How students are also possibly affected by climate change
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Even though school is out of session for several more weeks, it is still pertinent to look at a study done by Climate Central on how students are affected by ongoing climate change.
This study involved 65 major cities in the United States. The given factor is that buildings and streets trap heat, also known as the Urban Heat Island. The 65 cities are home to 50,000,000 people, or 15% of the total population in the country.
Note: The United States Environmental Protection Agency defines the Urban Heat Island Effect as “a measurable increase in ambient air temperatures resulting primarily from the replacement of vegetation with buildings, roads, and other heat-absorbing infrastructure.”
Each of those 65 cities has either a concentrated urban core or a more sprawling urban core in a highly developed area, like Houston. On average, public school students in several of these cities experience daily temperatures at least 8° hotter than what they would have been because of the urban heat island environment.
These 65 cities are home to over 12,000 schools with nearly 6.2M students. Over 4,000,000 students, 76%, go to schools in these extreme urban heat zones. The remaining students go to schools in areas that are only a little cooler.
Austin was one of the cities studied. The numbers show how many students across Austin are impacted by the urban heat island influence which can add as much as 8° above what the temperature would be with native vegetation and green canopy vs. concrete roads, sidewalks, buildings, etc. Remember, this is just the city.
The graphic below illustrates the difference between those schools in urban heat islands and those that benefit from being near bodies of water as well as around areas with more plants and trees.
Goals of future school construction might include installing them with cool roofs and being in areas around cool pavements. These are two other ways to reduce said local heat islands.
These numbers, of course, are highest in school districts that begin their school year in August and end in May, as we do in Austin.
We have written many times that extreme heat is the worst of the weather-related hazards in the United States, according to NOAA. Children are among some groups that face a higher heat-related illness than others.
This is part of why the study was so important, as we await the start of the next school year.
