Latest news with #KellyTurner
Atlantic
22-07-2025
- Climate
- Atlantic
All Praise Shade
Every year, heat takes more lives than floods, hurricanes, and tornadoes combined. The fatalities can sometimes go unnoticed, perhaps because the danger is invisible: There's no twister that uproots a neighborhood and no flood that sucks it underwater, nor billions of dollars in property damage. Instead, heat's imprint is seen in empty streets, work slowdowns, cognitive decline, and hospital bills. When autumn arrives and temperatures relent, heat leaves no discernable trace. The Earth is getting hotter. In many places on the planet, summer is already two to three weeks longer than in the 1950s. By the end of the century, the warm season in the United States could last six months, and extreme temperatures could force us to spend much of it indoors. Supercharged heat waves will settle over cities for weeks at a time and cause many people to die. Others will suffer heart attacks, kidney disease, and brain damage. What we now call winter will be a brief, two-month interregnum that feels more like spring. Reducing society's consumption of fossil fuels is necessary for preventing worse-yet climate change. But even if every single power source becomes a renewable one and we stop emitting carbon, the planet's surface won't start cooling. The temperature will continue to rise for a few years before gradually leveling off. It will take 'many, many centuries,' NASA estimates, to end the global-greenhouse effect. It is a sobering truth that cutting emissions isn't enough. We also need to figure out how to live on a new Earth. What if the key to that life is older than civilization itself? We need to manage heat to live. And we have an effective and democratic way of doing it: shade. Shade makes long waits for the bus more comfortable. Shade helps keep farmworkers safe when they harvest fruits and vegetables under an unforgiving sun. And shade cools urban environments, improving residents' chance of surviving blazing summers. 'We all know that cities are cooler when we have shade, but we're not really planning for it,' V. Kelly Turner, an urban-planning and geography professor at UCLA, said on CNN. 'In the future, that's something that cities are going to need to do, is intentionally think about: What does shade infrastructure look like?' Turner believes that shade could be America's next long-term investment in public health. What safe drinking water and clean air were to the 20th century, shade could be to the climate-changed 21st. Scientific models bear her out. If we can get emissions under control and put the planet on a path to moderate warming, then by 2050, getting out of the sun could be the difference between unsafe heat and a livable environment. One obvious way the planet can get more shade is more trees. We evolved in forests, and some of our oldest myths and stories unfold under their canopies. Hippocrates taught medicine under a plane tree, and Ovid found bittersweet beauty in a laurel's leaves. The Mesopotamian goddess Inanna slept under a miraculous poplar whose shadow never moved, and Buddha found enlightenment by meditating under a ficus tree. Christian and Muslim heavens alike are cooled by trees' perpetual shade. Tree shade is where public space was born and civic identities are forged. In hot climates, people naturally prefer to confer, conduct commerce, and gossip out of the sun's permanent glare. They spend far more time in shady parks or temple courtyards than in sunny ones. They linger and relax, and that engenders more interactions, and possibly even stimulates social cohesion. It's true in arid cities, humid regions, and even temperate zones with short summers. People want to be in shade. They muse longer, pray more peacefully, and find strength to walk farther. Perhaps because we've become so adept at cooling inside spaces with air conditioning, we've forgotten the importance of cooling outside spaces, too. There is no technology that cools the outdoors as effectively as a tree. These communal parasols are also misting machines that dissipate heat. It's hard to feel that effect under one or two of them, but get enough trees together and an urban summer can be as fresh as a rural spring, a feat with major implications for energy use and public health. Where tree-planting isn't viable, cities must invest in other types of public infrastructure that cast shade. Throughout Los Angeles, on streets that are too cramped and paved over to support green canopies, the preferred protections aren't arboreal but artificial, such as the pop-up tents of taqueros and the cheerful rainbow umbrellas of fruit vendors. In Phoenix, a desert city that struggles to nourish an urban forest, common tools include sidewalk screens, frilly metal filters, and soaring photovoltaic canopies. These interventions are more effective than many might expect. Ariane Middel, an Arizona State University urban-climate researcher who runs the school's Sensable Heatscapes and Digital Environments (SHaDE) Lab, surveyed students and staff as they strolled through the shadows