Although Urban Planner Danielle Arigoni has focused on intersection of aging, housing, and climate change for years, there is one statistic that compelled her to do something more about these problems now: Over the past two decades, most of the Americans who have died in weather-related disasters have been over the age of 60.
“If you look all the way back to hurricane Katrina, two-thirds of the people who died were older adults,” she said. “And during every disaster since then – Hurricane Ian, the heat waves out west, the winter storm in Texas, and the recent Maui wildfires – it hasn’t gotten any better. The vast majority of people who die in these climate-fueled disasters are older adults.”
Arigoni aims to shine a light on this issue and help leaders from across disciplines – emergency preparedness experts, community planners, and health care providers, to name a few – coordinate their efforts to save lives. Her book on the topic, Climate Resilience for an Aging Nation, was published this fall by Island Press.
Arigoni’s diverse experience allows her to understand and explain the complexities of aging and climate change. She currently serves as managing director for policy and solutions at the National Housing Trust, where she is focused on more climate-responsive affordable housing solutions. Before that, she worked at AARP, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, where she advocated for disaster-resilient, sustainable housing for people of all ages. She holds a master’s degree in city and regional planning from Cornell University and a bachelor’s degree in planning from the University of Oregon.
The issues of aging and climate change are urgent, Arigoni says, not just because climate change is ramping up, but because the share of older adults is growing.
“In just ten years, we’ll have more older adults than children in the U.S. for the first time ever,” she said. “We need to put their needs front and center when we’re working on climate resiliency planning.”
Many factors that make older adults particularly vulnerable to climate change, and specifically weather-related disasters, Arigoni said.
“Financially, a lot of older adults are not very well positioned; in fact, 15 percent live below or near the poverty line,” she said. This creates challenges if they need to evacuate, for example, because they may not be able to afford a hotel room. And many can’t afford to make the upgrades that would make their homes safer during extreme weather, such as installing a generator or even having the money to run an air conditioner.
While we often picture older adults living in nursing homes, 96 percent of older adults live independently – and many of them alone. “When you layer that with that fact that 20 percent of older adults don’t drive, you have people who are isolated and who may not have others to check on them,” Arigoni said.
To make matters more complex, many older adults have health conditions that predispose them to greater risks during extreme weather. For example, extreme heat can exacerbate heart disease and smoke from wildfires is dangerous for people with respiratory diseases.
Arigoni lays out these problems in her book, and then she proposes solutions.
“To make communities more resilient, we need many sectors to pitch in,” she said. “We need better transportation systems for people who don’t drive. We need smaller, more energy efficient homes for older adults, which can reduce energy costs and encourage community connection.
“On the health care side, there’s a lot we need to accomplish to get ready for climate change,” she said. At the top of that list? Building networks of people who can regularly check on older adults’ health and vulnerabilities if emergency strikes.
It is important to include older adults in the discussions at the community and national levels about how to prepare for climate disasters, Arigoni said.
“This is all of our jobs,” she said. “Older adults are often invisible in the planning process. But they are great contributors to our communities and their voices are important in creating livable communities for everyone.”
Learn more about the solutions Arigoni proposes in Climate Resilience for an Aging Nation.