{"id":86453,"date":"2024-09-24T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-24T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/insideclimatenews.org\/?p=86453"},"modified":"2024-09-26T11:46:14","modified_gmt":"2024-09-26T15:46:14","slug":"arizona-fix-for-playgrounds-too-hot-to-touch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/insideclimatenews.org\/news\/24092024\/arizona-fix-for-playgrounds-too-hot-to-touch\/","title":{"rendered":"Finding a Fix for Playgrounds That Are Too Hot to Touch"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Lea este art\u00edculo en espa\u00f1ol<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This story is part of a collaborative reporting project<\/a> led by the Institute for Nonprofit News and including Borderless Magazine, Cicero Independiente and Inside Climate News. It was supported by the Field Foundation and INN.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

TEMPE, Ariz.\u2014It was just before 8 a.m., yet the temperature was already nearing 100 degrees Fahrenheit as members of Arizona State University\u2019s SHaDe Lab lugged a ladder and their heat-measuring equipment to Kiwanis Park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nobody else was at the playground but one child coasting down a slide and her mother. Across the street at the local elementary school, the principal could be heard giving his morning address over the PA system: \u201cAnother heat advisory today,\u201d he warned. \u201cI saw a group of girls having some nice conversation in the shade yesterday and I encourage you all to do the same.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In the nation\u2019s hottest major metro area, with this summer seeing a record-smashing 100-plus days of temperatures above 100 degrees<\/a>, extreme heat is an increasing danger to children playing outdoors. Researchers have found<\/a> that the rubber on slides, the metal railings on playgrounds and even the rubber tiles that protect children when they fall <\/strong>can all exceed 150 degrees when in direct sunlight in Arizona. Three seconds of contact is all it can take to burn a child\u2019s skin.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s an issue across the country, as climate change has led to 14 straight record-high monthly global temperatures<\/a>, with Midwestern cities like Chicago seeing an unprecedented heatwave in August. But it is especially pronounced in places like the Phoenix metro area, which includes Tempe. Heat is a constant fact of life here\u2014and a present-day peek into other communities\u2019 future. Already, cities from New York<\/a> to Los Angeles<\/a> are rethinking playground design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPlaygrounds are really at the heart of extreme heat impact,\u201d said Ariane Middel, the SHaDe Lab\u2019s director and an associate professor focused on the intersection of extreme heat and urban climates, including at playgrounds in the Phoenix area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cKids don\u2019t really care about sun or shade or heat, they just want to play, so they don\u2019t pay attention,\u201d she said. \u201cBut then the second issue that we have with playgrounds here in Phoenix, where there\u2019s an absence of shade, is the surface temperatures. Because kids usually use their bare hands, they\u2019re barefooted, and these surfaces on playgrounds get really super hot.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shade, Middel said, can make all the difference. Whether from trees or large engineered shade structures, like shade sails and permanent canopies, playground equipment covered from the sun stays consistent with the air temperature around them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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