Why we should start cooling our cities.
The Miyawaki Method
🔥Are you feeling the heat?
Due to the urban heat island effect, cities are much warmer. So what can be done?Urban forests are an amazing solution to mitigate the rising effects of the climate crisis.
This Week in Climate News:
🌡️ Europe Heatwave: London mayor orders emergency response to heatwave.
🔌 Texans asked to limit electricity use after six power plants go down ahead of a hot weekend.
💵 US emissions have cost the world $1.9tn in climate damages since 1990.
🚫 Major companies pledge against deep-sea mining, including: Google, Philips, BMW and Samsung.
📈 Cool Trends:
🌆 The Urban Heat Island Effect
Cities have replaced green areas with high concentrations of concrete, pavement, and buildings that absorb and retain heat. Meanwhile, car exhausts and air conditioning units release heat and increase temperatures. This is causing heat domes on urban areas that on average are 5°C warmer than their rural neighbours.
European cities are currently feeling a 10°C increase in temperatures this summer, so what can be done about this?
It’s time to increase urban forests using the below strategy!
🌲 The Miyawaki Afforestation Method
“The Miyawaki method mimics the way a forest would recolonise itself if humans stepped away.”—the SUGi
Japanese botanist and plant ecology expert Professor Akira Miyawaki developed a method that allows for the rapid growth of dense native forests in areas as small as 3sqm.
Today, rewilding initiatives like SUGi are applying The Miyawaki Method to urban areas around the world to help cities build climate resilience.
“Within a forest, biodiversity means balance, Birds control pests, insects pollinate plants, and beneficial fungi keep the trees healthy. Every organism has a role to play, and all these roles interact. And if you build a healthy, biodiverse habitat that can look after itself, it becomes self-sustaining. You can step away and let nature get to work." — James Godfrey-Faussett, Lead SUGi Forest Maker.
Here 8 benefits of the Miyawaki afforestation method:
100% natural and organic.
Grows 10x faster.
Maintenance free after 2/3 years.
Has the highest tree survival in the industry at 85%.
Contains 30x more biodiversity.
Can be created on sites as small as 3sqm.
Lessened risk of disease and higher overall immunity.
Can grow on degraded soils.
💩 WTF? news
🍗 Tesco chicken deal may have helped pollute one of the UK’s favourite rivers
🚢 US cruise ships using Canada as a ‘toilet bowl’ for polluted waste
🌏 The Culture Club
📺 What we’re watching: The Century of the Self
👁 Profile of the week: @advaya.co
🤯 Crazy fact we learnt this week: corals are animals