• Supported by the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism
  • SPECIAL PROJECT: Harlem Heat
    • Harlem sensor data reveals dangerous indoor heat risk
    • Workshop connects Harlem residents, experts in search for extreme heat solutions
      • Making New York Cool Again
      • Heat Solution: Heat Alert System
      • Heat Solution: Community Cooling
      • Heat Solution: Reclaiming Public Space
      • Heat Solution: Rooftop Garden
    • Hear the Heat: Our Song Demonstrates What it Felt Like Inside Harlem Homes This Summer
    • Neither Ice Blocks Nor Cooling Centers Protect New Yorkers Entirely from Heat Risks
    • As Temperatures Climb, the Elderly, Frail and Poor Are Put at Risk
    • Meet the Heat: How Hot Weather Harms Health for NYC Residents
      • Heat Waves by the Dozen
      • Hot Blast from NYC’s Past – A History of City’s Heat Waves
      • Case Study: Deadly Chicago Heat Wave of 1995
    • Extreme Heat Threatens Electrical Infrastructure in Upper Manhattan
    • Life in New York Public Housing: No AC, but Maybe a Fan Blowing Soot from Outside the Window
    • How Hot Is Harlem This Summer?
    • ‘Harlem Heat Project’ Enlists Citizen Scientists in Sensor Data News Project to Tackle Heat Wave Health Risks
      • VIDEO: Huff Post Covers Harlem Heat Project
      • UPDATED: Voices of Harlem Heat Project
      • AdaptNY Project Featured on WNYC Talk Show
      • Harlem Heat Project Puts Sensors in Field
      • AdaptNY Launches Harlem Heat Project
      • Harlem Heat Project Partners
    • FAQ: Harlem and the Urban Heat Island Effect
      • Resource Guide: Harlem Heat
      • Resource Guide: Extreme Heat & Health Stats for Harlem
      • Resource Guide: Heat Safety
  • Neighborhood Projects
    • HARLEM HEAT PROJECT
    • RESILIENCY SPOTLIGHT: Staten Island, Awaiting Next Storm, Balances Long-Term Planning, Short-Term Needs
    • LIVE COVERAGE: Are New York’s High-Risk Neighborhoods Climate Safe?
      • Live Coverage from Red Hook, Brooklyn
      • Live Coverage from Manhattan’s Lower East Side
      • Look-Ahead: Is New York More Climate Safe?
    • WORKSHOP: Community Brainstorms Climate Resilience Solutions
  • Investigations
    • SPECIAL REPORT: Assessing Resilience Planning: Is the City Preparing Smartly for the Rising Risks of Climate Change?
    • SPECIAL REPORT: At-Risk Residents Worry Over Climate Safety; City Leaders Eye Resiliency and Outreach
    • SPECIAL REPORT: City Hall, Community Boards Confront Disconnect on Climate Resilience
  • Documents
    • DOCUMENT: OneNYC Report (April 2015, de Blasio administration)
    • DOCUMENT: PlaNYC Progress Report – Sustainability & Resiliency (April 2014, de Blasio administration)
    • DOCUMENT: Build It Back Report (April 2014, de Blasio administration)
    • DOCUMENT: “A Stronger, More Resilient New York” Report (June 2013, Bloomberg administration)
      • DOCUMENT: Report from NYC Panel on Climate Change
    • DOCUMENT: Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Strategy Report
      • DOCUMENT: Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Strategy Task Force Factsheet
    • DOCUMENT: Building Resiliency Task Force (Full Report)
      • DOCUMENT: Building Resiliency Task Force (Summary)
    • DOCUMENT: Hurricane Sandy After Action Report & Recommendations (May 2013)
  • Adaptation News
    • Resilience
    • Rebuilding NYC
    • Extreme Weather
    • Sandy’s Lessons
  • About AdaptNY
    • About this Project
    • Launch Statement
    • Conversation Around Climate
    • Take Part in Our Document-Based Conversation
    • AdaptNY on Social Media
    • Harlem Heat Project Partners
    • Partner – Gotham Gazette
    • Partner – DocumentCloud
July 12, 2016 by Kathleen Culliton

AdaptNY Project Featured on WNYC Talk Show

Adam Glenn, Sarah Gonzalez and John Keefe join Brian Lehrer to discuss extreme heat.

