FAST COMPANY - Scientists use the term “luxury effect” to refer to the fact that the wealthier and whiter your neighborhood becomes, the likelier your block is to be green. Having a greater disposable income gives people the resources to increase the plant biodiversity of where they live. Research shows that increased vegetation yields a stronger local ecosystem, and cooler temperatures too.
Plants have been transpiring since the dawn of time—a natural process where they absorb water from the soil and release it as vapor, cooling the air in the process. But they don’t appear to be doing it fast enough, the authors of a new study write. Heat levels are increasing too quickly, and the luxury effect’s bubble of protection against global warming isn’t keeping pace.
The paper, published on Thursday in the journal Urban Climate, says it’s the first to suggest the luxury effect is rapidly diminishing. The team of researchers at UC Riverside tracked changes in plant health and density in Los Angeles neighborhoods between 1985 and 2021. They used satellite imagery and U.S. Census data to compare urban surface temperatures and amounts of vegetation during that time period across the greater Los Angeles area. It’s understood that climate change impacts the planet’s poorest people first and hardest, but the findings suggest that the heat is turning out to be an equalizer.