Here's how heat mapping, tree planting and a climate resilience hub could help Portsmouth
PORTSMOUTH — Environmental group leaders are working with Portsmouth residents to help solve the city's urban heat problem, including by mapping the city's hot spots, planting hundreds of new trees and building a new climate resilience hub.
The hub, to be built outside New Bethel Baptist Church in Portsmouth, will be a space to use during extreme weather events.
Garry Harris, a Portsmouth native and president of the Center for Sustainable Communities, emphasized the center's utility as a cooling center in extreme heat, especially since heat waves contribute to hundreds of deaths in the United States. The building, once completed, will be a separate structure where people can shelter from severe storms or heat, especially in times where the power is out, Harris said.
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The summers in Hampton Roads are already hot, but for some residents, swelling temperatures and their impacts can be disproportionally worse. In Portsmouth, many residents live in 'urban heat islands.' These areas of high temperatures often occur where cities have replaced natural land cover with dense concentrations of pavement, buildings and other surfaces that absorb and retain heat.
Researchers at Virginia Wesleyan University are looking to aid in cooling down Portsmouth, especially in lower-income neighborhoods or areas with more people of color. They are in the middle of a 2-year study on heat islands in the city. The first year focuses on mapping hot spots within the city's limits, and the second year focuses on community input from residents about tree planting and other efforts. By the end of the project, the team wants to plant at least 500 trees across the city by the end of the year.
The researchers are now gathering comments from community members about what parts of the city could become focus areas for environmental improvements, such as bus stops, areas around schools or in residential neighborhoods. On Saturday, the team hosted a town hall for residents to share feedback.
'This study confirmed what we already suspected — some areas of Portsmouth experience significantly higher temperatures than others due to low tree cover and extensive impervious surfaces,' said Elizabeth Malcolm, professor of ocean and atmospheric sciences and director of sustainability at Virginia Wesleyan University.
In addition to higher temperatures, other effects of heat islands include increased energy costs, and higher air pollution levels and heat-related illness and mortality. Vulnerable populations, such as children, older adults and those with pre-existing conditions become even more at risk as temperatures increase.
'You see correlations between heat and then some other socioeconomic factors, and depending on the city, things like income and minorities in some cases,' Malcolm said. 'Some of these communities with higher percentage of minorities and higher percentage of low income residents are the hotter neighborhoods. (They are) the ones with more asphalt and more pavement and less trees, less parks (and) less green space.'
After the town hall, four of the project's 500 trees were planted on the church's property.
While planting more trees is one part of the solution, partners on the project are also looking at other avenues to prevent the destruction of Portsmouth's tree canopy.
'We need policy at the local, regional and state level that speaks to development, that speaks to tree replacement and also speaks to maybe logging operations and how to how to put some boundaries around that,' Harris said.
Last summer, volunteers drove 6-mile routes across Portsmouth with heat sensors to identify hot spots, and that map will help narrow down what parts of the city may be the most viable for restoration. Currently, the project's federal grant funding, which comes from the U.S. Forest Service through the Inflation Reduction Act's urban and community forestry program, is paused. Harris said that won't stop the project from 'keeping on.' Malcolm said there may be opportunities for funding at the state level, as well.
Mark Whitaker, pastor of New Bethel Baptist Church, said the resilience hub is a step in the right direction for socioeconomic equality in the city, but he hopes that other aspects of economic equality get addressed in Portsmouth, such as higher wages and funding for education.
'The interstate highway that is around this community — that interstate went right down the middle of this community and displaced some homeowners. There was talk about putting trash dump in this community,' Whitaker said. 'I share that because the issue of environment and climate social justice, it's something that this church has always been outspoken and prophetic on. The issue goes far beyond climate and environment, because we know that it's not just the temperature outside, but it's what people feel. What people feel is impacted by their socioeconomic conditions.'
Eliza Noe, eliza.noe@virginiamedia.com
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