Battling ‘Urban Heat Island Effect’ in Fairmount Heights

A community in Prince George’s County is not content to throw in the towel to climate change. Instead, the Town of Fairmount Heights has converted a little-used public open space into an intentionally designed heat refuge to combat the heat island effect of surrounding urbanized areas. The park, which has no official name, and which most residents call “The Ravine,” used to be best known for occasionally flooding and for the cost of mowing the sun-scorched grass in the summer.