Mocs News Reporting the news that matters most to UTC
By Delaney Holman
CHATTANOOGA (mocsnews.com)- Schools and playgrounds are reaching dangerously high temperatures, leaving students at risk.
Students are facing heat illness and difficult environments to learn in due to the temperatures in and around schools. Some schools are taking the initiative to fix this but there are still underlying issues.
Some buildings are often made with wall and roofing materials that radiate heat indoors and offer no shade outside.
Children are more susceptible to extreme heat due to their smaller body mass to surface area. Children also have higher chances of becoming dehydrated because they can lose more fluid quickly.
Climate change is making conditions worse. Students will face more frequent climate related school closers in the coming years.
“The solutions are so at hand and readily available,” said Joe Allen, associate professor and director of the Healthy Buildings program at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Cool ground surfaces, cool roofs and window films, and cooler greener schoolyards are needed to help decrease the temperature of schools and playgrounds.
Students at a school near Atlanta got a reading of 105 degrees Fahrenheit from their basketball court. They got a reduced reading of 95 degrees Fahrenheit after painting a bright blue, solar-reflective coating on the court.
Using white cool roofing and other technologies reflects a portion of the incoming solar radiation rather than it transferring into the building.
These can be costly measures. Low-income neighborhoods and communities of color can see much warmer temperatures.
The Department of Energy offers Renew America’s Schools grants and the Environmental Protection Agency offers the Climate Resilient Schools program to help cover costs. These options don’t cover the entire costs and most schools don’t have the staff or budget for increased maintenance. “The haves and the have-nots,” said V. Kelly Turner, an associate professor at UCLA.
