Next week, climate experts, community leaders and advocates will gather in uptown Charlotte for WFAE's Carolina's Climate Summit. The daylong event will look at the impact of climate change in the Carolinas and what's being done about it. Joining me now is WFAE's climate reporter, Zachary Turner, who will be among those taking part in the summit.
Marshall Terry: Zach, the Carolinas are among the most vulnerable parts of the country when it comes to climate change. What makes us more vulnerable than other areas?
Zachary Turner: So it really depends on where you live. The thing about the Carolinas is we've got a little bit of everything. If you live in the mountains, there are landslides and flooding that are exacerbated by our warming climate. If you're in a city like Charlotte or Columbia, then you have to worry about these urban heat islands that form as sunlight is being absorbed by all of that concrete. And then in our coastal cities and ecosystems, those are extremely vulnerable to worsening tropical storms and sea level rise, and saltwater intrusion.
Terry: So it's now been six months since western North Carolina was devastated by the remnants of Hurricane Helene. That part of the state still has a long road to recovery. What kind of discussions are planned at the summit about Helene and the possibility of similar disasters in the future?
Turner: I'm really excited for our Road to Recovery panel, which is going to be moderated by Blue Ridge Public Radio's Katie Myers. She's the environmental reporter there. We're going to be talking about policy, the challenges that western North Carolina is facing, and some of the possible solutions that they're exploring.
This panel is meant to give folks this roadmap of what to expect as we continue to rebuild and western North Carolina reshapes after this catastrophe. We're also going to have a whole panel of reporters that are going to be answering questions about covering natural disasters in the Carolinas — looking at things like the Black Cove and Table Rock complex fires and Hurricane Helene and other natural disasters that have impacted the Carolinas. Our news director, Ely Portillo, is going to be leading that conversation. So that's one that I'm particularly excited to be participating in.
Terry: Now, is there one thing overall that climate experts might point to as the biggest challenge for the Carolinas?
Turner: For me, it's got to be heat. Heat is already the number one weather-related killer in the United States. And from a public awareness standpoint, it is kind of hard to talk about — like tornadoes, wildfires and hurricanes have this definite form, this literal shape. It's an event. And while heat waves are an event of sorts, it's much harder to communicate that risk. And I think that's reflected in policy.
Workers have few to no protections against heat, and maybe part of that's because it's hurting explicitly people, and it's disproportionately impacting folks in low-income communities. So I think for me it has got to be heat.
Terry: What are you hoping attendees will take away from the gathering?
Terry: When people leave the summit, I'm hoping folks will have a deeper understanding of the ecology of climate change. And what I mean by that is: When our atmosphere warms, what does that mean for wildfires, landslides and severe thunderstorms as the ocean warms, how does that impact the formation of tropical cyclones? How do all of these weather-related disasters move through our communities, and how can we redesign our homes, our cities, to adapt to this changing climate? So I want folks to have that kind of holistic view of how climate is impacting the Carolinas.
