“How America's hottest city is trying to cool down” - (Vox, 2021, 6:48) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQ6fSHr5TJg

CONTRIBUTED BY NOAH CARTER, CABRINI UNIVERSITY

During hot summers, wealthy people are more likely to live in cooler areas despite their lifestyle contributing more to climate change. This sounds like a rather absurd statement, but it is a jarring reality in Phoenix, Arizona. According to the video, the reason this phenomenon takes place is because of the focus on “beautification” in wealthy communities: specifically, the presence of trees. Trees are actually quite essential in reducing the amount of heat within a community. Unfortunately, at least in Phoenix, the burden of planting and caring for trees is placed on the homeowner. While wealthier homeowners can see this as an investment in their properties, it often leaves lower-income neighborhoods without a shady canopy. This is because most individuals in lower-income neighborhoods rent rather than own homes. Not only do they typically have fewer resources, but renters also relocate more often. Why would you spend scarce personal resources on something that will take decades to grow and benefit your landlord more than yourself? The video also shows how neighborhood heat levels correlate with levels of income. The lower one’s income, the hotter their place of residence often is. This is a social problem because it can result in more heat-related health issues in lower-income neighborhoods.

How else might this temperature gap stem from a wealth gap? What potential policies might increase shade trees in neighborhoods with many renters?   

From the video’s description: It’s time to stop looking at trees as a form of “beautification.” They are, instead, a living form of infrastructure, providing a variety of services that include stormwater management, air filtering, carbon sequestration, and, most importantly for a city like Phoenix, Arizona, they cool the environment around them. Trees can lower neighborhood temperatures in three ways: (1) Their shade prevents solar radiation from hitting paved surfaces like concrete and asphalt, which absorb energy and rerelease it into the air as heat. (2) Their leaves pull heat from the immediate area in order to evapotranspirate water that’s drawn from the soil. And, (3) If you’re standing under one, a tree protects your body directly from the sun’s rays. If you’ve ever made a summer visit to a dry, hot city like Phoenix, you’ll know how important shade is for making any outdoor experiences tolerable. As Phoenix deals with a rising frequency of extreme heat waves — which aren’t only deadly, but also cause worrisome spikes in energy demand — the city is looking to trees as part of its heat mitigation strategy. Phoenix isn’t devoid of trees, but they’re distributed unevenly across the city. A quick glance at a satellite image of the metro area reveals substantial green splotches in the north and east and brown ones in the south and west, where many lower-income neighborhoods are located. So Phoenix recently pledged to reach “tree equity” by 2030, under an agreement with American Forests, a national tree organization. I visited Phoenix recently to take a look at the current state of the city’s urban forest. In this video, we use drone imagery and thermal cameras to understand how the urban design of the city contributes to extreme heat, and what it can do to cool down.