Tag: urban heat islands
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“We hope this project will inspire others”: Moonee Valley Sustainability’s Cool, Safe Space
In response to the growing threat of extreme heat, Moonee Valley Sustainability, a volunteer run community group in Melbourne’s north-west, has embarked on a project to transform their Ascot Vale headquarters into a Cool, Safe Space. They want to provide a refuge for local residents during the coming summers, protecting them from the dangers of…
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Western Sydney needs better bus stops
Each summer on sweltering hot days across Sydney people can be found waiting for the bus in baking temperatures, with no shelter, no seat, and no shade. The sustainable liveable cities of our future will need great public transport, but right now waiting for the bus on a hot day in Western Sydney can be…
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Turfing out fake grass: Resources on the impacts of synthetic turf on human health and the environment
Fake grass creates and exacerbates urban heat islands, causing detrimental effects on human health, and the natural environment. It can increase land surface temperatures by 40% or more, absorbing heat, warming air temperatures, hardening soil and thus increasing stormwater runoff. Microplastics are created both during its production and as it degrades. It kills nutrients in…
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SMH: Sydneysiders using unconventional methods to cool down
By Andrew Taylor March 8, 2021 “Almost one-third of Sydney residents leave their homes to cool down during hot weather, while 55 per cent of people do not turn on their airconditioners because of the cost of energy bills. A survey of how people cope with hot weather found nearly half of all apartment dwellers leave…
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ABC: Heatwaves may mean Sydney is too hot for people to live in ‘within decades’
Sunday 24 January 2021 “Parts of Victoria and NSW are sweating through an extreme heatwave that started sweeping across Australia’s southeast on Saturday. This may seem like just a good excuse to go to the beach, but as the planet warms and summers become longer and less bearable, heatwaves are coming to represent an existential threat to Australian suburbs. Already,…