James Cook University (JCU) research argues Australians urgently need better education about heat to prepare for longer, hotter and more dangerous heatwaves driven by climate change.
Researchers of the JCU-led study, published in the Australian Journal of Environmental Education, coined a new concept for environmental education, 'heat literacy', urging it to become part of childhood through to adult education to help us better prepare for future warming.
"Heat literacy goes beyond learning about thermal energy and weather to understanding how heat affects our bodies, homes, workplaces and local environments, and the risks it imposes," explained JCU lead researcher Associate Professor Hilary Whitehouse.
"Heat can and does cause sickness. It's one the biggest causes of death from natural hazards in Australia.
"So, heat literacy is really a survival literacy."
After reviewing published literature on climate, health and environmental related sciences, as well as Australian curricula policies and public information, the researchers discovered the need for more focused heat education across all formal education sectors - from early childhood through to tertiary.
"We all need to know about heat," said Assoc Prof Whitehouse.
"Workplaces and education institutions understand heat is emerging as an issue that will impact on peoples' health and safety. But there's little fundamental education around the science of heat and how it impacts us.
"A person who is 'heat literate' knows why excessive heat is dangerous and knows what to do to keep themselves and others safe and, ideally, how to care for animals and plants also experiencing heat.
"We need to be mindful of the inescapable physics of heat, and we call for heat literacy to be embedded across school curricula and community education."
The researchers see heat literacy being taught in schools and tertiary institutions as part of science, environmental, climate change and health education, with a specific focus on the physics of heat and thermoregulation.
This education would explore concepts such as thermal energy, heat stress, hydration, evaporation and the calculation of heat comfort indexes, and the researchers also urged for the same concepts to filter into community and more informal settings.
"Hiking groups, for example, could benefit from education around how heat stress occurs and what to do to minimise the risk of heat stress when walking in the summer," said Assoc Prof Whitehouse.
She concluded that preparing people to live with extreme heat is no longer optional, but essential as Australia adapts to a rapidly warming climate.
"The basics of the learning problem is that heat must be taken seriously by everyone in order to stay safe. We cannot deny the physics of thermal energy," she said.
