Heat Island Materials

Find fact sheets, case studies, social media content, and reports to learn about heat islands and effective cooling strategies. 

Fact Sheets 

• Keeping Your Cool: How Communities Can Reduce the Heat Island Effect (pdf) (812KB) covers the causes and impacts of heat islands, and strategies to take action. 

Case Studies

• Estimating the Environmental Effects of Green Roofs: A Case Study in Kansas City, Missouri demonstrates the environmental and health benefits of green roofs for Kansas City.
• Tree Canopy Coverage in Cincinnati, Ohio (pdf) (649 KB) describes the city’s goal is to reach a minimum of 40% tree canopy coverage in each residential neighborhood.

Social Media Content

• Cool Your Community Social Media Toolkit offers English and Spanish content to increase awareness of heat islands, share information on heat island cooling strategies, and encourage individuals to adopt these cooling strategies.

Reports and Booklets

• Guide to Reducing Heat Island describes measures that communities can take to address the negative impacts of heat islands.
• Climate Change and Extreme Heat Booklet: What You Can Do to Prepare (pdf) (5.4 MB), from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, identifies steps you can take to prepare for an extreme heat event. It answers key questions about extreme heat in a changing climate: why extreme heat is on the rise, how it might affect you, and what you can do before and during an extreme heat event to reduce your health risk.