From insufficient air conditioning to flooded roads, from inconvenient weather to catastrophic droughts, the consequences of the climate crisis are increasingly apparent. Scientists warn that the future could be bleak without immediate action. How will the world survive?
The immediate answer may just lie below our feet or over our heads. How cities are built are opportunities for innovation that can create sustainable, safe places to live. Recent injuries in Arizona from residents tripping and burning themselves on sidewalks could have been prevented by making use of ‘cool pavement’ technologies. Hurricane Idalia made headlines after flooding Florida’s coast, but that damage could have been minimized by new innovations in flood barrier technology.
Exploring these types of environmental engineering projects means digging into the root of more structural issues. Looking at hot sidewalks, cool pavement technology may be a promising solution—but it is important to wonder why sidewalks are so hot in the first place. The heat island effect, in which urban areas absorb more heat than rural areas can help explain this phenomenon. Urban areas feature not just more heat-absorbing pavement and buildings, but fewer trees and green spaces to help cool the area down.
It seems though that such problems arising from climate change are even more complicated when considered in historical context. Distinctions in climate preparedness between neighborhoods are associated with decades of intentional racist housing practices. Simple band-aid solutions won’t solve these injustices. Sometimes well intentioned strategies can make things worse. For instance, a neighborhood’s new green developments can outprice current residents from their own homes in the process of green gentrification.
This multifaceted examination of sustainable innovation will consider what environmental technology has to offer. Innovation, new policy standards, and careful implementation are crucial to face a world projected to be 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 degrees Celsius) hotter by 2050. Looking towards environmental innovation is not just a tool for understanding the current status of the world, but for finding hope for a sustainable, just, and comfortable future.