Plants may be key to cooling down temps

Challenge is balance between water resources, landscaping

If you want to bring down the temperature a bit, the key might be in the landscaping.

A recent Associated Press report looked at Phoenix and the challenges of being an urban heat island, “a phenomenon that pushes up temperatures in areas covered in heat-retaining asphalt and concrete.” One expert noted that Phoenix is warming at three times the rate of the planet as a whole, which is certainly concerning.

Officials in Phoenix are fighting back, “planting thousands of trees and capturing rainwater to cool off public spaces,” AP reports. The strategy appears to be working in other metro areas. Chicago and Seattle both are working to restore and maintain public green spaces, while Los Angeles is now requiring reflective “cool roofs” on any new homes.

One expert told AP the green spaces make a difference, citing an example of the Arizona State University campus in Tempe vs. Sky Harbor International Airport. On one night, the low on ASU’s green campus was 69 degrees. The low on the same night at Sky Harbor? 81. The two locations are separated by just 5.5 miles.

In that specific example, vegetation clearly makes a difference.

Yuma might not be defined as an urban heat sink — after all, we don’t have the density of skyscrapers to worry about. But there is no question that it gets hot here, and our nighttime lows are still toasty. In fact, our low temperatures this week are hovering in the upper 80s.

One has to wonder whether planting more vegetation here would make a difference and lower those temperatures a bit. The AP reports Phoenix is considering trees like acacia, blue palo verde, ironwood and desert willow — all of which are included on a list of plants recommended by the city of Yuma’s Department of Community Development for local landscape design.

However, there is a bit of a challenge with this notion. Planting vegetation requires water, and that is in finite supply amid this drought.

Ultimately, one has to find a balance between appropriate water usage and using vegetation to cool our spaces.

If one can strike that balance, however, this vegetation idea may be a beneficial one for our region.