Uploaded on 2015-10-14 by AJFord
Where I live in Western Australia rural areas are inland and due to the impact of the ocean and the breeze that comes in across the sea, rural temperatures can be hotter than their city counterparts. Times when I have really noticed the difference of temperature from one place to the next is in green areas of cities. The photos that I am including (taken from Google Maps) are of a house that I sometimes walk passed on my way into the city of Bunbury. It is less than 5 minutes out of the city centre and as you walk along it's perimeter the air is noticeably cooler - I would estimate by several degrees. The site is characterised by an abundance of trees. As you will see from the pictures there are so many trees that the property is almost completely obscured. ![tree covered house][1] Q3 I read a great article the other day that was explaining drought (https://theconversation.com/el-nino-is-here-and-that-means-droughts-but-they-dont-work-how-you-might-think-47866) and it explained evaporative cooling i.e. moisture in the land evaporating and lowering the surrounding air temperature. So I am guessing that this, in conjunction with shade is playing a part to keep temperatures down in green spaces that is impossible to do in cities where concrete covers virtually every surface. I would therefore propose that we work on 'greening' cities and in a country like Australia stop relying on clear-felling to make way for more residential property and work on changing the perception of high density living. Q4 Australian politicians seem to largely take a head-in-the-sand approach regarding human-induced climate change. [1]: https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/14448080174283221.jpg