In The News

The Climate Safe Neighborhoods partnership has been making headlines across the country. Catch up on the latest articles, webinars, and podcasts featuring the program and our partners.

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Greenway park project a first step to erasing Yonkers redlining. What it’ll look like. Lohud – January 2023 Old railways that once ran through Southwest Yonkers could be some of the first U.S. paths to address historic redlining and environmental racism under the federal infrastructure law. Read More

A Plan to Cool Off the Hottest Neighborhoods The Atlantic – October 2022 As the climate changes, hyperlocal projects are helping keep disadvantaged areas livable. Read More

As Heat Waves Worsen, THIS Policy Predicts Where People Will Die PBS – August 2022 With extreme heat waves in Europe, Asia, the United States and beyond, it’s clear climate change is making summers more dangerous and deadly. Urban areas are feeling the worst effects; a phenomenon known as the urban heat island effect. 2022 saw high temperatures in Kansas, Spain, Portugal, England (especially London), and India. But even within cities, the warming is not distributed evenly. During the Pacific Northwest heat dome of 2021, the region's most extreme heat wave ever, this temperature difference reached a staggering 25°F between neighborhoods in Portland, OR. And new research is illuminating how a century of racist housing policies known as redlining have contributed to this often-deadly inequality. Watch Here

We created scorching ‘heat islands’ in East Coast cities. Now they’re becoming unlivable The Providence Journal – July 2022 Perilous Course: Decades of decisions are impacting East Coast cities as temperatures rise and heat islands become more dangerous Read More

Racism is magnifying the deadly impact of rising city heat Nature – July 2021 Luis Rodriguez holed up in his kids’ bedroom last month as a brutal heatwave baked his Los Angeles neighbourhood and the rest of the southwestern United States. The space was their only room with an air-conditioning unit, and the safest place in the house when temperatures outside soared above 40 °C. All day, Rodriguez tapped on his computer, working remotely as a volunteer manager for TreePeople, a non-profit environmental organization in Beverly Hills, California, that plants and cares for trees across Los Angeles. His two young sons crammed into the bedroom with him to avoid the dangerous heat. Read More

Drought and Record Heat in the West: The Climate Change Connection The National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine – June 2021 As intense drought and record heat make their way across the Western U.S., the deep and devastating impacts of this extreme weather are clear — electric utilities are asking consumers to ration power and water, farmers are scrambling to sell or save their produce, and officials are making plans to keep their communities safe and cool. All before true summer weather arrives. Read More

Race, Heat, and Redlining Reed Magazine - April 2021

Global warming doesn’t affect everyone the same way, especially in big cities. Some neighborhoods are far more vulnerable to extreme heat than others. Lower elevation makes them vulnerable to flooding. More pavement soaks up sunlight during the day and radiates heat like a furnace at night. Fewer trees mean less shade. During a heatwave, these areas, known as urban heat islands, heat up faster and stay hot longer. In some cities, the temperature in a heat island may be as much as 20 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than in other parts of the city, with devastating consequences for residents, who are often more likely to belong to marginalized communities.

As you might suspect, this is no accident.

The link between racist housing policies of the past and the climate risks of today Yale Climate Connections - March 2021 Groundwork USA, a network of environmental justice organizations, is exploring the connection between formerly redlined neighborhoods and the climate crisis today. As part of its Climate Safe Neighborhoods initiative, Groundwork overlaid historic redlining maps from nine U.S. cities (created by Lawrence Hoffman at Groundwork Milwaukee) with data about tree cover, heat, and impervious surfaces such as asphalt and concrete. Yale Climate Connections spoke with Cate Mingoya, director of capacity building at Groundwork USA, about what the mapping data reveals and how the group is helping local residents respond. Read More

Mapping Project Explores Links Between Historic Redlining And Future Climate Vulnerability WBUR - March 2021 Redlining may also be making people more vulnerable to climate change – specifically, to extreme heat and flooding. Two years ago, an environmental justice nonprofit called Groundwork USA started to research this theory in detail, overlaying the old redlining maps with things like heat data from NASA and flood-risk maps from FEMA. Two recently-completed cities in their Climate Safe Neighborhoods mapping project are Haverhill and Lawrence. Read More

Thinking Beyond World Wildlife Fund - January 2021 Climate change will be seen across the city and region but neighborhoods won't be impacted equally. Vulnerable populations - lower-income communities of color- have disproportionately felt the effects of climate change and will continue to suffer from greater severity unless action is taken. Read More

