Capital Region PSA Campaigns

During this time of year, heat is one of the leading causes of weather-related health safety concerns. The good news is that these are preventable! Look out for others, and during periods of high temperatures remember to practice heat safety and check in on friends and family. To learn more about heat safety strategies review the following links: (1)Tips for Preventing Heat-Related Illness (http://bit.ly/2Js5C0O) & (2) Strategies to Prepare During Heat Events (http://bit.ly/2NXs2KU). #HeatSafety!

Did you know…Scientists predict Sacramento could be as hot as Phoenix in half a century? Try to do what you can to reduce your carbon footprint: buy local, plant shade 🌳, wash clothes in cold water ❄️, and bike/walk whenever possible (while social distancing) 🚲🛴🚶‍♀️! Learn more: https://go.nasa.gov/30uir4c

It’s not your imagination-summers are getting hotter🌡️! Extraordinarily hot summers – the kind that were virtually unheard-of in the 1950s – have become common. These hotter temperatures are resulting in more frequent and intense heat waves in the Capital Region. Remember to drink lots of fluids and avoid activity in the hottest hours of the day; if possible, hang out in air conditioned and shaded buildings.

Extreme heat days exacerbate respiratory and lung diseases such as COPD and asthma. Research has found that respiratory and lung diseases can be caused by air pollution such as micro-sized particulate matter (PM 2.5). That PM 2.5 is released by burning fossil fuels that in turn contribute to climate change which can increase the frequency of extreme heat days.

Being directly in the sun or temperatures higher than 77°F DOES NOT protect you from COVID-19, despite popular myths. It’s best to stay inside on the hottest days. For outside social distancing, choose shaded areas or early mornings. Check out the Capital Region’s Parks to find out which amenities are open: https://regionalparks.saccounty.net/Pages/default.aspx, https://www.placer.ca.gov/parks, https://www.yolocounty.org/general-government/general-government-departments/parks, https://www.edcgov.us/Government/Parks

Diseases have entered the human population from wild animals. Rising temperature may increase the spread and occurrence of new pathogens as animals come in contact with new populations as they flee their changing ecosystem. For example, an average increase of 4.5 degrees Celsius globally would put 96% of the breeding grounds of Sundarbans tigers in Bangladesh and India at risk from sea level rise. As mammals migrate to higher altitudes to avoid peril, they come in contact with new species and can introduce new diseases. Harvard Medical researchers have found the recent Ebola epidemic in West Africa probably occurred in part because bats, which carried the disease, had been forced to move into new habitats because the forests they used to live in had been cut down to grow palm oil trees. Tree canopies have so many co-benefits in preventing extreme heat and mitigating climate change! Preventing deforestation will slow down climate change, provide cooling from a strong tree canopy, and can slow habitat loss and unusual animal migration.

A study published this year by the National Bureau of Economic Research Rising shows the death toll from rising temperatures is rising and coming close to eclipsing the current number of deaths from all infectious diseases combined. These extreme temperatures will cause particular devastation in poorer, hotter parts of the world that will struggle to adapt to unbearable conditions. The study also modeled scenarios and found that if worldwide emissions are cut drastically, the number of temperature-related deaths and the economic impact of rising temperatures can be reduced. Read more here: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/aug/04/rising-global-temperatures-death-toll-infectious-diseases-study

Did you know during #pregnancy, most women have higher body temperatures, making them more sensitive to heat in hot weather? 🤒🤰For this reason, pregnant women need to take extra steps to make sure they and their unborn babies do not overheat.

Additionally, Babies and young children are very sensitive to hot weather, so it is important to watch them closely and stop them from getting dehydrated or too hot👶🌡️. If you think your child is unwell due to hot weather, seek medical attention immediately. Learn more http://bit.ly/2w43CHB

With an extreme heat wave bringing punishing temperatures to the capital region through Tuesday, cooling centers are open in the Sacramento area to help residents seek refuge. The 12 centers in Sacramento, Placer and Yolo counties are open each day Friday through Wednesday unless noted:

Downtown Sacramento: Tsakopoulos Library Galleria, 828 I St., noon to 8 p.m.

North Sacramento: Hagginwood Community Center, 3271 Marysville Blvd., noon to 8 p.m.

