TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — The City of Tucson, Congresswoman Adelita Grijalva and several organizations held an event at the Donna Liggins Recreation Center to discuss mitigating extreme heat.
Amy Dishion lost her husband, Evan Dishion, to extreme heat while he was hiking in 2022. She attended the event to share her experience and advocate for environmental regulations.
"Evan was one of the kindest, brightest people I’ve ever met," Dishion said. "People really need to respect the heat and the elements when they’re hiking. Be prepared. Bring enough water. Don’t hike in extreme heat.”
Evan was just 32 years old when he passed away, and Dishion said her husband was healthy when he passed.
Dishion said lawmakers need to create laws that regulate the impact businesses have on the environment.
"Helping support businesses that are developing clean energy solutions," Dishion said. “Something has to be done to hold the bad actors accountable.”
Grijalva discussed how extreme heat affects everyday people. She said she signed onto legislation that would cap utility bills and started the People’s Environmental Justice Caucus.
"Representing communities that are all Superfund Sites. We’ve all dealt with the consequences of pollution," Grijalva said.
Cleaning up pollution, she said, starts with passing the Environmental Justice for All Act.
"To require polluters to clean up, to consult with communities, and to make sure that they set aside funding," Grijalva said.
That funding, she said, would be for consequences and health impacts.
Tucson Mayor Regina Romero highlighted the City's efforts, including her Climate Action and Adaptation Plan to lower greenhouse gas emissions. Romero declared a climate emergency in 2020 with the goal of reaching carbon neutrality for city operations by 2030.
"We’ve created a tree center at Los Reales Sustainability Campus. We’ve been able to pass the Storm to Shade," Romero said.
Storm to Shade is the City of Tucson's Green Stormwater Infrastructure program.
"It can’t be just Tucson. It has to be all of the cities and towns in Arizona," Romero said, adding it should also extend to the entire country.
Whenever temperatures get too hot, the City opens the Donna Liggins Recreation Center near Grant and Stone as a cooling center. Romero said the location will become the first resilience hub, meaning people will be able to stay there for up to three days.
"I’m happy with anything that works. Just do something," Dishion said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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Andrew Christiansen is a reporter for KGUN 9. Before joining the team, Andrew reported in Corpus Christi, Texas for KRIS6 News, Action 10 News and guest reported in Spanish for Telemundo Corpus Christi. Share your story ideas with Andrew by emailing andrew.christiansen@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, or Twitter.
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