Redlining’s Impact on Environmental Justice National Center for Civil and Human Rights - December 2020 Join The Center for a conversation with Cate Mingoya, Director of Capacity Building at Groundwork USA, Dr. Robert K. Nelson, Director of the Digital Scholarship Lab at the University of Richmond, and Dr. Vivek Shandas, Director of the Sustaining Urban Places Research Lab for a conversation about the impact of redlining on climate vulnerability and what can be done about it. Read More

How Decades of Racist Housing Policy Left Neighborhoods Sweltering The New York Times – October 2020

In Gilpin, VA the average life expectancy is 63 years. Just a short drive over the James River sits Westover Hills, a largely white, middle-income neighborhood that greets visitors with rows of massive oak trees spreading their leaves over quiet boulevards. Life expectancy there is 83 years. This isn't an accident. Decades of racist housing policies have left many communities vulnerable to extreme heat and other social factors that impact health. While many are optimistic about Richmond's efforts to focus on racial equity in the urban landscape, there still much work to be done.

Episode 129: Climate Change, Housing, and Systemic Racism Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah - October 2020 Together, we talked about redlining, how this issue still alive is today and its consequences, and what this has to do with the environment. Plus, Cate took us through the solutions that exist and the intersectional dynamics to consider when addressing climate change, housing, and systemic racism. Read More

How Cities Can Fight Inequality and Climate Change at Once U.S. News – August 2020 It is no surprise that our greatest existential challenge – climate change – also reflects racial disparities and the widening gulf between rich and poor. Climate change does not affect all people equally: low-income communities and people of color are hit first and worst by climate impacts. While climate change illuminates our nation’s racial and class divides, the steps we take to address it offer opportunities to build a fairer future. Read More

Population of Top 10 Counties for Disasters: 81% Minority E&E News – June 2020 Communities with large minority populations are among the most vulnerable in the U.S. to the effects of climate change and could become more threatened as the coronavirus pandemic weakens their resilience to disasters, according to experts and federal data. It's the result of long-lived policies that clustered minorities in undesirable areas such as floodplains and denied them amenities like green spaces and tree canopies that can mitigate some effects of climate change. Read More

Disaster Responders Grapple with Planning for Extreme Weather in the Time of COVID-19 The National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine - May 2020 Economic decline, COVID-19, and summer weather events will create a threefold threat that could hit some especially hard. Neighborhoods of color are most likely to be exposed not only to the effects of climate change, such as heat and flooding but also to COVID-19 and the widespread economic instability that has followed in its wake, according to Groundwork USA. Read More

Redlining & Climate Change: A Deadly Combination News Beat - April 2020 The areas victimized by racist federal housing policies in the 1930s are now among the most vulnerable to the severe impacts of climate change, according to a landmark study released in January. And although the Fair Housing Act of 1968 banned redlining and housing discrimination in general, three out of four redlined communities rated "hazardous" 80 years ago are struggling economically today. Read More

In a Pandemic, We Need Green Spaces More Than Ever Ensia - March 2020 My beloved hometown of Somerville, Massachusetts, is one of the densest cities in New England with little green space compared with other cities in the state. The sparse tree canopies and extensive pavement in my city have little to do with neighborhood preference and everything to do with a long history of federally backed housing segregation. Read More

Climate Safe Neighborhoods MIT Department of Urban Planning - March 2020 As climate change threatens to make cities hotter and wetter, not all cities or even neighborhoods within a city will be impacted equally. What do many of the most vulnerable urban communities have in common? During the 1930s and 1940s, these neighborhoods were intentionally segregated via federal redlining policies. Read More

Urban Heat Islands Are Not An Accident Sierra Magazine - Feb 2020 As climate change makes cities warmer, low-income neighborhoods of color can be up to 13°F hotter than their wealthier, whiter counterparts, with deadly consequences, according to a recent study in the journal Climate. Read More

Can We Turn Down the Temperature on Urban Heat Islands? YaleEnvironment360 – September 2019 By understanding in detail where hot spots are located, cities can address extreme heat neighborhood-by-neighborhood, choosing from a variety of strategies that include removing or whitewashing black asphalt or roof surfaces, adding more trees for shade, requiring developers to vary the heights of new buildings to increase airflow, and opening more public air conditioned spaces. Read More