Glen Elder/south Sacramento: George Sim Community Center, 6207 Logan St., noon to 8 p.m. Elk Grove: Wackford Center, 9014 Bruceville Road, 1 to 9 p.m.

Galt: Chabolla Community Center, 600 Chabolla Ave., 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Folsom: City Senior & Arts Center, 48 Natoma St., noon to 7 p.m.

Rancho Cordova: City Hall, 2729 Prospect Park Drive, noon to 6 p.m.

Citrus Heights: Community Center, 6300 Fountain Square Drive, noon to 6 p.m. through Friday, Aug. 21

West Sacramento: City Hall, 1110 W. Capitol Ave, noon to 9 p.m.

Davis: Senior Center, 646 A St., noon to 7 p.m.

Woodland: Community & Senior Center, 2001 East St., noon to 7 p.m.

Roseville: Tower Theatre, 417 Vernon St., noon to 7 p.m., Saturday through Wednesday

Air conditioning, seating, water, restrooms and WiFi will be available at most locations. Remember to bring a breathable (ideally cotton) mask!

Our region is currently experiencing an extreme heat wave in the midst of a pandemic. It is crucial that cooling centers open to the public but also that they follow California DPH guidelines to reduce the spread of COVID-19:

Individual Control Measures and Screenings

• Provide temperature and symptom screenings for all visitors, including any volunteers, vendors, contractors, or other workers entering the Center. All staff should be screened for temperature and symptoms at the beginning of their shift.
• If possible, provide alternative cooling sites for those showing symptoms of COVID-19 (e.g., fever, cough, shortness of breath). This may be separate rooms within Cooling Centers or a space that can be used to accommodate visitors with symptoms and separate them from others.
• Staff who are sick or exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19 should stay home.
• Visitors and staff should be encouraged to wear cloth face coverings while in the Center. The Center is encouraged to have a supply of face coverings to distribute to anyone who arrives without one. Face coverings must not be shared.

Cleaning and Disinfecting Protocols

• Perform thorough cleaning on high traffic areas and frequently disinfect commonly used surfaces, including tables, doorknobs, toilets, and handwashing facilities. Limit sharing of items and clean/disinfect shared items between users.
• Clean touchable surfaces between shifts or between users, whichever is more frequent.

Follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) cleaning and disinfection guidelines for community facilities, and cleaning facilities if someone is sick.

Physical Distancing Guidelines

• Maintain physical (social) distancing of at least six feet between individuals within Centers.
• Consider creating spaces for individual family units (families who live together do not need to maintain physical distancing in a Cooling Center).
• Jurisdictions may consider using facilities that have not yet been opened as part of the Governor’s Roadmap and movement through Stage 2 business sector reopening, such as libraries, community centers, and movie theaters, if they can be configured to safely serve as cooling centers only.

Other Considerations

• Identify and address potential language, cultural, and disability barriers associated with communicating COVID-19 information to staff, volunteers, and those visiting Cooling Centers.
• Post signs at entrances and in strategic places providing instruction on hand hygiene, respiratory hygiene, cough etiquette, cloth face coverings, and physical distancing.
• Providing educational materials about COVID-19 in multiple languages, as needed.

The past few weeks have brought our region extreme heat and wildfire. 🌡️The outdoors, once an escape where social distancing could be practiced, is now unsafe due to air quality concerns. While you’re sheltering inside, now is a good time to take stock of your emergency preparedness. www.ready.gov/kids offers plenty of games👾 and activities that will help children (and families!) learn🧠 and prepare for emergencies as they play! #SummerSafety #BeatTheHeat

Extreme heat and dry conditions contribute to our region’s wildfire vulnerability. It is important to have an emergency supply kit ready in the event of an evacuation:

• Facemasks & sanitation supplies
• 3 days supply of non-perishables
• 3 gallons of water per person
• Prescriptions
• Clothing
• Flashlights
• Important documents

Learn more at http://readyforwildfire.org

¿Está Listo?

