltering under near-record high temperatures, Jordan Clark, senior policy associate with the Duke University Heat Policy Innovation Hub, talked to The News & Observer about ways athletes can stay safe, healthy, and hydrated. Clark's recommendations are found in and build on his 2023 report A Game Plan for Heat Stress.

Ashley Ward (Heat Policy Innovation Hub, Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability), Linda Coley (Ormond Center, Divinity School), Francis Bouchard (Climate Leader in Residence and climate resilience and insurance executive), Susannah Tuttle (N.C. Interfaith Power & Light, N.C. Council of Churches), and Robert Reese (S.C. Interfaith Power & Light) will co-lead a research project examining environmental and climate justice in North and South Carolina. Alongside other partners from Duke (Michelle Lewis, Divinity School; Jordan Clark, Nicholas Institute), and the private sector (Conitsha Barnes, Duke Energy), the team will address the funding gap contributing to persistent energy inequality.

The U.S. military and many sports governing bodies use wet bulb globe temperature to assess heat risk more accurately than the heat index. The same standards used for soldiers and student-athletes should also be applied for workers on farms and other industries who labor outdoors during the hottest times of the year, write Duke University Heat Policy Innovation Hub experts Ashley Ward and Jordan Clark in an op-ed for STAT.

The Heat Action Plan Toolkit features a customizable heat action plan template for North Carolina counties, as well as outreach resources and recommended actions for healthcare staff and local leaders when extreme heat is in the forecast. Experts from the Duke University Heat Policy Innovation Hub collaborated on the toolkit with the North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency, North Carolina State Climate Office and North Carolina Division of Public Health.

The N.C. Office of Recovery and Resiliency announced a new Heat Action Plan Toolkit that aims to reduce heat-related health impacts to North Carolina residents and workers. “Providing concrete guidance to counties on how to plan, prepare, and respond to extreme heat is critical to protect our communities, particularly those most vulnerable,” said Ashley Ward, director of the Duke University Heat Policy Innovation Hub, one of the partners that developed the toolkit.

While heatwaves are the deadliest form of weather disaster in the United States, federal law does not spell out that they are eligible for major disaster declarations, which unlocks federal resources for states in need. The omission disincentivizes communities from including extreme heat in their hazard mitigation plans, Jordan Clark, a postdoctoral associate at the Nicholas Institute's Heat Policy Innovation Hub, told The Guardian.

As the school year starts across North Carolina, students are returning to classes, athletics and other activities even as weather forecasters caution about high temperatures. Ashley Ward and Jordan Clark, both of the Nicholas Institute's Heat Policy Innovation Hub, discussed the policy implications for keeping children safe amid extreme heat in this NC Health News article.

Highlands County, FL, has been under numerous heat advisories or excessive heat warnings as middle and high school students gear up for fall sports. Jordan Clark, a postdoctoral associate at the Nicholas Institute's Heat Policy Innovation Hub, offered tips for athletes and coaches to the Highlands News-Sun.

Jordan Clark, a postdoctoral associate at the Nicholas Institute, joined WRAL to discuss recommendations from the Heat Policy Innovation Hub to keep student-athletes safe as they train and compete in high temperatures.

The blistering heat and enveloping humidity that has wrapped its slimy tentacles around the Southeast and beyond this summer isn’t a brief bit of sweaty misery to be tolerated. It’s a full heat season now—long and dangerous and in need of year-round attention, three Duke scholars argued Thursday during a virtual briefing for media.