How Portland is Leaning on Neighborhood Teams to Improve Heat Wave Response

SOS Búsqueda y Rescate (or SOS Search and Rescue) is a woman-led border and migrant search-and-rescue group that braves the elements — like extreme desert temperatures — to locate migrants who get lost or left behind along their journey from Mexico to the U.S. Since 2020, the volunteer group has found 60 survivors and the remains of 65 others, allowing them to offer closure for families searching for their loved ones.

Wheels of Hope provides car rides to people who can’t drive due to illness, age or disability for no more than $20. Drivers provide more than just a ride and also provide company to the passenger and help with tasks if they need it.

Khus (vetiver grass) curtains are a traditional, climate-friendly cooling method in India that is seeing a revival as extreme temperatures rise. Locals hang woven curtains made from dried vetiver roots in doorways or windows and spray them with water throughout the day. As hot air passes through them, evaporative cooling reduces indoor temperatures. This low-cost, low-energy solution has been implemented in homes and public areas like bus stops to combat the heat.

To address shade inequality and rising heat deaths, the American Forests launched a digital tool in 2021 that scores geographic areas based on tree canopy and surface temperature, as well as other factors such as income, employment, race, age and health. It then calculates a Tree Equity Score and maps out the regions that have the greatest need for trees. With this information, Tucson aims to plant one million trees by 2030, and has already planted 120,000 over the past four years.

The Center of Contemporary Culture of Barcelona is a key part of the city’s growing climate shelter network, which has expanded from 70 locations in 2020 to 368 last summer. The climate centers are integrated into the city’s public infrastructure — libraries, parks, museums, etc. — and have expanded to the point where 98% of the population is within a 10-minute walk from a shelter.

Heat officers appointed by local city council and the Transform Freetown initiative work to make the city greener and more livable by helping residents cope with extreme heat, particularly women working as outdoor vendors. Local heat officers have introduced measures like installing cool pavements, mirrored roofing and planting trees to keep residents cool. In 2022, local city council installed shade covers to protect 2,300 street vendors from the heat and heavy rain in open-air markets.

The Office of Heat Response and Mitigation works to address the urban heat effect caused by intense summer temperatures. The Office has worked on several practices like coating streets and surfaces in light-colored, water-based asphalt treatments that reflect sunlight and absorb less heat than standard pavement. So far, 100 miles of residential roads have been covered in the treatment and roads with the treatment have an average surface temperature that is 10.5 to 12 degrees Fahrenheit lower than traditional asphalt.

In a local school district with a lack of buses, parents, and community members are stepping up to drive the buses and provide transportation to and from school. Working with Mountain Transit, volunteers are able to get trained and licensed to drive the bus routes, resulting in a significant decrease in absences and tardies, and providing a safe means to and from school.

Since the Lincoln Avenue School Walking Bus program started, the school has seen marked improvements in attendance rates. The volunteer-run transit alternative promotes neighborhood safety and offers another chance for disconnected students to socialize.

The city of Tucson and Pima County are using a network of cooling centers, repurposed shipping containers and street outreach teams to protect unhoused residents and people living in substandard housing from deadly summer heat. The coordinated response, which includes trauma-informed staff training, heat-relief kit distribution, and an annual planning summit, is helping reduce heat-related deaths in the region.