Re-greening: can Louisville plant its way out of a heat emergency? Mitch's state.

[bronxiteforever]

The Kentucky city is the fastest-warming urban heat island in the US – and as its temperature has risen, its tree cover has plummeted
The Guardian
By Josh Wood
11/21/19

...Cities are their own climates, often hotter than their surroundings due to the way surfaces like asphalt trap heat even as cars and buildings exude it. When a city is markedly warmer than surrounding rural areas, it is called an urban heat island – and Louisville ranks among the worst heat islands in the US, according to a 2014 study, with an average temperature difference of 2.7C (4.8F). Worse still, a 2012 study by Georgia Tech’s Urban Climate Lab found that Louisville was the fastest-warming urban heat island in the nation. Part of the reason for Louisville’s temperature extremes is geography. But a lot of it comes down to trees.

A study commissioned by Louisville in 2015 found that the city had lost 54,000 trees a year between 2004 and 2012, reducing the city’s canopy cover from 40% to 37% over the period. Today, canopy cover is likely to be around 27%, according to Cindi Sullivan, executive director and president of the nonprofit TreesLouisville.

“Without a robust tree canopy,” said Sullivan, “our air quality is going to continue to decrease, stormwater and flooding from these extreme weather events is going to increase, the effects of draught are going to increase. There will be more health problems.”

“Most cities by the middle of the century [will be becoming] increasingly dangerous places to be outside,” said Brian Stone Jr, who wrote the Georgia Tech report on urban heat islands. “So if no steps are taken, that will just be amplified.” He added:“It isn’t just that heat is uncomfortable – it kills people and is only set to get worse as the climate crisis continues.”

More here
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/nov/21/re-greening-can-louisville-plant-its-way-out-of-a-heat-emergency?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

[Bayard]

1. I was born in Louisville,

And spent a goodly portion of my life there. Still came back to KY, after living all over the place.

I lived last in Louisville on the east side in your basic suburban neighborhood. We had numerous large trees, with a greenbelt across the back on a third of an acre. The last few years there, the big expensive McMansion developments started all around us. Large swaths of wooded areas were bulldozed to build those houses on postage stamp sized lots. It was horrid to watch, even if it did make out property values rise.

That's probably happening all over the country.

I've proposed before on DU, that a tree-planting requirement should be written into law. Every person in the country would be responsible for planting one tree a year. There are numerous places to get free seedlings (I swipe baby pines off my neighbor's 300 acres because he has sold the property to an Amish logger). You could have someone else plant your tree for you, but it has to be done.

[Duppers]

2. Excellent idea!!

We all should be required to be amateur arborists - planting and taking care of trees is a major deterrent of global warming.

All those McMansions on postage stamp lots results from too little land & too many people.

The point has been made many times over in DU's Energy and Environment Forum that people, too many people, are the major cause of global warming. (Oh dear, I mentioned the Forbidden subject: we cannot tell people that they should stop having more than one child or two at most.) We are running out of land, out of trees, and out of clean oxygen to breathe. We are heating and suffocating our planet.

[bronxiteforever]

3. +1 thank you for your excellent insight!