Got Heat?

Dear Leading Ladies,

Hot enough for you?

Get ready for more scorchers!

A new report by the Greater Boston Research Advisory Group (GBRAG) at UMass Boston, released last Wednesday, provides disturbing details about what we can expect in the not-too-distant future. The report, as described by WBUR, considers 101 towns and cities in the Greater Boston area, projecting that over the next few decades, climate change will bring “more hot weather and heat deaths, as well as wrecked septic systems, more rain, fewer lobsters and cranberries, threats to drinking water, and more flooding on Morrissey Boulevard.”

croakey.org

What our future holds

The projections estimate that the average temperatures in 40 years could rise 2.5-3 degrees, and could go to 9 degrees by the end of the century. More frightening is that the number of days over 90 degrees could go from an average of nine per year to 60 by the 2070s – the equivalent of two whole months of scorching hot weather!

In suburban and rural areas, the heat surely affects agriculture, work environments, schools, and homes, creating inequities between the haves and have-nots. In urban neighborhoods, a different social justice issue makes life dangerous for many residents.

Welcome to the Heat Islands

When days are over 90 degrees, pavement and buildings absorb and retain the heat. Add to that a lack of trees in urban and marginalized neighborhoods, and you have a perfect environment for heatstroke, dehydration, severe asthma attacks, and a host of other life-threatening ailments.

“Disadvantaged communities have higher rates of health conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, asthma, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD),” according to news.climate.columbia.edu. “Heat stress can exacerbate heart disease and diabetes, and warming temperatures result in more pollen and smog, which can worsen asthma and COPD. Heat waves also affect birth outcomes.” Moreover, “African Americans are three times more likely than whites to live in old, crowded or inferior housing…In addition, low-income areas in cities have been found to be five to 12 degrees hotter than higher income neighborhoods because they have fewer trees and parks, and more asphalt that retains heat.”

These areas are known as heat islands.

City of Boston

What can be done

While we need to address gas emissions and other causes of climate change, there are other ways to combat the everyday effects of climate change on the lives of people in our cities and towns.

One such project is underway in Chelsea, where the Cool Block Project is transforming a square block full of pavement and roofs into a green oasis. The block was identified as one of the two hottest in Chelsea, where a lot of people are affected by the heat, according to WBUR.

Green Roots, a Chelsea-based environmental group, is partnering with the city and researchers from Boston University to complete the project, which includes planting 47 elm, crabapple, hawthorn and cherry trees; ripping up sidewalks to add planters, porous pavers or white concrete; replacing black asphalt with gray; creating a green space in a vacant lot; and installing a white roof on the Boys and Girls Club. The roof alone could lower the surrounding air temperature by seven to 10 degrees, according to Chelsea’s director of housing and community development, Alex Train. “The health and environmental benefits are immense,” Train told WBUR.

The entire project will cost about $350,000, most covered by a state grant. Is it worth it? The trees are already providing some beauty and serenity, residents report, but it will take some years for the full benefit to be realized as the trees reach their full growth. The white roof and new pavement can have immediate results, however, and the researchers will monitor their effects on the area’s temperatures.

Although it is a small project, Green Roots’ associate executive director Maria Belen Power believes the limited size is part of its strength. “That has really been an approach that we take in a lot of our projects,” she told WBUR. “Piloting small scale and ensuring that we can replicate those models to really have a much broader impact.”

What can we do?

Learn more about what’s happening in Chelsea at Green Roots Chelsea.

Check out C-Heat, the collaborative research project between GreenRoots and the Boston University School of Public Health.

American Forests, another group working on the problem of heat in urban, underserved neighborhoods, is bringing a Tree Equity approach to help Boston develop a plan to create and maintain a thriving, sustainable urban forest. Learn more about what they are doing and how to help.

The City of Boston has a website devoted to information about the heat crisis facing underserved areas and the necessary steps toward solutions.

Do you live in an urban or underserved area that is particularly vulnerable to heat because of a lack of trees and too much asphalt and dark roofs? Let your city officials know you care about the greening of your city – that the health of your city’s residents depend on it!

Stay cool, and be grateful if you can.

Therese (she/her)
Judy (she/her)
Mary (she/her)