Episode 99

[FOCUS] Urban Heat Islands

Episode Summary:  This episode is an excerpt from a past episode on Urban Heat Islands

In this episode, Inma and Leekei discussed how cities are becoming increasingly hotter and what we can do to cope with it

Like most cities in the world Paris, Aberdeen and Seville are witnessing increasing temperatures in the summer months. During this conversation, Leekei and Inma talked about the initiatives that are implemented by the municipalities of the cities they live/have lived in as well as personal initiatives to cope with scorching high temperatures.

For more information on the project, and to order your copy of the Carbon Almanac (an Amazon Best-Selling book of the year!), visit thecarbonalmanac.org

Listen to the full episode: Urban Heat Island

For more information on the project and to order your copy of the Carbon Almanac, visit thecarbonalmanac.org

Want to join in the conversation?

Visit thecarbonalmanac.org/podcasts and send us a voice message on this episode or any other climate-related ideas and perspectives.


Don’t Take Our Word For It, Look It Up!

You can find out more on page 77 of the Carbon Almanac and on the website you can tap the footnotes link and type in 359

----- 

Featuring Carbon Almanac Contributors Leekei Tang and Inma Lopez

Leekei is a fashion business founder, a business coach, an international development expert and a podcaster from Paris, France.

Imma is from Cádiz in the South of Spain, living in Aberdeen, Scotland. Imma is a sommelier, a poet, a podcaster, a mother, a slow food advocate, and an animist activist.

----- 

The CarbonSessions Podcast is produced and edited by Leekei Tang, Steve Heatherington and Rob Slater.

Transcript
Speaker:

Urban Heat Islands - Leekei adj rx: One way to cope with it, , is

Speaker:

to have air conditioning.

Speaker:

And luckily we don't have too much of air conditioning, in Paris yet.

Speaker:

yet, but , I have some friends who thought to have air conditioning

Speaker:

in Paris, but it's not that common.

Speaker:

And the problem with air conditioning is that it's great when you are

Speaker:

inside your home because the air is cold, but outside it's.

an Heat Islands - Inma adj rx:

It makes

an Heat Islands - Inma adj rx:

Yeah, it makes worse.

Heat Islands - Leekei adj rx:

it make it worse because, um, because it's

Heat Islands - Leekei adj rx:

adding, , temperature on the outside because it breathes out , hot air.

Heat Islands - Leekei adj rx:

And also this couple with, you know, with the fact that a city is built,

Heat Islands - Leekei adj rx:

it's built, , on asphalt and, the RevB makes the air even warmer than it's.

Heat Islands - Leekei adj rx:

It's temperature.

Heat Islands - Leekei adj rx:

So it's, it has become really, really difficult.

an Heat Islands - Inma adj rx:

Yeah.

an Heat Islands - Inma adj rx:

here in Aberdeen, in Scotland When it's hot, like 26 degrees,

an Heat Islands - Inma adj rx:

25 degrees here is really hot.

an Heat Islands - Inma adj rx:

Believe me, my, my sister lives at the south of Spain.

an Heat Islands - Inma adj rx:

We have hot temperature temperature there, and she was here visiting,

an Heat Islands - Inma adj rx:

uh, last summer and, and, and she, she couldn't cope with 26 degrees.

an Heat Islands - Inma adj rx:

So there is a difference, I guess, the, the difference of latitude, um,

an Heat Islands - Inma adj rx:

Urban Heat Islands - Leekei adj rx: And also the way the city is built,

an Heat Islands - Inma adj rx:

Exactly.

an Heat Islands - Inma adj rx:

Exactly.

an Heat Islands - Inma adj rx:

Because in a Spain for example, severe gets to 40

an Heat Islands - Inma adj rx:

easy, easy in August 48 degrees,

an Heat Islands - Inma adj rx:

Urban Heat Islands - Leekei adj rx: really?

an Heat Islands - Inma adj rx:

Wow.

an Heat Islands - Inma adj rx:

Um, but it is, is now is becoming really extreme.

an Heat Islands - Inma adj rx:

Uh, but , that area in Spain has been.

an Heat Islands - Inma adj rx:

Since I, since I remember forever, but now it has become really, really extreme

an Heat Islands - Inma adj rx:

Urban Heat Islands - Leekei adj rx: How are the cities built for

an Heat Islands - Inma adj rx:

this kind of temperature?

an Heat Islands - Inma adj rx:

Urban Heat Islands - Inma adj rx: That's the thing that, the thing is,

an Heat Islands - Inma adj rx:

uh, the city, the city center, which is, , very problematic because of the

an Heat Islands - Inma adj rx:

asphalt, um, was built for the heat.

an Heat Islands - Inma adj rx:

So the walls of the buildings are really, really wide.

an Heat Islands - Inma adj rx:

and the windows are, , in the direction of the wind when there is wind, um, , the

an Heat Islands - Inma adj rx:

streets are narrow like in Morocco.

an Heat Islands - Inma adj rx:

So streets are narrow, so the sun cannot get down and, and , the

an Heat Islands - Inma adj rx:

lifestyle also is quite major lifestyle.

an Heat Islands - Inma adj rx:

And there is at the middle of the day, there is this.

an Heat Islands - Inma adj rx:

Naps and, and CSTA.

an Heat Islands - Inma adj rx:

So people is not out in the street in a midday because it's, it's impossible.

an Heat Islands - Inma adj rx:

48 degrees is, is really, you cannot breathe.

