The Korey Stringer Institute (KSI), which is located within UConn’s College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources (CAHNR) today joined the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) and more than 60+ labor, industry, health, housing, environmental, academic, and community associations and organizations in unveiling the 2025 Heat Policy Agenda. This strategy provides specific, actionable policy ideas to tackle the growing threat of extreme heat in the United States – an issue that now affects all 50 states.

“KSI is proudly endorsing the Federation of American Scientists’ 2025 Heat Policy Agenda that was recently shared with the Trump Administration and other concerned parties,” says Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor and CEO of KSI Douglas Casa. “The Agenda is an honest assessment of the multitude of issues that need to be addressed to position the American public and companies for the necessary health and safety considerations and potential economic opportunities that will result from unique needs of a rapidly warming planet. KSI is especially interested in the specific mention of sport and physical activity safety concerns for youth participants, as well as the extensive recommendations to protect laborers who must perform their job duties in warm and hot conditions.”

Established in 2010, KSI is the nation’s preeminent research center and advocacy organization for heat-related studies. KSI represents a partnership with Korey Stringer’s widow, Kelci Stringer. Korey Stringer died a preventable death from exertional heat stroke during a football practice in 2001 with the Minnesota Vikings. Since then, KSI has grown to include 80 staff members and has been involved in highly productive research, education, and outreach activities. KSI’s mission is to provide research, education, advocacy, and consultation to maximize performance, optimize safety, and prevent sudden death for the athlete, warfighter, and laborer.

“The 2025 Heat Policy Agenda lays out a comprehensive strategy for how to build U.S. resilience to extreme heat using science, technology, and evidence-based solutions,” says Daniel Correa, CEO of the Federation of American Scientists. “These ideas are also designed to increase government efficiency, protect critical infrastructure, and secure our nation’s economy. We look forward to helping political leaders pursue rapid implementation of this critical agenda with the ultimate goal of protecting the health and wellbeing of people across the nation.”

Rollout of the Heat Policy Agenda comes as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) confirms 2024 as the hottest year on record, continuing a sustained trend. The 10 warmest years in modern history have all occurred during the past decade. The release of the Agenda also comes as catastrophic wildfires around Los Angeles provide a stark reminder of the lingering effects of extreme heat and the interconnected nature of climate effects.

“Prolonged summer heat left vegetation in southern California bone-dry, making it that much easier for wildfires to explode unchecked,” explains Hannah Safford, FAS associate director of climate and environment. “Summer heat also depleted water resources critical for firefighting, and made it difficult to safely reduce fuel loads. The crisis we’re seeing around Los Angeles this winter underscores that we have to think about heat year-round – not just when it’s hot outside.”

The Heat Policy Agenda presents clear and specific actions the federal government can take to protect people, places, and the economy from the effects of extreme heat. These include:

• Establishing a clear, sustained federal governance structure for extreme heat.
• Amending the Stafford Act to explicitly define extreme heat as a “major disaster”, thereby unlocking federal relief funds during heat waves.
• Including extreme heat as a core component of national preparedness and public-health capabilities.
• Retaining and expanding critical federal programs that prepare homes and other infrastructure against threats like power outages.
• Transforming the built and landscaped environment through strategic investments in urban forestry and green infrastructure to cool communities, transportation systems to secure safe movement of people and goods, and power infrastructure to ready for greater load demand.

“As a nation, we’ve underinvested in extreme heat relative to other natural hazards – but heat kills more people each year than hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods combined,” observes Grace Wickerson, FAS health equity policy manager. “Our 2025 Heat Policy Agenda addresses this emerging public health crisis from the ground up, with an emphasis on protecting children, the elderly, and other vulnerable populations.”

The 2025 Heat Policy Agenda represents insights and perspectives from hundreds of practitioners, technical experts, and community leaders. Please fill out this form if your organization would like to be added to this list.