Virginia Wesleyan students find ways to address heat in Portsmouth, Virginia’s 2nd-hottest city

PORTSMOUTH,Va.—PortsmouthranksasthesecondhottestlocationinVirginia,accordingtoastudyfromtheNationalCentersforEnvironmentalInformationthatcompiledfindingsfromcitiesandcountiesthroughoutthestate. Now,agroupofgraduatestudentsandprofessorsfromVirginiaWesleyanUniversityishopingtochangethat,onetreeatatime. Theinitiative,called“CoolDownP-Town,”ispartofalargersustainabilityresearchprojectfocusedonreducingextremeheatacrossthecity.Dr.ChrisHaley,aprofessorofearthandenvironmentalsciencesatVirginiaWesleyan,saidtheteamisidentifyingurbanareasthatcouldbenefitmostfromtreeplanting. “Ifwecouldfindanareawherewecouldplantalotoftrees,thatwouldbegreat,”Haleysaid. OneofthoseareasincludeseasternCalvertManor,whichresearchershaveidentifiedasoneofthehottestneighborhoodsinthecity.AnotherisColumbiaPark,wheretheresearchteammetrecentlytocollecttemperaturedataandobserveinfrastructure. Thoughsplashpadsandshadedarea