Overview
Climate Change and Lynchburg Virginia
Heat is a concern for Lynchburg
With average global temperatures steadily rising, the amount of heat exposure incidents has also increased - particularly affecting densely populated areas. In many city centers, 'heat islands' are being observed more often. These are areas within a city that are significantly warmer than their surrounding metropolitan neighbors. This effect is amplified during the hot days of the summer.
Lynchburg is particularly concerned about heat. By compiling data from the 4th National Climate Assessment, increasing temperatures have been identified as a primary concern of climate change in this region.
Increased average annual temperature means more frequent hot, potentially dangerous days throughout the year, longer heat waves, and more severe weather.
Prominent health and lifestyle risks
Increased heat increases chances of heat-related illnesses, such as:
chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD)
respiratory distress
high blood pressure
substance abuse
dehydration
Immediate lifestyle risks include:
K-12 student health. School buildings in the Lynchburg City School system are historically poorly air conditioned buildings. Increased heat may force school administrators to extend summer break or spend significant amounts of money to install better air conditioning systems. Additionally, many of the school buses are not equipped with air conditioning. Some only have minimal ventilation. These buses would also have to be upgraded to accommodate student health.
Blue collar population health. Outdoor construction workers, roofers, garbage men, etc. will not be able to work safely in the peak heat of the day. They may need to consider working earlier in the morning to make up for the lost hours, otherwise risk dehydration, heat exhaustion, or heat stroke.
Low-income citizens. Low-income housing available often lacks adequate air conditioning for very small living spaces. These people may also be unable to find alternative shelter during heat waves.
People with chronic conditions, disabilities, mobility constraints, and those taking certain medications. They are vulnerable to extreme temperatures.
Seniors. Senior citizens are more susceptible to increased heat risk than other members of the population, so they will be among the first to feel the effects of rising temperatures.
Urban Heat Island Effect
What is an urban heat island effect?
An urban heat island is an urban area that is much warmer than its surrounding rural environment due to human activities. These human-related causes could range from:
Darker surfaces absorbing higher amounts of incoming solar radiation, like roads for example. These surfaces expel large amounts of heat since they absorb so much solar radiation.
Lack of Evapotranspiration due to absence of vegetation and soil. Evapotranspiration is when plants and soil send the water they receive from the atmosphere back up through chemical processes and evaporation. The lack of this causes less and less water to go back up into the atmosphere, furthering the formation of urban heat islands.
Human activities that create large amounts of heat. For example, consider air conditioning. As temperature rises, people turn on the air conditioner to cool their homes, which produces more heat from the ac units. This will in turn raise the temperature even more, causing people to leave on their ac units or turn them up, continuing the cycle of heat production and ultimately urban heat islands.
Lasting Effects
The effect of heat islands are not only apparent during the daytime, but even more so at night, since all the heat absorbed during the day is also expelled at night, causing the difference in temperature between the heat islands and surrounding rural areas to be even more drastic.
Urban heat islands are a very real side effect human activities, and could negatively impact human lives, as well as the lives of the surrounding population, including the plants and animals. The risks associated are often referred to as "heat risk."
Disproportionate Heat Risk in Lynchburg
Heat Risk is disproportionate across cities like Lynchburg, VA, due to the historical practice of "redlining."
"Redlining" was a housing policy practice in the 1930s-1940s that targeted and denied communities of color access to home financing, funding, and generational wealth. After the Great Depression, the Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC) rated areas on whether they could be considered for profitable development, or if they were "risky" investments to be avoided. The redlined areas were considered the riskiest investments. It is well documented that these redlined districts were drawn primarily around areas with high populations of people of color. This video by NPR does a good job explaining the basic causes and effects of redlining. These maps below show how Lynchburg was drawn.
Many of these redlined areas overlap with modern environmental hazards.
Across the United States, red lined districts are frequently associated with less tree cover, higher concentrations of impervious surfaces (such as asphalt and concrete), and closer proximity to industrial sites (such as waste management, power, and manufacturing). The culmination of these factors tend to be correlated with the urban heat island effect.
One study that strongly found this relationship was in Richmond, VA. Groundwork RVA's webpage covers this project, as well as more information on the environmental impacts of redlining practices. This study was inspirational for our work in Lynchburg, VA, which aims to address the same question. "Where are Lynchburg's urban heat islands, and which communities are at the highest heat risk?"