Urban heat island communities are healthier than urban heat islands: A study by community fanned out on a July morning in Durham, North Carolina
On a July day in 2021 that would become blazing hot, dozens of community volunteers gathered before sunrise at the Scrap Exchange, a reuse center for art materials in Durham, N.C. Using heat-sensing instruments, they fanned out along prescribed routes through the city, collecting data on air temperature and humidity in the morning, afternoon and evening.
The survey was part of a project by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to identify neighborhoods with really high summer heat levels. The results showed temperatures in historically Black neighborhoods were seven to 10 degrees Fahrenheit higher than in affluent areas where more white people lived.
There was less shady tree cover in these Black neighborhoods than in other areas. The 10- degree difference between two locations was not expected. She added that the hot areas don’t cool off much at night.
The city has become known as an urban heat island due to the lack of trees and breeze. They are not healthy places. The consequences of extreme heat for the human body include cramps, exhaustion and heatstroke. It can amplify existing health conditions such as diabetes, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, as well as push up rates of suicide, depression and premature births.
“It’s expensive to keep your home cool, and it’s even more expensive if you’re in an urban heat island,” says Jane Gilbert, who leads heat protection programs in Miami-Dade County in Florida. Most of the lower-income population live in rentals with small wall units that landlords don’t have to repair or replace.
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Angel Hsu is a climate scientist. “It’s due to something wider, more pernicious and systemic,” she says. It is environmental racism. The lack of political power in low-wealth communities of color causes the placement of busy roadways and factories that heat the air.
Climate change is making dealing with urban heat islands more urgent. President Joe Biden launched a campaign to respond to extreme heat. Guidance was given for the limits of heat exposure. The states have yet to adopt them. The recent $1.2-trillion federal infrastructure package encourages investments in green construction and other practices to lower temperatures and improve air quality. And a 2023 federal grant program includes $1 billion to plant trees in urban areas.
Miami-Dade County has launched a multilingual public information campaign and started training community health-care practitioners and disaster volunteers to deal with heat-related illnesses. The county is working towards a goal of 30 percent tree canopy with the purchase of 1,700 energy- efficient air-conditioning units. Atlanta and New Orleans created new zoning regulations and set sustainable-development goals that specifically address urban heat effects.
“We have a lot of great research that we need to mobilize into feasible and effective policy solutions,” says Ashley Ward, a researcher at Duke University’s Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability. She says to build support, you should talk about issues that cross political ideologies and are related to where people live.
All of the elements influence our health, from the air we breathe to the water we drink. Over the past few decades an abundance of research has shown that the environment can have dramatic impacts on health and that those who have the healthiest environments tend to have the most privilege. Those who are most impacted by environmental health threats tend to have limited power to bring about change.
Snakebite: a deadly tropical disease affecting most people in the U.S., Latino, Asian, and Indigenous communities in the 1990s and beyond
One of the most common tropical diseases is snakebite. Like so many other conditions, it is most dangerous to the people with the fewest resources because they are least able to protect themselves from being bitten or to access the best care. New treatments might save lives and limbs.
The range of diseases is changing because of the climate crisis. Valley fever has expanded into new locations, and those working outdoors in construction sites and dusty agricultural fields are the most at risk. Latino, Asian and Indigenous American people are disproportionately affected by the illness, and they are more likely to experience more severe symptoms.