With Europe melting away under unprecedented heat, one of the best ways to lower tempretures and protect soil and foliage from dry out is by planting trees and other plants and restoring forests and meadows. There are a few ways to do this, community gardening groups are becoming more popular, there's also a service called Bee Bombs that sells seeds to turn private gardens into wild flower patches for bees. And the ecosia search engine uses ad revenue to fund tree planting 150million+ so far.
@Reddebrek every morning i have breakfast on our balcony, which is under a tree
every fucking morning i have to wear a hoodie bc its cold
every morning i think i'll need a jacket
and then i go outside (away from the shade of the tree) and it's way too hot
@Reddebrek I wonder how much of that cooling effect is actually due to energy being used for photosynthesis and tissue growth, vs simply blocking the light and dissipating it away from the ground.
@Reddebrek Do you know how much of the effect comes from reflecting/scattering the sunlight away and how much from absorbing the sunlight and evaporative cooling? (And am I missing some other important heatsink involved?)
Also an anecdote, I am very sensitive to heat and sunlight, but the house I grew up in had a giant apple tree that effectively covered half the back garden. I used to spend my days under it and drink the juice from the apples it provided.