As featured by The Washington Post:
Climate change conjures up distant images of rising seas and cracking ice sheets, but in cities across the United States the effects of global warming are apparent as soon as you step outside.
It’s known as the “urban heat island effect,” and it refers to the pockets of intense heat captured by the concrete, asphalt, dark roofs and the dearth of foliage that define many American cityscapes.
Los Angeles — surrounded by desert and encased in thousands of miles of asphalt — is the poster child of the heat island effect, experts say, which explains why city officials are exploring innovative ways to combat record-breaking, rising temperatures. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti wants to reduce the city’s average temperature by 3 degrees Fahrenheit over the next 20 years, according to the Los Angeles Times.
One tactic for achieving that goal may involve coating city streets in a substance known as CoolSeal, a gray-colored coating designed to reflect solar rays. City officials said CoolSeal has already shown promising results. The coating was first tested in 2015 on a parking lot in the San Fernando Valley, one of the hottest parts of town, according to Greg Spotts, the assistant director of the Bureau of Street Services, which oversaw the testing. Summer temperatures in the area — which average in the upper 80s — have climbed above 100 degrees multiple times over the past year.
This article was originally published by The Washington Post. Read the full article here.
