Having grown up in Pasadena from the mid-1950s and moved phoenix in 2016, cooler pavements would be great. Couple of comments, though:
America didn’t rise to the top of nations with wimpy people who couldn’t stand the heat. Is there a shortage of wimps today? Do we need more ppl who can’t handle weather?
You link to a study of heat deaths, yet far more ppl die of cold than of heat. I’ve lived in the Rockies in winter (-43) and in phoenix. I’ll take heat, thank you very much.
Have you noticed that the climate cult folks always yak about ppl dying of heat, yet are among the greatest evangelists of global population being reduced? (Weird, right? Just like those demanding both depopulation and free healthcare...)
And you fail to discuss the manufacturing of these materials. Sure, concrete is more reflective and cooler, but it also off-gases CO2. Not including the full product cycle leaves an intelligent reader wondering why?
Just read this (few months late…). Reflective pavements seem like a great idea. Please be wary of misinformation regarding global heat deaths vs cold deaths. A good reference is “A Multi-Country Analysis on Potential Adaptive Mechanisms to Cold and Heat in a Changing Climate”, Vicedo-Cabrera, et al. 2018 (with global data from ~ 1987-2007). Cold deaths are about 5x greater than heat deaths in the US and elsewhere (see Figures S4 and S5 of the reference). Extensive peer-reviewed references cited by the authors.
“In the face of ...” anything facing our cities in an actual negative or hyped-scary way: Corruption, Crime, drug-addiction, violence, homelessness, failing public education, indoctrination, perversion, pot-holes etc., the only first-step towards any solution with a chance of leading to or ultimately resulting in positive change, would be removing Democrats from every position of power they hold, whether elected or appointed. Until that happens, and it never will for the blinders placed on their voters by way of the death-grip Democrats have achieved on every institution, decline will continue below and beyond 3rd-world living conditions inadequately describable as hell-on-earth.
More people die from coldness than warmth, so overall maybe not such a good idea. Also we have no idea whether the climate will get warner or colder each year, nor what optimum temperature is. It is well established by many methods that the climate was warmer in the medieval period, and up until recently it was called a climate optimum.
The coldest it has been in the last ten thousand years was at the same time scientific measurements started, so it is no surprise to see some current records being the highest on record.
If we measured from , for example 1,200 AD or 8,000 BC we would say that it is colder now than then.
The current increase in both CO2 and temperature is better for life on Earth than if it had stayed stable.
But that doesn't give the excuse needed to control, impoverish and enslave the many for the advantage of the small elite. Having looked at the subject in more depth than most, I and many others believe the so called climate crisis is a scam based on lies and bad science. Be happy to change my mind in the light of new evidence, but I've looked and not found it.
Excellent essay! Beyond reflective pavement, the opportunity lies in the capture of solar energy from the ground beneath our feet, channeling it to a federated set of storage nodes, where it can be reallocated as energy to homes and businesses, leaning into natural elements as much as possible. Can we build locks and canals for energy like Americans did for river water in the early 19th Century?
The urban heat island effect is the single largest driver of our measured temperature increases globally. Take the urban areas out of the mix and the mean global temps don't show much movement. So when we measure average global temp, what we are really doing is measuring global urbanization.
The heat island effect is signitficant specifically in valleys and can cause weather patterns to shift (it creates a heat 'bubble' that storms move around) so it is advantageous to figure out how to reduce it. You can really notice it in Pheonix AZ vs. Tucson AZ.
It's also the longer term problem with solar panels as they do the same thing and will mess up fragile desert ecosystems in the western states which live off of the more dramatic day/night temp differences.
Having grown up in Pasadena from the mid-1950s and moved phoenix in 2016, cooler pavements would be great. Couple of comments, though:
America didn’t rise to the top of nations with wimpy people who couldn’t stand the heat. Is there a shortage of wimps today? Do we need more ppl who can’t handle weather?
You link to a study of heat deaths, yet far more ppl die of cold than of heat. I’ve lived in the Rockies in winter (-43) and in phoenix. I’ll take heat, thank you very much.
Have you noticed that the climate cult folks always yak about ppl dying of heat, yet are among the greatest evangelists of global population being reduced? (Weird, right? Just like those demanding both depopulation and free healthcare...)
And you fail to discuss the manufacturing of these materials. Sure, concrete is more reflective and cooler, but it also off-gases CO2. Not including the full product cycle leaves an intelligent reader wondering why?
Just read this (few months late…). Reflective pavements seem like a great idea. Please be wary of misinformation regarding global heat deaths vs cold deaths. A good reference is “A Multi-Country Analysis on Potential Adaptive Mechanisms to Cold and Heat in a Changing Climate”, Vicedo-Cabrera, et al. 2018 (with global data from ~ 1987-2007). Cold deaths are about 5x greater than heat deaths in the US and elsewhere (see Figures S4 and S5 of the reference). Extensive peer-reviewed references cited by the authors.
“In the face of ...” anything facing our cities in an actual negative or hyped-scary way: Corruption, Crime, drug-addiction, violence, homelessness, failing public education, indoctrination, perversion, pot-holes etc., the only first-step towards any solution with a chance of leading to or ultimately resulting in positive change, would be removing Democrats from every position of power they hold, whether elected or appointed. Until that happens, and it never will for the blinders placed on their voters by way of the death-grip Democrats have achieved on every institution, decline will continue below and beyond 3rd-world living conditions inadequately describable as hell-on-earth.
Run voters, run! Summer’s coming 😎🌴
More people die from coldness than warmth, so overall maybe not such a good idea. Also we have no idea whether the climate will get warner or colder each year, nor what optimum temperature is. It is well established by many methods that the climate was warmer in the medieval period, and up until recently it was called a climate optimum.
The coldest it has been in the last ten thousand years was at the same time scientific measurements started, so it is no surprise to see some current records being the highest on record.
If we measured from , for example 1,200 AD or 8,000 BC we would say that it is colder now than then.
The current increase in both CO2 and temperature is better for life on Earth than if it had stayed stable.
But that doesn't give the excuse needed to control, impoverish and enslave the many for the advantage of the small elite. Having looked at the subject in more depth than most, I and many others believe the so called climate crisis is a scam based on lies and bad science. Be happy to change my mind in the light of new evidence, but I've looked and not found it.
Excellent essay! Beyond reflective pavement, the opportunity lies in the capture of solar energy from the ground beneath our feet, channeling it to a federated set of storage nodes, where it can be reallocated as energy to homes and businesses, leaning into natural elements as much as possible. Can we build locks and canals for energy like Americans did for river water in the early 19th Century?
The urban heat island effect is the single largest driver of our measured temperature increases globally. Take the urban areas out of the mix and the mean global temps don't show much movement. So when we measure average global temp, what we are really doing is measuring global urbanization.
The heat island effect is signitficant specifically in valleys and can cause weather patterns to shift (it creates a heat 'bubble' that storms move around) so it is advantageous to figure out how to reduce it. You can really notice it in Pheonix AZ vs. Tucson AZ.
It's also the longer term problem with solar panels as they do the same thing and will mess up fragile desert ecosystems in the western states which live off of the more dramatic day/night temp differences.
Thank you! Such a great topic.
Another amazing post by the ladies at Parachute (big ➕ to the format and illustrations 🛣🚦)!