that solar panels cast on a Tempe campus thoroughfare. More than any change in ambient temperature, humidity, or wind, the mere presence of shade was the only significant predictor of outdoor comfort. Shade's effectiveness is a function of physics. It depends on the material properties of the sun-blocking objects that cast it—how they reflect, absorb, and transmit different wavelengths of energy in sunlight. It depends on the intensity of that light and the extent of the shade thrown. (A telephone pole that casts a perfect shadow on your body does nothing to stop the solar heating of the surfaces around you.) And it depends on the biology of the person who receives it. Middel has come as close as anyone to adding up all these factors. She praises humble umbrellas and plastic sails, because their shade feels like taking 30 degrees off the afternoon sun, which is about as good as shade cast by a tree. Ultimately, she finds that a city itself can offer the most relief in the shadows of arcaded sidewalks and looming skyscrapers. The Greek philosopher Onesicritus taught that shade stunts growth, a belief that presaged a modern fixation on the healthiness of sunlight. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, doctors and public-health advocates feared that darkness itself caused the poor health of urban slum-dwellers. It was a vector of disease, where contagions bred and spread, and the murkiness also encouraged licentiousness and other urban vices. Some literally believed sunlight was the best disinfectant. Solar codes were written into urban plans, and new materials and technologies allowed architects to design brighter buildings flooded with natural light. Now we're beginning to see how a solar fetish may be maladaptive. In New York, a recent summer saw a throng of neighborhood activists protest the construction of a 16-story office tower, with signs to Save Our Light. They did this while huddling in the shadow of another building. As intense heat bears down, we have to see shade as a basic human right. We have forgotten that shade is a natural resource. We don't grasp its importance, and we don't appreciate its promise for a better future. Loggers and farmers cut down forests, forcing animals to flee and land to turn fallow. Engineers ignore time-honored methods of keeping out heat, locking us into mechanical cooling systems that fail during blackouts. And urban planners denude shady parks and pave neighborhoods with heat-sucking roads, only to drive us mad with the infernal conditions. But shade is a path to a better future—if we just learn to value it again, and design for it in the places we live.
New York Times
11-07-2025
- Science
- New York Times
We Need to Learn to Love Tall Buildings
As the heat index pushed 105 degrees Fahrenheit one weekend in late June, my toddler and I were on foot, searching for a cool oasis. We found one in the wide, pale shadow cast by a 26-story apartment building on the Lower East Side, on a courtyard filled with the sounds of slapping dominoes and children on scooters, zooming around playground equipment. Although New York and other American cities badly need more shady spaces like this, it's far too difficult to create them. Planning codes discourage new high-rises in many neighborhoods, and urban designers claim their thousand-foot shadows make the open spaces around them less inviting. But the opposite is true on extremely hot days: The monolithic shade of buildings can actually enhance parks, playgrounds and plazas by cooling them down. As extreme heat becomes more common, urban dwellers need to relinquish their bias against daytime darkness and embrace the shadows. According to Kelly Turner, an urban planning professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the former director of the recently axed Center for Heat Resilient Communities, which was funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, shade of any kind can shave 30 percent off the 'heat burden' — the total heat we gain outside — as well as ward off dehydration, headaches and serious heat illnesses. Too many tall buildings can trap heat and raise air temperatures, especially overnight — a phenomenon known as the urban heat island effect. But Dr. Turner told me that during the day, warming at least at the local level is offset by the cooling shade. Yet it's harder to find 'built shade,' as she and other researchers call the shadows cast by buildings and other man-made structures. In June, Dr. Turner and other U.C.L.A. researchers released a national shade map of over 360 American cities and towns that shows most shade is cast by trees, not walls. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Questex's Digital Signage Experience Opens Nominations for the 2025 Digital Signage Experience (DIZZIE) Awards
