Edith de Guzman for Grist — The surprisingly simple way cities could save people from extreme heat 

Urban heat islands, exacerbated by concrete and asphalt, pose significant health risks in cities. UCLA researcher Edith de Guzman discusses the urban heat island effect for Grist, highlighting the potential of cool roofs to mitigate its impact. De Guzman emphasizes that while cities and infrastructure can exacerbate heat, they can be modified to reduce heat.

“If we also invested in increasing the reflectivity of existing materials in the built environment, we could reduce the number of ER visits and the number of deaths substantially, in some cases over 50 percent,” de Guzman said.