3 pasos para proteger a su familia y propiedad

1. Elabore un plan de acción contra incendios forestales.
2. Prepare un kit de suministros de emergencia para cada persona en su hogar.
3. Rellene un plan de comunicación familiar que incluye información sobre evacuación y contactos importantes. Protega su familia con un Plan de Acción Contra Incendios Forestales.

https://www.readyforwildfire.org/wp-content/uploads/calfire_ready_es_brochure_LINOweb.pdf

Any parent or caregiver, even a very loving and attentive one, can forget a child is in the back seat. Being especially busy/distracted (by the heat!) or having a change from the usual routine increases the risk. Always #LookBeforeYouLock & make sure all kids are out of the car!

Leaving a child or pet in a hot car for even a short period of time can have dangerous consequences. People tend to forget how hot a car can get in the summer. Even with all of the windows cracked, the temperature in a car’s interior can quickly rise to deadly levels. #LookBeforeYouLock

Extreme heat is more common in certain neighborhoods because of historic policies such as redlining. This NYTimes article dives into the issue. “Across more than 100 cities, a recent study found, formerly redlined neighborhoods are today 5 degrees hotter in summer, on average, than areas once favored for housing loans, with some cities seeing differences as large as 12 degrees. Redlined neighborhoods, which remain lower-income and more likely to have Black or Hispanic residents, consistently have far fewer trees and parks that help cool the air. They also have more paved surfaces, such as asphalt lots or nearby highways, that absorb and radiate heat.”

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/08/24/climate/racism-redlining-cities-global-warming.html

In a statewide Flex Alert, CAISO said energy conservation efforts were key to preventing additional power outages during the recent heatwave in August and urged Californians to rise to the challenge again.

“Conservation can lower demand and avoid further actions, including outages, and lessen the duration of possible power interruptions,” CAISO said. The Flex Alert starts on Saturday, Aug 3rd and extends through Labor Day, Monday, from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Consumers can take these steps to prepare for the Flex Alert before 3 p.m.:

• “Pre-cool” homes, or lower air conditioning thermostats.
• Charge electric vehicles.
• Charge mobile devices and laptops.
• Run dishwashers, washing machines, and other major appliances.
• Set pool pumps to run in the early morning or late at night.

Between 3 p.m. and 9 p.m., CAISO is urging consumers to:

• Set air conditioning thermostats to 78 degrees, if health permits.
• Defer use of major appliances.
• Turn off unnecessary lights.
• Unplug unused electrical devices.
• Close blinds and drapes.
• Use fans when possible.

Personal safety and conservation measures make a huge difference in adapting to extreme heat, but to make major changes as a region, large-scale activities also need to happen. CRC’s Urban Heat Island Mitigation project identified the efficacy of potential measures.

The report found that if neighboring communities in the capital region coordinate and both implement cooling measures, the cooling relief felt will double compared to if just only one jurisdiction took action.

Actions that local communities can take include:

Cool Roofs: “Adopt a tax credit or other incentive program to encourage the adoption of cool and green roofs & develop fact sheets about cool roof manufacturers to distribute to homeowners”.

Vegetation Cover: “Codify language related to urban forestry to ensure implementation of trees or other landscaping measures in projects” such as ensuring that parking lot tree canopy minimum are met and actually enforced. Residents can take advantage of tree-planting programs such as SMUD’s: https://www.smud.org/en/Going-Green/Free-Shade-Trees.

Electric Vehicles (EV): When single occupancy vehicle travel is necessary, utilize existing or develop EV car-sharing programs, such as Gig Car Share and Our Community CarShare in the Capital Region. To encourage EV use, local govenments can update local agency codes to require EV-ready or EV-installed spaces at parking lots, commercial buildings, garages, multifamily units, and other requirements.

Learn more here: https://bit.ly/31U1jb4

CRC’s Urban Heat Island report (published Feb 2020) modeled how effective various cooling strategies would be in the region. It includes increasing tree canopy, increasing albedo (reflectiveness) of roads and buildings, increasing EV use, and urban land use planning. All of the proposed strategies are available using materials and technologies available on the market today. For exact details, please see the report: https://bit.ly/31U1jb4.

The modeling done in the study found “the cooling measures can significantly reduce or completely erase the number of heat-wave days during several excessive-heat event periods identified in the study.” These strategies can be implemented NOW if our region takes action, both at a community level and at a government level through policy and ordinances. These actions will benefit us immediately and for decades to come.