Submissions Accepted through August 1, 2025; Winners to be Honored at DSE 2025 NEW YORK, May 29, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Questex's Digital Signage Experience (DSE), the premier event for the digital signage industry, today announces nominations are open for the 2025 Digital Signage Experience Awards (DIZZIES). The awards will be presented at DSE 2025, taking place October 19-21, 2025, at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront in San Diego, California. The DIZZIE Awards honor the most visionary and impactful digital signage projects and the individuals driving the industry forward. Recognizing innovation, creativity, and excellence, the DIZZIES celebrate installations and campaigns that push boundaries and redefine what's possible in digital signage. Award Categories include: Project Categories Corporate Environments Digital-Out-Of-Home Educational Environments Entertainment & Recreation Experiential Design & Planning Healthcare Environments Hospitality Public Spaces Restaurants, Bars and Foodservice Retail Environments Sustainable Solution Transportation Venues Digital Signage Content of the Year Digital Signage Experience of the Year Individual Categories Trailblazer Emerging Talent All nominations will be reviewed by a panel of esteemed judges. "The DIZZIE Awards spotlight the trailblazers, creative leaders, and game-changing projects that are shaping the future of digital signage," said David Drain, DSE event director at Questex. "We're excited to once again honor the groundbreaking work taking place around the globe." Click here to enter a Project category and here for an Individual category. Submissions are open through August 1, 2025. For more information about DSE and to register to attend, visit For sponsor and exhibitor inquiries, contact Kelly Turner at kturner@ Stay connected with DSE on LinkedIn, X, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. About Digital Signage Experience (DSE) Digital Signage Experience (DSE) is the preeminent event and digital platform for the digital signage industry, showcasing innovations in technology, market applications and creative educational content. With an increased focus on reaching key end-user markets for digital solutions and experiences, DSE will harness other audiences and platforms in hotels, hospitality, travel, healthcare, entertainment, education, sensors and communications technology and more. About Questex Questex helps people live better and longer. Questex brings people together in the markets that help people live better: hospitality and wellness; the industries that help people live longer: life science and healthcare; and the technologies that enable and fuel these new experiences. We live in the experience economy – connecting our ecosystem through live events, surrounded by data insights and digital communities. We deliver experience and real results. It happens here. Media ContactCharlene Soucy Senior Director, Marketing | Experiential Technology Questex csoucy@ in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Questex's Digital Signage Experience Opens Nominations for the 2025 Digital Signage Experience (DIZZIE) Awards
Submissions Accepted through August 1, 2025; Winners to be Honored at DSE 2025 NEW YORK, May 29, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Questex's Digital Signage Experience (DSE), the premier event for the digital signage industry, today announces nominations are open for the 2025 Digital Signage Experience Awards (DIZZIES). The awards will be presented at DSE 2025, taking place October 19-21, 2025, at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront in San Diego, California. The DIZZIE Awards honor the most visionary and impactful digital signage projects and the individuals driving the industry forward. Recognizing innovation, creativity, and excellence, the DIZZIES celebrate installations and campaigns that push boundaries and redefine what's possible in digital signage. Award Categories include: Project Categories Corporate Environments Digital-Out-Of-Home Educational Environments Entertainment & Recreation Experiential Design & Planning Healthcare Environments Hospitality Public Spaces Restaurants, Bars and Foodservice Retail Environments Sustainable Solution Transportation Venues Digital Signage Content of the Year Digital Signage Experience of the Year Individual Categories Trailblazer Emerging Talent All nominations will be reviewed by a panel of esteemed judges. "The DIZZIE Awards spotlight the trailblazers, creative leaders, and game-changing projects that are shaping the future of digital signage," said David Drain, DSE event director at Questex. "We're excited to once again honor the groundbreaking work taking place around the globe." Click here to enter a Project category and here for an Individual category. Submissions are open through August 1, 2025. For more information about DSE and to register to attend, visit For sponsor and exhibitor inquiries, contact Kelly Turner at kturner@ Stay connected with DSE on LinkedIn, X, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. About Digital Signage Experience (DSE) Digital Signage Experience (DSE) is the preeminent event and digital platform for the digital signage industry, showcasing innovations in technology, market applications and creative educational content. With an increased focus on reaching key end-user markets