ChatGPT and a Greek serving as the United Nation's Chief Heat Officer were included in the annual 10+1 Newsmakers feature of 'Nature' as the magazine's "Ten people (and one non-human) who helped shape science in 2023" published on Wednesday.
Eleni ("Lenio") Myrivili had previously worked for the municipality of Athens as deputy mayor with environmental responsibilities, while Nature said she was responsible for starting the practice of naming heatwaves in Greece in order to raise public awareness to the climate crisis, as well as being a highly successful fundraiser with her team for green projects.
Speaking to Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA-MPA), Myrivili said she was greatly honored by Nature's decision, which served also as "a recognition by the scientific community for all the work we have done on issues of climate change, especially when it comes to protecting cities against the climbing temperatures."
Speaking of her activities, she told ANA-MPA that "right now I represent a community of people who have been involved in issues of extreme heat and with how this constitutes a great risk for public health, the economy, our cities' infrastructure, our social life and our cultural heritage."
At the same time, however, she noted "an incredible crisis of confidence in science and scientific data in recent years through a very intensely widespread process of misinformation."
Myrivili assumed her UN duties at the UN-Habitat section in March 2023. Her main priority in this position, she explained to ANA-MPA, "is to help the most vulnerable people who are risking their lives because of these weather events." In the summer of 2022, more than 61,000 people died in Europe within a few months due to extreme heat. "And this happened in Europe, where we largely have the ability to protect ourselves. In other countries we have much greater problems with people who are much more vulnerable, living in very bad conditions, in slums or in neighborhoods that have very poor infrastructure, which makes them very vulnerable. Also, there are people working under unacceptable conditions all over the world, for example in agriculture or in the construction sector," she underlined.
Also as important, she said, is to note how "to see how the different sectors involved in our cities will start to prepare for very extreme temperatures in the building and energy sector, but also in the health sector, since we need prepare our hospitals for periods of very high temperatures". In this context, she adds, "it is important to look at the issue of adaptation across the board and increasing our resilience to climate change, so that any solution we find does not make things worse in other sectors."
Myrivili told ANA-MPA that cities have a very important role to play in reducing greenhouse gases. "The vulnerability of populations to climate change occurs to a huge extent in cities, mainly where there is no greenery", observes Myrivili, who has served as deputy mayor of Athens for greenery, urban Resilience and adaptation to climate change, and as consultant for urban warming in the city.
It is noted that in addition to being an Urban Heat Response Officer at the United Nations, Helen Myrivili is a Climate Change Resilience Advisor at the Atlantic Council. She is also a member of the EU Mission Board for Climate Adaptation and the Expert Panel on the International Risk Assessment Report at the World Economic Forum. She was recently awarded the Lawrence C. Nussdorf Urban Leadership Prize by the Penn Institute for Urban Resilience at the University of Pennsylvania, where she was named a Fellow. She has also been named a Loeb Fellow by Harvard University.
(For the full list of individuals listed by Nature, see https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-03919-1)
