America Adapts Newsletter | August 2026 Snow Days, Sick Leave... Climate Leave?

🔍Hey Adapters, as I work through ideas for future episodes—and some bigger projects—I keep coming back to the same question: How do we make adaptation inevitable?

Not inevitable simply because climate impacts keep getting worse. That part is already happening. I mean inevitable in the sense that adaptation becomes a normal and expected part of how society operates—something built into our workplaces, schools, institutions, and everyday decisions.

A recent New York Times, “A Tempting Remedy for Heat-Stricken France: Be More Like Spain” article helped crystallize that idea. France is sending a delegation to Spain to learn how the country lives with extreme heat. Not just what kind of cooling technology it uses or how it designs buildings, but how society itself has adjusted.

Spain adopted paid climate leave after the deadly Valencia floods, and France is now debating whether workers should receive paid leave during extreme heat.

That got me thinking. I wrote a LinkedIn post about the story and, quite frankly, I was shocked by the response. It topped 50,000 impressions (and counting) with a boatload of reactions and comments, along with many reshares (Thank you Dr. Katharine Hayhoe!). Most of my posts are podcast related and any additional content I write, well, I think most of us wonder what will hit or miss…well, that's one of the best-performing posts I've ever written.

I don't think people responded because the story was about France—or even because it was about heat. I think they responded because "paid climate leave" made adaptation tangible. Most people don't spend much time thinking about resilience plans or climate risk assessments. But they understand what it means to lose a paycheck because the weather has become dangerous.

We often think of adaptation as something we build: cooling centers, more trees, stronger buildings, bigger drainage systems. Those investments matter. But this story points to something equally important. Adaptation also means changing how society works.

Infrastructure will always matter. But the biggest adaptation projects of the next 50 years may be rewritten policies, labor laws, school calendars, and social norms.

My latest podcast conversation with recurring guest Dr. Ladd Keith, one of the world's leading experts on extreme heat adaptation, pairs surprisingly well with the idea in my editor's note. ⭐.

Yes, we talk about the latest deadly heat wave across Europe and why heat remains one of the most dangerous—and underestimated—climate hazards. But the conversation quickly expands into something bigger. How do we stop planning for yesterday's climate? What happens when communities have to rethink not just buildings and infrastructure, but the way they work, grow, and function?

Ladd shares lessons from Arizona's efforts to reduce heat-related deaths, what Europe and India are teaching the rest of the world, why rural communities face unique challenges, and how federal funding cuts threaten progress just as many adaptation efforts are gaining momentum.

If the France story asks how societies adapt to extreme heat, this conversation explores what it actually takes to get there.

Memorable Quotes from This Episode

"We can't keep planning for the last heat wave. We have to plan for the heat that's coming next year—and the year after that."

"Cities can't address one climate hazard at a time anymore. The question is: how do we use limited resources to address them all together?"

"If this many people died in a terrorist attack, or a war, or even a hurricane, it would absolutely dominate everything. Why doesn't heat trigger the same response?"

Transcript of this episode.

Go Deeper: We turned this conversation into a concise Policy Brief that captures the episode's key insights, practical recommendations, and implications for adaptation policy. Download it here.

New! Download the companion Meeting-in-a-Box—a ready-to-use facilitation guide that distills the episode's key insights into a one-hour discussion designed to help your team turn ideas into action.

One of the resources Dr. Ladd Keith highlighted during our latest episode is a new Heat Action Planning Toolkit that he helped develop through the Center for Heat Resilient Communities.

Think of it as a roadmap for communities that know extreme heat is becoming a bigger problem but aren't sure where to start. Rather than handing you a generic checklist, the toolkit walks practitioners through assessing local heat risks, identifying vulnerable populations, evaluating possible solutions, and building a practical heat action plan tailored to their community.

One feature I especially like is the interactive workbook. Instead of simply explaining what communities should do, it helps local officials and planners work through the decisions needed to create their own strategy.

If your community is beginning to think seriously about extreme heat—or wants to improve an existing plan—this is one of the best free resources available. And after listening to my conversation with Ladd, you'll have an even better appreciation for the thinking behind it.

WHAT’S AHEAD

Next up on America Adapts: Former EPA adaptation leader Dr. Bryan Hubbell joins me for a behind-the-scenes look at what happened to EPA's adaptation work, why adaptation needs a stronger evidence base, and where the field goes from here.

🚀 I'm excited to once again be partnering with the CO₂ Foundation on a new series of America Adapts episodes:

The Adaptation Identity Crisis
Climate adaptation is reshaping how we design communities, manage disasters, protect infrastructure, and prepare for extreme weather. So why does almost no one recognize it? This episode explores how adaptation became one of the most important climate movements that few people can name—and why building a stronger identity may be essential if we want the public to value it, support it, and demand more of it.

The Business Case for Adaptation
For decades, adaptation has been viewed primarily as a government responsibility. But as public funding becomes less certain, can the private sector help fill the gap? We'll explore where businesses are already investing in resilience, where markets fall short, and how adaptation can become both good policy and good business.

The Entrepreneurs of Adaptation
Climate adaptation isn't just creating new policies—it's creating new businesses. Meet the founders, innovators, and entrepreneurs developing everything from flood protection and climate-resilient building materials to AI-powered planning tools and decision-support platforms. As climate risks grow, so does a new generation of companies building the products and services that help communities adapt.