One Of Fastest-Heating Cities In US, Las Vegas Plans New Airport, More Development, More Roads, More Concrete/Asphalt

[hatrack]

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For the 2.3 million people who call this valley home, the dangerous elements are harder to ignore. When temperatures climb, shadeless streets are hot enough to cause second-degree burns in seconds. This June was the city’s hottest on record. In July, things got even worse: the city experienced a record seven days at 115F or higher and set a new all-time high of 120F. The heat is just a signal of what’s to come. Temperatures in Las Vegas are rising faster than almost anywhere else in the US.

Meanwhile, Clark county, where Las Vegas is located, is bursting at the seams. The region is among the fastest-growing metro areas in the US. Roughly 2 million people have moved here over the last 50 years, with nearly a million more expected by 2060. To accommodate them, the county has thrown its support behind a federal bill that would open up 25,000 acres of the surrounding desert for housing and commercial development. The county also has plans for a new airport, slated for completion in 2037, that would pave over thousands more acres of arid landscape near the California border. New shopping centers and cul de sacs all mean more concrete – and more heat – in an area where the ability to afford or access air conditioning can already mean the difference between life and death.

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Louis Lacey spends most of his summer days trying to save the lives of people like Williams, as the director of Help of Southern Nevada, a non-profit organization that hands out water, hygiene kits, and hope as part of a larger mission to get more people into permanent housing. “I have been living here since 1972 and it would get hot – but not this kind of hot,” Lacey said last week as he drove through the city scanning sidewalks and drainages for anyone in need of aid.

As someone who has experienced homelessness himself, he said, the work is a calling. It’s also laced with heartbreak. There was the woman whose leg was amputated after she got third-degree burns from passing out on the scalding hot sidewalk. She now uses a wheelchair. Just last week, he and other aid workers rushed to revive another woman, age 81, who passed out in an encampment. They found her surrounded by her pet dogs, who had all died in the heat. He was relieved they were able to save her. That’s not always how the story ends.

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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/jul/25/las-vegas-extreme-heat

[calimary]

1. Ah, Vegas. That city is doomed.

NOBODY overpowers Mother Nature for long.

[Doc Sportello]

2. And this doesn't even mention water

Where the hell is the water supposed to come from for another million people? States and tribes are already fighting for access to diminishing Western water sources. The same for Phoenix as Las Vegas. Just insane.

[hatrack]

3. Barring major changes in the Colorado River Compact, Nevada's stuck at 300k acre-feet/year

The rest is groundwater and conservation.

LV has done a really good job on water efficiency (as they really have no other choice) but efficiency is only going to take you so far, assuming continuing demand growth.

[Doc Sportello]

4. Think they can ever give up the water shows on the strip?

I'm no expert but they seem like a great waste of water. Also, all the private and hotel swimming pools. And with 1M more people, conservation doesn't seem to be the answer.

BTW, you do a great job of bringing environmental issues into this forum.

[Martin68]

5. No lessons learned, just pure capitalist greed calling the shots.

[Envirogal]

6. The big question is

Why in the hell would anyone want to live in a place like that???

As the article covered the increased use of concrete paving over is a huge heat island. The fact that the entire southwest has been overdeveloped with more people needing more air-conditioning also helps accelerates the heating effects. It’s like they are all jumping into the fire!