for digital solutions and experiences, DSE will harness other audiences and platforms in hotels, hospitality, travel, healthcare, entertainment, education, sensors and communications technology and more. About Questex Questex helps people live better and longer. Questex brings people together in the markets that help people live better: hospitality and wellness; the industries that help people live longer: life science and healthcare; and the technologies that enable and fuel these new experiences. We live in the experience economy – connecting our ecosystem through live events, surrounded by data insights and digital communities. We deliver experience and real results. It happens here. Media ContactCharlene Soucy Senior Director, Marketing | Experiential Technology Questex csoucy@ in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Business Wire
22-05-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
YogaSix Launches "Y6 Mobility" – A New Class Designed for Movement Training for Modern Life
IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- YogaSix, the largest franchised yoga brand in the U.S., is thrilled to announce the national launch of its newest signature class, 'Y6 Mobility.' Building on the brand's commitment to modern, accessible yoga for everybody, this first-of-its-kind class format is designed to boost joint flexibility, increase range of motion, and support better movement in everyday life. As people increasingly prioritize longevity, athletic recovery, injury prevention, and daily movement quality, Y6 Mobility gives a modern take on yoga that blends the best of yoga with mobility science. Share Y6 Mobility merges yoga-based flows and movements with targeted mobility drills, creating a dynamic class that addresses key areas like hips, shoulders, ankles, and lower back. It's yoga reimagined for how we move today. As people increasingly prioritize longevity, athletic recovery, injury prevention, and daily movement quality, Y6 Mobility gives a modern take on yoga that blends the best of yoga with mobility science. Perfect for athletes, desk-bound professionals, aging bodies, and anyone who wants to feel stronger, more open, and ready for life, Y6 Mobility is for people of all fitness levels and experience in yoga. As mobility training continues to rise in importance across fitness and wellness, Y6 Mobility offers a fun, and empowering response to the consumer demand. The class integrates yoga props like yoga blocks and straps, and introduces the use of Mobility Balls, a tool designed to improve joint stability, flexibility, and coordination in new, accessible ways. "Mobility training is the next evolution in functional fitness, and Y6 Mobility was created to meet that need in a format only YogaSix can deliver with a fun, welcoming class that makes everyone feel open, strong and unstoppable,' said YogaSix President, Kelly Turner. 'We're eager to introduce our innovative Y6 Mobility class to our YogaSix network to help our members unlock better movement and long term strength.' All classes are led by YogaSix's certified instructors, who are specially trained to offer modifications, support proper form, and guide students through this new movement experience with care and confidence. Select YogaSix studios have begun offering the class this spring, with more scheduled to roll out Y6 Mobility throughout 2025. To celebrate the official launch, participating studios will host Y6 Mobility Preview Events throughout May and June, inviting both new and returning members to experience the class firsthand. YogaSix is also encouraging individuals to share why mobility matters to them on social media. Whether it's due to career demands, lifestyle, health goals, or simply wanting to move more freely, everybody is encouraged to post a short video or written story sharing their 'why' using the hashtag #WhyY6Mobility. Select posts may be highlighted by YogaSix's national social media accounts spotlighting individual stories of people who need improved mobility in their lives in an effort to bring light to the many different ways mobility training supports movement in everyday life. For more information about Y6 Mobility and to find a participating studio, visit YogaSix Founded in 2012, YogaSix is the largest franchised yoga brand in the United States that offers a broad range of heated and non-heated yoga classes, strength-building and cardio-boosting fitness classes. Class formats include Y6 101, Y6 Restore, Y6 Slow Flow, Y6 Signature Hot, Y6 Power Flow, Y6 TRX, Y6 Mix, Y6 Sculpt & Flow, and the new Y6 Mobility. Classes at YogaSix eliminate the intimidation factor that many people feel when trying yoga for the first time, offering a fresh perspective on one of the world's oldest fitness practices. Ranked in Entrepreneur Magazine's Franchise 500 in two years running, and Fastest-Growing Franchises and Top New Franchises two years running, YogaSix is headquartered in Irvine, California and backed by Xponential Fitness, one of the leading global franchisors of boutique health and wellness brands. To learn more about YogaSix, visit
