This summer sucks. It will continue to suck. In the coming years, it will suck even harder. But, if I squint and put on my positivity hat, I can see one possible good outcome: everyone realizes that we need to take action now to deal with the heat.
Climate change is real and hastened by human activities. We need to curb emissions. This post isn’t about that. Let me put it this way: if you’ve got a roast going in the oven, your kitchen will heat up. But turning off the oven isn’t an option, because you need to eat. I could tell you that eating less meat is better for the planet and your body, but I’m a guest in your house, so I’m not going to give you grief. Instead, I’ll suggest we open a window. Not now! In this hypothetical roast situation where you invited me over to dinner and I actually put on a pair of pants and took a shower (not in that order) for the first time all week, it’s November. You with me?
It’s hot AF in Dallas, and it’s going to get even hotter in coming years. Let’s open a window. Or, to abandon this metaphor (finally) and be more direct: let’s make the surface of Dallas—everywhere we can—less heat absorbent.
Did you know that cities are about 9 percent hotter than the surrounding countryside? That’s because we lay asphalt and concrete everywhere. And we build dumb roofs that soak up the sun. Cities create a heat island. Our Matt Goodman wrote about this in 2019, in a story titled “The Woman Who Fought the Sun.” The Southwestern Medical District is the hottest part of Dallas, and Matt detailed Janette Monear’s plans to change that. She runs an outfit called the Texas Trees Foundation.
Bam. It’s pretty obvious. We need more trees. Trees create shade (and do a bunch of other stuff that keeps us healthy and breathing). President Joe Biden just announced that he is throwing billions into what’s called the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program, much of which will be funneled directly to cities so they can protect themselves from extreme heat. That means planting trees.
But it also means creating “smart surfaces” wherever we can. Green roofs; porous, more reflective parking lots; solar panels. We need this stuff everywhere, all at once, immediately. Which is impossible. But we can get started tomorrow.
I don’t know the schedules of every city council in North Texas. In Dallas, though, the council members are all goofing off someplace for the summer. They should set aside some time read this report that the Smart Surfaces Coalition published after it studied Baltimore and found what would happen if the city went all-in on smart surfaces. While generating a 10:1 return on investment, making the city more resistant to heat would create jobs, save lives, protect tourism, and, yes, literally make the city cooler.
Then, when the Dallas City Council returns from break—when every North Texas council gets back to work—they should grab city staff by the collar and plop them at their desks and point them to where they can file an application to get some of Biden’s sweet, sweet BRIC money.
Oh, also, we could immediately get rid of minimum parking requirements. That, too.
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