Climate Resilience for an Aging Nation (ONLINE)
Danielle Arigoni, National Housing Trust
Our population is aging—by 2034, the US will have more people over 65 than under 18, and older residents make up a disproportionate number of casualties from natural disasters. In Climate Resilience for an Aging Nation, community resilience and housing expert Danielle Arigoni argues that we cannot achieve true resilience until communities adopt interventions that work to meet the needs of their oldest residents. Older adults are over-represented among fatalities in climate-fueled disasters, ranging from Hurricane Katrina in 2005 to the Maui wildfires of 2023 – and countless events in between — people over 65 are significantly more likely to die as their younger counterparts. These rates of death have not improved in nearly 20 years, making it imperative that a renewed focus on climate resilience must be centered in the needs of older adults. This talk will provide an overview of how and why climate change differently impacts older people, and the range of solutions and strategies that can be deployed to reduce risk. Strategies include interventions in housing, transportation, emergency management, health care, utilities, and social infrastructure which can deliver a more climate-resilient community when designed with the needs of older adults in mind. With a role for people in all sectors and at all levels, achieving climate resilience for an aging nation truly is a job for all of us.
Speaker
Danielle Arigoni is an urban planner and community resilience expert. She currently serves as Managing Director for Policy and Solutions at National Housing Trust, where she provides strategic direction for the organization’s sustainability and resilience policy efforts, oversight and guidance for NHT’s state and local advisory services. She is also author of Climate Resilience for an Aging Nation (Island Press) which explores the impacts of climate change on a rapidly growing demographic – people over 65 – and the need for community-scale solutions to reduce risk for all. Prior to joining NHT in 2022, Danielle served as Director of Livable Communities at AARP where she designed and implemented a robust nationwide initiative to create more vibrant communities for all ages through new print publications, technical assistance programs, and a more-than-ten-fold expansion of AARP’s Age-Friendly Network of States and Communities. Previously, Danielle held several leadership positions in HUD and EPA advancing climate resilience, smart growth, and more sustainable communities. Danielle holds a master’s degree in City and Regional Planning from Cornell University, a bachelor’s degree in Planning from University of Oregon, and serves as a Board Member for the League of American Bicyclists and Smart Growth America.
Presented with support from the Louis Wetmore Fund and the Leonard Heumann Fund.