How scholars are helping Los Angeles beat the heat

Sep 5, 2023

Los Angeles is experiencing hotter and longer heat waves, putting residents at risk.

Hotter and longer heatwaves have been hitting the Californian city, placing pressure on residents' well-being. Image: Pexels/Mary Taylor

Les Dunseith

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Corinne Odom discusses the importance of cooling centers at the Comprehensive Project’s June 2023 presentation.

Corinne Odom of the Comprehensive Project discusses the importance of cooling centres. Image: UCLA Luskin School/Les Dunseith

Michelle Gallarza, shown here talking about the Comprehensive Project’s findings, remembers the lights in her Los Angeles grade school being left off during heat waves to keep classrooms cool. “The same thing would happen when I would go home,” she said. “We’d just have fans blowing and no lights on.”

Michelle Gallarza talks about the Comprehensive Project’s findings. Image: UCLA Luskin School/Les Dunseith

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Miguel Miguel delivers findings from the Comprehensive Project’s final report. Miguel, a San Fernando Valley resident who has seen the impact of dangerously high temperatures on communities without adequate heat protection, said, “It was really important for me to be involved and to bring lived experience and emotional compassion into this [research].”

Miguel Miguel, a San Fernando Valley resident who has seen the impact of high temperatures, delivers findings from the Comprehensive Project’s final report. Image: UCLA Luskin School/Les Dunseith

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