Inside Climate News - No
matter where you are in the country, your playgrounds—and your kids—are
feeling the effects of climate change, whether it’s extreme heat,
fires, floods, storm surges or lack of sufficient tree canopy and shade.
Urban planners, citizens and scientists are finding ways to transform
our parks into climate-resilient oases that can also help mitigate the
effects of climate change and resulting extreme weather.
This week, Inside Climate News, along with Borderless Magazine and Cicero Independiente, collaborated on Climate Swing,
a project led by the Institute for Nonprofit News examining the effects
of climate change and environmental injustice on parks, green spaces
and playgrounds across the country.
ICN’s Wyatt Myskow reported on how extreme heat is an increasing danger to children playing outdoors
in Tempe, Arizona, which endured a record-smashing hundred-plus days of
temperatures above 100 degrees this summer. The city, and how it is
adapting playgrounds, offers a peek into other communities’ futures.
Borderless Magazine, which covers immigration and justice issues in
Chicago, reports that neighborhoods with a higher proportion of Hispanic
residents have smaller and fewer parks, and less vegetation and
connectedness between green spaces....
Cicero Independiente, a bilingual news organization that covers Cicero
and Berwyn, Illinois, reports that a new ability-inclusive playground at
a former Cicero industrial site is raising alarms among local residents
and experts about how the town is handling toxic soil beneath the
surface. While the $2.7 million project promises much-needed green space
to combat rising temperatures from climate change, journalist Leslie Hurtado reports that concerns linger about multiple environmental challenges, including toxic contaminants still on site, such as arsenic and lead, pollution, flooding and low tree canopy coverage. Read the series
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