Jessica Mederson and Mónika Serrano sit down with Jane Gilbert, Miami-Dade County's Chief Heat Officer. Together, they dive into the growing threat of extreme heat for cities, its disproportionate impact on vulnerable communities, and how communities leaders can respond through thoughtful design and policy. Jane shares how her groundbreaking role has shaping heat mitigation strategies—from education strategies to tree canopy initiatives—and what is next.

Links:

Jessica Mederson and Mónika Serrano speak with Julie Manning, Global Head of Climate and Carbon Strategy at La Salle Investments. This conversation explores if real estate investors are factoring climate risk into their decision-making, what resilience actions are taking place, the challenges of evaluating climate risk across portfolios while considering the unique characteristics of buildings and surrounding communities, and more.

Links:

ULI, LaSalle Physical Climate Risks and Underwriting Practices in Assets and Portfolios

ULI, LaSalle Provide Framework for Real Estate Industry to Assess Climate Risk

America Adapts: The Wild Wild West of Climate Modeling

Drought. Flooding. Wildfires. These are all risks our communities and built environment face and these risks are increasing as our planet warms. Beavers, nature's engineers and a keystone species, can help us fight all of these risks. Beavers are central to water management (reducing flooding and droughts and mitigating wildfires) because of how they handle water: they slow it, spread it, store it, and sink it.

Mónika and Jessica interview Ben Goldfarb, author of Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter. They discuss beavers' past, present, and future - their connection to European settlement of North America, present-day approaches to beaver activities, and how beavers can help protect our communities in the future.

Links and resources mentioned in the show:

Ben Goldfarb

Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter a book by Ben Goldfarb

Crossings | Ben Goldfarb | W. W. Norton & Company

Beaver Institute Management, Research and Education

Microsoft Word - ECONW Escalante Beaver Values Report 0211.doc

Jessica Mederson and Mónika Serrano speak with Alison Sant, author of the book From the Ground Up: Local Efforts to Create Resilient Cities. They discuss how empowered local communities have created and led valuable efforts towards climate adaptation. From small, actionable steps to large-scale collective efforts, our conversation with Alison highlights stories of communities overcoming challenges, building strength, and fostering hope. From New Orleans to Minnesota and across the United States, this episode emphasizes the importance of collaboration, grassroots initiatives, and incremental progress in creating a resilient and thriving future for all.

Our listeners get 20% off the book From the Ground Up: Local Efforts to Create Resilient Cities with the code GROUND.

Episode links:

Alison Sant

The Power Broker book

Parking Day

34th Avenue story

Minneapolis Bicycling

NYTimes: Congestion pricing NYC

Mónika Serrano and Jessica Mederson talk to Greg Lindsey of Alpha Geo to explore how investors evaluate risks and opportunities in the face of climate change and climate migration. We also discuss public versus private investments, what the money follows, and the challenges individuals and communities face when considering climate migration.

Topics and resources discussed include:

AlphaGeo: AI-Powered Geospatial Predictive Analytics

Columbia University Managed Retreat Conference

The People Fleeing Climate Disasters Are Going To Transform the American South | Portside

NJDEP| Blue Acres | Blue Acres

What Is a Minsky Moment? Definition, Causes, History, and Examples

Column | Climate change is transforming homeownership in the U.S. - Washington Post

1 in 10 Homebuyers & Sellers Say Climate Risk is Main Reason For Move: Redfin Survey - Redfin Real Estate News

Mónika Serrano and Jessica Mederson talk to Holly Neber, CEO of AEI Consultants, and chair of the development of the recently approved ASTM International Standard Guide for the assessment of physical climate risk and resilience for commercial properties known as the Property Resilience Assessment (PRA). We talk about the development of this new resilience standard, Holly's work as an emissary from commercial real estate finance to the resilience/adaptation community, and the processes of identifying and managing risk during purchase, development or financing of a commercial real estate asset.

ASTM Property Resilience Assessment

Resilience Standards and the Business of Risk

AEI Consultants

NYTimes: Rising Seas Threaten An American Institution

America Adapts: The Biggest Short: Climate Change meets the 30-year home mortgage with Dr. Jesse Keenan

America Adapts: The Wild Wild West of Climate Modeling

GARP Sustainability and Climate Risk (SCR) Certificate

GARP Climate Risk Podcast

Mónika Serrano and Jessica Mederson talk to Jim Schneider, Executive Director of PCI Mountain States, a chapter of the Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute (PCI) covering Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Utah, and Wyoming. They discuss concrete's role in increasing the built environment's resiliency to climate change as well as the greenhouse gases that are emitted in manufacturing concrete. They also cover some of the innovations being made in how concrete is manufactured and used.

Links and resources discussed on this episode include:

• Jim's LInkedIn page: (11) Jim Schneider, LEED AP | LinkedIn
• PCI Precast Concrete and Sustainable Design: Precast Concrete and Sustainable Design (pci.org)
• PCI Precast Protects Life: Precast Protects Life (pci.org)
• JIm's new podcast (A Pessimist's Guide to Optimism): A Pessimist's Guide to Optimism Podcast Series - Apple Podcasts
• Jerry Schneider Orchestra: Jerry Schneider : Cy Pfannenstein Music Service, For all your old time and polka music favorites (cysmusic.com)

Mónika and Jessica talk to Amy Macdonald, Founder & Principal of Ripple Resilience. Formerly a principal and founder of Thornton Tomasetti's Resilience Practice, her career spans four continents, with leadership roles responding to catastrophes including Sandy, Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria, and earthquakes in New Zealand and Nepal. Amy discusses how her experience in disaster recovery has led to her career working with clients to incorporate resilient design, nature-based solutions, and emergency preparations in order to be resilient in the face of climate change and extreme weather events.

Amy explains the benefits of working with a resiliency consultant when working on any projects in the built environment--and the importance of consulting with such an expert early in the process. Amy also discusses how lessons learned from protecting buildings from earthquakes--such as functional recovery and performance-based design--can be applied to the built environment when designing the built environment to be resilient to climate change and extreme weather events.

Links and resources related to this interview include:

Ripple Resilience: Ripple Resilience LLC

Functional recovery post-earthquake: NIST-FEMA Special Publication FEMA P-2090/NIST SP-1254, Recommended Options for Improving the Built Environment for Post-Earthquake Reoccupancy and Functional Recovery Time

Using performance-based design to increase resiliency to climate change: Performance-Based Design Brings Resiliency to the Built Environment | Engineered Systems Magazine (esmagazine.com)