KANSAS CITY, Kan. — To better understand the relationship between health, climate and heat, Johnson and Wyandotte counties are participating in NOAA’s Urban Heat Island Mapping Campaign this year.
The two counties were chosen alongside 16 other U.S. communities to participate in the program.
Urban Heat Island Mapping Campaign is a community data gathering project that was launched by the federal government seven years ago.
“Spot the Hot,” a community science project, was designed to identify the hottest parts of the country by recruiting and sending out volunteers to drive around neighborhoods.
“Let us know where the spaces in Wyandotte and Johnson counties are that are too hot for them to hang out in the summer,” said Johnson County’s environmental epidemiologist Jackson Ward.
Local epidemiologists are concerned about the trajectory of extreme heat in the KC-metro area. It is consistently the number one weather-related killer in the U.S., and Ward says extreme heat has become a public health issue.
“Extreme heat can also exacerbate things like air quality, which is what we’re currently seeing with the weather and that can make those with respiratory illnesses like asthma or COPD at risk for worse symptoms,” said Ward. “The projections are all showing that we’re in for dryer summers, hotter summers and colder winters, more extreme events.”
Because of this, many communities across the country are working to develop a “Heat Action Plan.” Like many of them, Johnson and Wyandotte counties are considering ones of their own, taking a look a short-term solutions like establishing more cooling centers, as well as long-term plans like how a land is zoned.
“Huge emphasis on health equity and particularly sending funding into communities that need it most,” said Ward.
Johnson and Wyandotte counties applied for the federal program together because they believe in order to be intentional about environmental justice, one must consider history.
The story of one cannot be told without the other.
“The implications of redlining and why Wyandotte County did not get the same amount of resources that Johnson County has had,” said Wyandotte County’s social epidemiologist Hannah Conner. “That disinvestment has led to worse health outcomes.”
Conner says getting more awareness around issues like this and collecting more data will allow community developers to be more shovel-ready for when funding comes. She would also love to see more laws that focus on putting equity first pass in tandem.
Geographic information system analyst Marcy Delos says the campaign not only emphasizes the importance of data, but also the value of lived experiences as a part of that research process. Experts hope it will lead to better identification of priority areas — the historically marginalized and or overly polluted regions.
“Think to the future and how communities who have been historically marginalized have been calling for particular projects,” said Delos.
Volunteers will hit the streets of Johnson and Wyandotte counties tentatively on August 12th for data gathering. Both counties are still accepting volunteers.
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