Activity Day 2• Get into your group from last week

and find the boxes you used before – if you can’t remember or find which boxes you used, you can use boxes from another period

• Pick one person to place the boxes outside

Warm Up

Name some differences between urban and rural areas.

The Urban Heat Island

• The urban heat island effect is when urban areas are hotter than nearby rural areas by as much as 10 degrees Fahrenheit.

Causes of the urban heat island

• Trees and plants have a natural cooling effect. Fewer trees in cities leads to hotter temperatures.

• Dark building materials absorb more of the Sun’s heat. Because buildings are close together in cities, this heat becomes trapped, making it even hotter.

Possible solutions• Plant more trees.• Use lighter building materials.• Design cities so buildings are farther

apart.

Activity Day 2• Pick one person in your group to go

outside and measure and record the temperature

• Answer the questions on the back of your activity sheet, then turn it in – make sure all of the group members have their name on it

How would you reduce the urban heat island in Los

Angeles?

• In the handout, say how you would reduce the urban heat island in Los Angeles by either drawing a picture of a cooler Los Angeles without the urban heat island (side 1 of handout) or by writing down which solution would work best (side 2 of handout).

Which solution is best?• You need to decide whether each

solution to the urban heat island in Los Angeles will work.

• Make your decisions based on the role you are given (check your index card).

• There are advantages and disadvantages to every solution!

Solution 1

• The city of Los Angeles pays to replace many empty lots with parks and pays to plant more trees on city streets.

Solution 2• Do nothing.

Solution 3

• The city of Los Angeles requires developers to build with lighter materials and leave more empty space between buildings.