In many cities across the country, you are more likely to live in a hotter neighborhood if you are low income or a person of color<\/a>.<\/p>\n Communities in neighborhoods with very little green space have also often suffered because of their proximity to industry, such as power plants\u2014which release heat while operating\u2014and highways. A recent study found that highway expansions can considerably worsen the heat island effect<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n In hotter neighborhoods, air conditioners are often used more frequently. Research<\/a> has linked buildings\u2019 higher cooling energy demand to urban overheating\u2014and that\u2019s if the resident even owns an air conditioner and can afford to use it amid rising electricity costs.\u00a0<\/p>\n According to New York City data<\/a>, Black New Yorkers are twice as likely to die from heatstroke, with death rates twice that of white residents. They are also less likely to operate an air conditioner. The city\u2019s panel on climate change has predicted that the number of hot days and nights will increase<\/a> between 15 and 52 days by midcentury.\u00a0<\/p>\n Overheating and heat-exposure illnesses, such as sunstroke, can be very taxing on the human body, Ortiz said. Informing the public, especially outdoor workers, about heat-related health risks is crucial, he said. My colleagues Keerti Gopal and Martha Psowski have written<\/a> about the threat that heat exposure poses to Texas construction workers.\u00a0<\/p>\n But that\u2019s not to say that cities are always more dangerous than rural areas during periods of extreme heat. Ortiz pointed out that in New York, for example, the dense buildout means that help in the form of cooling centers\u2014air-conditioned rooms that local officials open up to the vulnerable public on very hot days\u2014or even just a cool store or library, can be more readily available than in a suburban or rural environment.<\/p>\n Cooling Down<\/p>\n Climate change is making our summers warmer, and this summer seems poised to continue that trend<\/a>.<\/p>\n City governments that want to cool down hot neighborhoods can take practical steps like adding green spaces and street trees as well as using roof and pavement materials designed to absorb less heat.\u00a0<\/p>\n Although planting trees is a proven<\/a> way to cool neighborhoods by providing shade and lowering air temperatures, maintaining street trees can be costly, especially when they are dying<\/a> from drought.\u00a0<\/p>\n In New York, the city\u2019s forthcoming Urban Forest Plan<\/a> will be designed to cover 30 percent of the city with tree canopy, in part to reduce heat in certain areas. I reported in December<\/a> that the city received state funding to plant and care for trees in its ailing forests. But the underfunded<\/a> Parks and Recreation Department may struggle to keep up.<\/p>\n Since 2020, Houston leadership has been tracking tree plantings<\/a> across the city, in line with a city plan that sets out a framework to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, and greater resilience to climate change. According to the plan<\/a>, city residents are forecast to experience 74 days a year with a heat index\u2014a measure that assesses how a mix of heat and humidity feels to the human body\u2014of 105 or more by 2050. Currently, they experience an average of only 10.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cClimate projections and the historical trends\u2014they\u2019re all pointing toward summers becoming more and more unbearable and longer,\u201d Jennings said. \u201cSo this really becomes a quality of life issue.\u201d<\/p>\n More Top Climate News<\/p>\n Wildfires have destroyed grasslands across Nebraska, culminating in the loss of over a million acres, reports Gabrielle Canon for The Guardian<\/a>. A warmer, drier winter created the ideal conditions for the fires, one of which was the largest blaze ever recorded in the state. My colleague Jake Bolster recently wrote<\/a> about how this weather has led to fears of large wildfires in neighboring Wyoming.<\/p>\n Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin has radically shifted the agency\u2019s mission, according to a recent New York Times analysis<\/a> of EPA officials\u2019 public communications by Lisa Friedman and Harry Stevens. As the leader of the EPA, Zeldin often discussed the need to cut red tape for businesses, and rarely mentioned environmental harms to children, according to the analysis.<\/p>\n U.S.\u00a0 Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, sent a letter to the CEO of French company TotalEnergies questioning the legality of a nearly $1 billion settlement with the Trump Administration to relinquish its offshore wind leases, Kelsey Tamborrino reports for Politico\u2019s E&E News<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tAbout This Story<\/p>\n Perhaps you noticed: This story, like all the news we publish, is free to read. That\u2019s because Inside Climate News is a 501c3 nonprofit organization. We do not charge a subscription fee, lock our news behind a paywall, or clutter our website with ads. We make our news on climate and the environment freely available to you and anyone who wants it.<\/p>\n That\u2019s not all. We also share our news for free with scores of other media organizations around the country. Many of them can\u2019t afford to do environmental journalism of their own. We\u2019ve built bureaus from coast to coast to report local stories, collaborate with local newsrooms and co-publish articles so that this vital work is shared as widely as possible.<\/p>\n Two of us launched ICN in 2007. Six years later we earned a Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting, and now we run the oldest and largest dedicated climate newsroom in the nation. We tell the story in all its complexity. We hold polluters accountable. We expose environmental injustice. We debunk misinformation. We scrutinize solutions and inspire action.<\/p>\n Donations from readers like you fund every aspect of what we do. If you don\u2019t already, will you support our ongoing work, our reporting on the biggest crisis facing our planet, and help us reach even more readers in more places? <\/p>\n Please take a moment to make a tax-deductible donation. Every one of them makes a difference.<\/p>\n Thank you,<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Lauren-Dalban-300x300.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n