and how it impacts our lives said chalk more deaths due to extreme heat at national parks increasing data from the national parks service shows eugene green a city councilman and longtime resident of new orleans felt the intense heat while growing up in pontchartrain park but never thought about the role that the almost complete lack of trees played in his historic black neighborhood during unbearably hot days as an adult its very clear to him pontchartrain park is a good example of a community that is responding or is being responded to in terms of what effects discrimination and other problems had on the development of those communities said green in an interview with abc news july could be hottest month on record cilmate reanalyzer soul which is leading the new orleans reforestation plan worked to identify similar neighborhoods and is working to begin the citys reforestation by ensuring that all neighborhoods have at least 10 of tree canopy coverage and shade this makes for an equitable and attainable starting point for the project said susannah burley the executive director of soul from here they can continue to grow the canopy or tree cover fairly throughout the city in pontchartrain park the organization is planting a tree in front of every household that wants one the organization said it has a 70 optin rate that neighborhood is completely transformed said burley you drive down blocks that had no trees and now theres trees down almost every single block residents are taking the issue of extreme heat into their own hands by planting trees an effective way to curb high temperatures courtesy angela m chalk at the center of climate change impacts extreme heat causes hundreds of deaths per year nationwide according to the centers for disease control and prevention several populations are threatened when temperatures stay high including those who live without air conditioning have health conditions worsened by heat work outside are homeless are elderly and more after hurricane katrina new orleans residents were left to face the heat amid the devastation and wreckage of the storm the city felt so much hotter because we just had no shade we lost so many of our big beautiful magnolia trees and live oak trees said connie uddo the director of the nola tree project which is also planting trees throughout the community the city was just struggling the recovery was just like moving through sludge everybody was just doing nothing but cleaning and really the question is are these neighborhoods able to come back although trees are an effective way for communities to address heat many residents remain unaware of their impact in new orleans trees are seen by some as dangerous or a liability in a city that faces an intense annual hurricane season katrina its long ago in the calendar but its still at the front of everybodys memory it seems like yesterday and so people are worried about having trees falling over in a