Heat Islands - Leekei adj rx:

Yeah.

Heat Islands - Leekei adj rx:

And so this is how the city has been built, but now that it's getting

Heat Islands - Leekei adj rx:

warmer, hotter, what, what's the,

Heat Islands - Leekei adj rx:

what's

an Heat Islands - Inma adj rx:

and the city is growing on the outside and

an Heat Islands - Inma adj rx:

those buildings are not prepared for that.

an Heat Islands - Inma adj rx:

So what people do is a conditioner and that makes things, as we said

an Heat Islands - Inma adj rx:

before, that makes things even worse.

an Heat Islands - Inma adj rx:

Urban Heat Islands - Leekei adj rx: Yes, because of, uh, it's not only

an Heat Islands - Inma adj rx:

that uses a lot of energy and, but also because it's released hot air.

an Heat Islands - Inma adj rx:

Urban Heat Islands - Inma adj rx: Exactly to the, to the streets.

an Heat Islands - Inma adj rx:

So it's getting warmer and warmer and warmer

an Heat Islands - Inma adj rx:

Urban Heat Islands - Leekei adj rx: so what is the city doing about that?

an Heat Islands - Inma adj rx:

Urban Heat Islands - Inma adj rx: parks, parks, trees, vegetation ties,

an Heat Islands - Inma adj rx:

uh, and, and this in the city and the, they have built this mushroom, right.

an Heat Islands - Inma adj rx:

And, and with, uh, vines and, and Ivy.

an Heat Islands - Inma adj rx:

At the top, like interlacing.

an Heat Islands - Inma adj rx:

So it gets shade to

an Heat Islands - Inma adj rx:

to many streets and the temperature goes down.

an Heat Islands - Inma adj rx:

And then thing about most , of the business in city center closed halfway.

an Heat Islands - Inma adj rx:

, in the middle of the day they are closed because they can't, uh, be

an Heat Islands - Inma adj rx:

open because there is no people.

an Heat Islands - Inma adj rx:

, so they open in the morning, they're open \ in the evening, but not in the, in the

an Heat Islands - Inma adj rx:

middle of, so the way of life , is built.

an Heat Islands - Inma adj rx:

also to cope with the heat.

LYNN:

You've been listening to Karbon sessions, a podcast with carbon

LYNN:

conversations for every day, with everyone from everywhere in the world.

LYNN:

We'd love you to join the carbon sessions so YouTube can share your

LYNN:

perspectives from wherever you are.

LYNN:

This is a great way for our community to learn from your ideas and

LYNN:

experiences, connect and take action.

LYNN:

If you want to add your voice to the conversation, go to the carbon.

LYNN:

Dot org slash podcast and sign up to be part of a future episode.

LYNN:

This podcast is also part of the carbon Almanac network for more

LYNN:

information, to sign up for the emails, to join the movement and

LYNN:

to order your copy of the carbon Almanac, go to the carbon almanac.org.

LYNN:

Be sure to subscribe and join us here again.

Next Episode All Episodes Previous Episode

About the Podcast

Show artwork for CarbonSessions
CarbonSessions
Carbon Conversations for every day, with everyone, from everywhere in the world.

Listen for free

About your host

Profile picture for Carbon Almanac

Carbon Almanac

When it comes to the climate, we don’t need more marketing or anxiety. We need established facts and a plan for collective action.

The climate is the fundamental issue of our time, and now we face a critical decision. Whether to be optimistic or fatalistic, whether to profess skepticism or to take action. Yet it seems we can barely agree on what is really going on, let alone what needs to be done. We urgently need facts, not opinions. Insights, not statistics. And a shift from thinking about climate change as a “me” problem to a “we” problem.

The Carbon Almanac is a once-in-a-lifetime collaboration between hundreds of writers, researchers, thinkers, and illustrators that focuses on what we know, what has come before, and what might happen next. Drawing on over 1,000 data points, the book uses cartoons, quotes, illustrations, tables, histories, and articles to lay out carbon’s impact on our food system, ocean acidity, agriculture, energy, biodiversity, extreme weather events, the economy, human health, and best and worst-case scenarios. Visually engaging and built to share, The Carbon Almanac is the definitive source for facts and the basis for a global movement to fight climate change.

This isn’t what the oil companies, marketers, activists, or politicians want you to believe. This is what’s really happening, right now. Our planet is in trouble, and no one concerned group, corporation, country, or hemisphere can address this on its own. Self-interest only increases the problem. We are in this together. And it’s not too late to for concerted, collective action for change.