High temperatures are a serious public health concern. Extreme heat kills more Americans each year than any other weather-related event. Neighborhoods with less green space, more poverty, and older infrastructure are particularly at risk. Black and brown communities are often exposed to intensified extreme heat, since those areas have been historically subjected to racist policies such as disinvestment and redlining.

Scientists predict that unless we do something about climate change, both off-the-charts heat indexes (when it feels warmer than 127 degrees Fahrenheit) and back-to-back heat waves (cycles of extreme heat interspersed with only short breaks of normal weather) will become more common. But the good news is that it’s not too late to do something about extreme heat! Climate action could still avert hundreds of heat-related deaths per year in many U.S. cities.

We queried an expert and went through the Grist video archives to come up with a few lesson plans. Here’s to helping the kid in your life better understand extreme heat — and keep cool this summer!

Dreaming of an island escape this summer? There’s one kind of island you’ll want to be wary of if you’re trying to beat the heat. Due to something called the “urban heat island effect,” cities like Los Angeles and New York are literally the hottest places to live — and climate change is only heating things up more.

Read the full article about how climate change affects cities by Teresa Chin at Grist.