#DidYouKnow:🤔As a house ages & shifts on its foundation, gaps open up which can let hot air/smoke enter the building more easily? The more insulated a home is, the better it will maintain the desired temperature & clear air! http://bit.ly/2YIMgAN The Community Resource Project of Sacramento offers weatherization services to assist residents.

People with mental health conditions are more likely to be affected by extreme weather events for several reasons. Many psychiatric medications can interfere with a person’s ability to regulate heat and can hinder awareness that their body’s temperature is rising😓.

Several studies of heat-wave related deaths found the ppl w/mental illness had a 3X greater risk of death from a heatwave than those without mental illness. Ppl living w/mental illness are also more likely to live in poverty, which makes it harder to cope or adapt to changes.

Mental health can also be affected by other impacts of climate change, including food scarcity or food quality issues, potential increases in diseases transmitted by insects (such as Lyme disease and malaria) and air pollution😷. You can learn more: http://bit.ly/2zht0vh

Living through a natural disaster, such as a wildfire or smoke event, can leave survivors with emotional distress caused by the trauma.

A path to recovery & resilience is unique because of individual and cultural differences. At the individual level it could include individual & group counseling, & trauma-informed yoga-an extension of intentional breathing 🧠 💪 🧘🏾‍♀️

At a community level it can include planning ahead and training responders. SAMHSA’s Disaster Technical Assistance Center (DTAC) assists states, territories, tribes, and local entities with all-hazards disaster behavioral health response planning. More info is available here: https://www.samhsa.gov/dtac/about-dtac

💡#DidYouKnow: A well-planned landscape can reduce an unshaded home’s air conditioning costs by 15-50%? 🌳 It’s also one of the prettiest & healthiest improvements you can make! Studies have found that simply looking at trees from a window can ⬇️ blood pressure & improve health!

Consider researching plants that are native to the Capital Region to find varietals that will thrive in our climate!

Want to lower energy bills💰and cool your house? A cool roof can help! coolroofs.org can help you explore various roofing materials that offer cooling benefits. Even just using a lighter color will increase solar reflectance. The Capital Region Climate Readiness Collaborative’s Urban

Heat Island Mitigation Project report shares how cool roofs can make an impact in cooling the region: http://www.airquality.org/LandUseTransportation/Documents/UHI%20Mitigation%20Plan.pdf

Are you wondering how to keep your home cool in the heat? Plant trees on the south side of your home to provide shade in the summer (without blocking the sunlight during the winter)! 🌳Effective shading can reduce your home temp by up to 20 degrees! The Sacramento Tree Foundation can help you identify the best trees for your home and how to care for them. https://www.sactree.com/.

Are you a renter? Their Neighborhwoods program works to increase tree canopies for the whole neighborhood to enjoy.

Curious about electric vehicles (EVs)? Large-scale adoption can also contribute to urban heat island mitigation. EV engines lose less energy to heat than internal combustion engines do. For example, Scientific Reports Journal researchers found that if all the cars in Beijing were replaced with electric versions, the city would be almost 2 degrees Fahrenheit cooler in summer.

It might be more tempting to drive a car during heat months because of the air conditioning, but have you considered that driving your car is the reason why it is extra warm in the first place? Transportation is the #1 GHG emitter in the state. Our cities are planned around cars, which means we have more concrete and asphalt roads. The Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect occurs in urban areas because of excess concrete structures. If we decrease the demand for cars and increase the demand for more walkable and bikeable cities, then the UHI will eventually decrease, and our ozone layer can do its job and protect us from the sun’s harmful UVA rays!

The Sacramento Capital Region experiences extreme heat in the warm months because not only are we more inland, we also have a large built environment that contains less vegetation and more concrete structures. These structures absorb more heat and create warmer environments. How can we decrease the heat? Vegetation plays an important role in the built environment and provides natural cooling and CO2 reduction effects. If we plant more drought-friendly trees and native plants, we can reduce the effects from the UHI we have created!

As the weather gets cooler, consider what can be done to adapt now for extreme heat next year! For example, the Sacramento Tree Foundation’s tree planting season 🌳, is starting soon. Increasing our tree canopy is one of the most efficient ways to mitigate extreme heat. Visit climatereadiness.info to revisit the resources shared in this year’s 2020 Heat PSA campaign.