Cities are vulnerable to heatwaves. But green spaces can help more than we thought

[hauntedheadnc]

Originally Posted by jmecklenborg

Many US cities have woods and big trees all over the place, and not as part of some plan endorsed by Twitter or wherever this article came from. Trees aren't a new idea.

The article came from ZME Science which, according to an organization that would know, knows more about the issue than you do. So you can stop being petty and harumphing about the topic like an offended old spinster any time you like. Nobody said trees were a new idea. We know they aren't. No shit, Sherlock, as some would say, even.

What is new though, is to be able to work the quantified benefits of trees and greenspace into costs and projections, and to maximize their impacts in architecture and urban design. To, for example, be able to figure out exactly how many trees it would take, and what kind, and where they should be placed, to appreciably cool the Place de l'Opera in Paris.

And correct me if I'm wrong, things like that are what we're here on this forum to discuss.

Also, many poor Americans don't understand nutrition/hydration and refuse to drink water and/or electrolytes while working in the heat or while just sitting around. You can't teach them otherwise.

Well, you've convinced me. I, too, am now offended by the presence of trees in urban areas, and I'm even more offended that anyone would try to quantify their benefits in the built environment. How dare they? Have these so-called "scientists" no decency?

[Nouvellecosse]

Originally Posted by hauntedheadnc

Well, you've convinced me. I, too, am now offended by the presence of trees in urban areas, and I'm even more offended that anyone would try to quantify their benefits in the built environment. How dare they? Have these so-called "scientists" no decency?

I think he just means that people who fall within a broad income or class category are all the same and are incapable of comprehending basic health and nutrition concepts due to their inherent inferiority. Yay science!!

[jmecklenborg]

Originally Posted by hauntedheadnc

The article came from ZME Science which, according to an organization that would know, knows more about the issue than you do. So you can stop being petty and harumphing about the topic like an offended old spinster any time you like. Nobody said trees were a new idea.

I own a bunch of mature trees, maybe 50 of them. Some of them overhang my houses, both of which are over 100 years old. I also own two lots with a variety of mature trees on them, one of which has been bothering me for several years as it overhangs a neighboring business and no doubt drops a ton of leaves into their gutters. They haven't complained so I haven't done anything about it.

I can tell you that modern houses with no tree cover are more comfortable during the summer than are either of these old houses. A lot of old houses are charming but they have serious problems that can't be fixed without a gut rehab, and that rehab will almost certainly ruin much of their charm.

We are also, of course, blaming the trees or buildings instead of the individuals for doing logical things like drinking water instead of pop and beer when it's hot.

People also do completely irrational things like run window AC units AND their furnace at the same time. Sometimes they leave town for the weekend with both ripping the whole time. I'm a landlord. This is the sort of crap I have to put up with my tenants doing.