AdaptNY Editor Adam Glenn, left, and WNYC’s Sarah Gonzalez, center, and John Keefe, far right, join show host Brian Lehrer, in foreground, at the radio station’s studios to discuss extreme heat in New York. (Photo courtesy WNYC)

Harlem Heat Project partners stopped by WNYC’s Brian Lehrer Show on July 8, to discuss the news initiative and to stress that extreme heat is not just an inconvenience, but a serious public health issue that will be worsened by climate change.

“It’s a silent killer,” AdaptNY Editor Adam Glenn said to describe heat waves that take New Yorkers’ lives each year, and send hundreds to the hospital.

“More residents in Harlem go to the hospital for heat-related stress than any other part of the city,” added WNYC enterprise reporter Sarah Gonzalez. “This is a public health issue.”

Glenn, Gonzalez and  WNYC Senior Data News Editor John Keefe appeared on the show to explain the urban heat island effect that makes temperatures in New York (and other cities) hotter than surrounding countryside, and why Harlem is the place to report on it.

Because Harlem has comparatively higher temperatures and more citizens living below the poverty level than the rest of the city, its citizens are more likely to suffer a heat stroke.

“It’s brutal in my apartment,” said Joanne, an Upper Manhattan resident who called in to speak to Lehrer about her experience. She explained she does not have an air conditioner because of worries about her wiring.

“I tend to get heat stroke,” said the 74-year-old, who, as a senior, is statistically more likely to suffer a heat-related illness.

Another concern raised on the radio segment was the high cost of air conditioning. A unit can cost hundreds of dollars and require high amounts of electricity that many New Yorkers cannot afford to buy.

“[New York City] is the fourth most expensive place to turn on a light or an A.C. unit,” Gonzalez explained. “The issue of being able to afford A.C. is an actual problem.”

To quantify problems with indoor heat in New York, the Harlem Heat Project team has distributed small data-collecting sensors to volunteer Harlem residents in non-air conditioned homes.

Those citizen scientists will place the sensors in their homes to measure the heat and humidity.

“We believe the temperatures indoors are hotter than out of doors in many of these residences,” said Glenn, who explained that the data the sensors collect will be compared to other data being gathered in the field, such as NASA satellite data, courtesy of the Harlem Heat Project media partner iSeeChange.

For Keefe, who built the sensors himself, the project is also about experimenting with new tools to allow everyday people to collect data.

“We started doing this mainly because I’ve been playing with these electronics,” said Keefe. “We’re gonna get some folks to put them in their apartment for a couple weeks to see how that goes.”

Listen to the entire segment on the audio player below.

Here’s one of the sensors we built for the Harlem Heat Project, as described just now on @WNYC‘s @BrianLehrer Show: pic.twitter.com/DcBJUme5sM

— John Keefe (@jkeefe) July 8, 2016

Posted in About AdaptNY, Harlem Heat and tagged with climate change, disaster preparedness, Harlem, health, heat, heatwaves, iseechange, resilience, WNYC. RSS 2.0 feed.
« Harlem Heat Project Puts Sensors in Field
Case Study: Deadly Chicago Heat Wave of 1995 »

A Twitter List by Sebauyanet
A Twitter List by Sebauyanet

Harlem Heat Resources

  • Excessive Heat Events Guidebook (EPA)
  • Info on NY State-subsidized cooling assistance (OTDA)
  • NCAR Heat Wave Awareness Project Database
  • NY State Temperature by Decade (NCDC)
  • Planning for Excessive Heat Events, Information for Older Adults (EPA)
  • REPORT: Northern Manhattan Heat Risks (We Act)
  • REPORT: Reducing urban heat improves livability (CCNY)
  • Report: Socioeconomic factors increase heat-related death risk in NYC
  • We Act Northern Manhattan Climate Action Plan

Tags

Adaptation AdaptNY barriers beaches Bill de Blasio Bloomberg Brooklyn City Council climate change Coney Island CUNY J School curation disaster preparedness DocumentCloud FEMA flood barriers flooding Gotham Gazette Harlem health heat heatwaves HUD hurricanes infrastructure Jamaica Bay Manhattan map Mark Treyger New Jersey NYCHA primary source documentation Queens rebuilding recovery report resilience Sandy sea-level rise sea walls Staten Island storm surge waterfront Workshop zoning

Categories

  • About AdaptNY
  • Adaptation News
  • Changemakers
  • Extreme Weather
  • Harlem Heat
  • Neighborhoods Project
  • Rebuilding
  • Resilience
  • Sandy's Lessons
  • SPECIAL REPORTS

Archives

  • November 2017
  • December 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • December 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013

All content © 2022 by . Base WordPress Theme by Graph Paper Press