"People Of Color More Exposed To Heat Islands, Study Finds"

"In nearly every major city in the U.S., people of color are exposed to more extreme urban heat than white people, a new study found.

Using government temperature and census data, researchers examined the distribution of heat islands – parts of cities with higher average temperatures than the surrounding areas. The study, published Tuesday in Nature Communications, found that during the summer of 2017 in nearly all large urban areas, the average non-white person lived in a census tract with higher heat island intensity.

Glenn Sheriff, a co-author of the study and environmental economics professor at Arizona State University, was surprised to find such pervasive disparities: It was seen in all but six of the country’s 175 largest urban areas."

Drew Costley reports for the Associated Press May 25, 2021.

SEE ALSO:

"Heat And Smog Hit Low-Income Communities And People Of Color Hardest, Scientists Say" (Washington Post)