More shade from trees and lighter colored, reflective roofs can each help reduce temperatures in some areas of Phoenix most impacted by heat, an environmental scientist told a Phoenix subcommittee last week.
Juan Declet-Barreto, a senior social scientist for climate vulnerability at the Union of Concerned Scientists, spoke to Phoenix’s Urban Heat Island/Trees and Shade Subcommittee last Tuesday. The conversation kicked off the first of many around how Phoenix can address “heat equity,” or providing heat mitigation to city areas impacted the most by heat. The Union of Concerned Scientists is a nonprofit group operated out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
These areas are most impacted by the urban heat island effect — a phenomenon where urban areas are warmer than the surrounding areas because dark roads and rooftops absorb more heat during the day and keep the heat in the atmosphere for longer. These areas, at least in Phoenix, tend to be underserved areas with disproportionate amounts of low-income residents and residents of color than the rest of the city.
