MESA, AZ — After the fourth-hottest summer on record, Arizonans are getting proactive about cooling their neighborhoods, one sapling at a time. On Saturday, more than a hundred volunteers planted 100 trees at Reed Park in Mesa, part of a broader push to make Valley communities cooler, greener, and healthier.
“This is an area with low tree canopy cover. We want to be around 15% canopy covered; this area is just at 8%,” said Amy Scoville-Weaver with the Nature Conservancy of Arizona.
Shade isn’t just about comfort. Shaded surfaces can be 20 to 40 degrees cooler than those in direct sun, and trees help clean the air, especially valuable near busy streets and bus stops…