How Greening California Schoolyards Protects Kids and the Climate

But the yard didn’t look much like one, it was closer to an enormous parking lot, surrounded by blue, one-story school buildings.

“I’ve always said Bridges is my second home and the second home of my children,” Gudiño said in Spanish.

But Gudiño said it looks sad. She’d like something far happier for her kids.

“They don’t have green areas, they don’t have shade. Everything is cement, children get hurt very often,” she said.

Children play in the schoolyard at Bridges Academy at Melrose in Oakland on Oct. 20, 2022. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)

And even on a mild morning, the blacktop beneath Gudiño’s feet was getting warm. Asphalt and other surfaces made from petroleum (asphalt is a byproduct of refining crude oil) heat up far beyond the temperature of the surrounding air, especially in the direct sun. As the world warms, schoolyards like this one are becoming a safety hazard due to extreme heat. Read More