Will you join us in making a change? Combating heat
A natural environment with vegetation and trees is often cooler than a paved environment. Trees provide shade and lower surface and air temperatures. This is the best way to cool a city. But there are a few other smart ways to keep your environment cool.
With a few simple adjustments, you can make your home or garden a much more pleasant place to be on hot days. Many of these measures also contribute to better water drainage and improve biodiversity. So you kill three birds with one stone!
What can you do yourself?
- Green roofs: you can install green roofs so that the roof acts like a sponge, collecting rainwater. It also provides more cooling in hot weather.
- Plant a tree: trees provide shade and cooling through evaporation. The temperature around an average tree can be 2-5 °C lower on hot days.
- Green boundary: instead of wooden fences, you can also plant hedges and shrubs. This creates a cooler garden and environment because leaves evaporate water.
- Planting in sun and shade. Bare soil dries out faster and does not absorb water.
- Planting in a wet and dry garden: bare soil dries out faster and does not absorb water.
- Green facades: green facades keep buildings cooler in summer and reduce heat loss in winter. They also slow down water runoff.