We are on fire but not in a good way.
Jacksonville has experienced an increase from a rolling 3 year average of 3 days in 1976 to a rolling 3 year average of 21 days of 95 or over degree days in 2023, a 688% increase, 10th highest increase among the 50 largest American cities.
We rank 4th in largest number of days increase in 2024 over our last 10 year median, going from 11 days to 25 days, so far.
More reason to increase green spaces throughout our community! It is painful to watch homeowners mow down trees indiscriminately in fear of them falling or, worse, because they can't stand dealing with falling leaves, needles, moss, etc. Add developers clearing our forests at an alarming rate and not replacing dying trees throughout. At the rate we are going, we will become Arizona East.
As heat proves deadly, there is growing awareness of the importance of adapting to a hotter world to avoid breaching temperatures that challenge human survivability, all the while reducing fossil fuel pollution as much as possible.
Landesman suggests cities expand green spaces, increase shade, provide public cooling stations and improve messaging about the dangers of heat to prevent serious consequences and costs to human health.
“As the world’s richest country, the United States has the resources and technology needed to address extreme heat,” Landesman said.
“We can’t air-condition our way out of this problem — in fact that would just make it worse, because the US gets so much of its electricity from burning fossil fuels. It would also be prohibitively expensive for the most vulnerable, and cities should be liveable for everyone, not just the wealthy.”
https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/13/climate/us-cities-heating-up-fastest-dg/index.html
