El Paso could do a lot more with shade, native plants, heat islands and water harvesting...
l came across a video on YouTube yesterday about how Tucson has been using more native plants, shade trees, rainwater harvesting, curb cuts, and desert friendly landscaping to make neighborhoods cooler and more livable...
And it made me think about El Paso and what this approach could do for us.
I know a lot of people on here have mentioned how much hotter it feels, how much worse the sprawl is getting, and how the city just feels more paved over every year. More concrete, more gravel, more parking lots, more warehouses, more roads... but not nearly enough shade, trees, parks, or thoughtful desert landscaping to balance it out.
We are already dealing with heat, dust, air quality issues, and water concerns. We are the only county in West Texas that still has to do emissions testing because of pollution. And now with all the concerns people have around the Meta Data Center, Project Jupiter, growth, and our water supply... it seems like anything that could help with conservation and environmental quality should at least be part of the conversation.
The thing that irritates me is that El Paso already knows heat is a problem.
Did you know UTEP has reported that El Paso was one of 13 U.S. cities selected for a NOAA urban heat island mapping campaign back in 2020, with local partners including the city, UTEP, public health, and the National Weather Service? I didn't until I started looking into this.
And even back in 2018, there was an El Paso green infrastructure presentation that specifically referenced reducing urban heat island effects through things like cool roofs, permeable pavement, stormwater capture, and increasing tree and shade canopy.
So I don't think the issue is not that nobody knows. The issue is follow through.
Urban heat islands matter because all that concrete, asphalt, rooftops, and bare rock hold heat and radiate it back out. That means some areas stay hotter longer, especially at night.
It affects people waiting for buses, kids walking to school, outdoor workers, older people, people without reliable AC, pets, and honestly anyone who still has to function outside during the summer.
It also means higher cooling costs, more stress on the grid, worse air quality, less walkability, and neighborhoods that just feel harsher than they need to.
I am not talking about planting grass everywhere or pretending El Paso is not in the desert. That would be ridiculous.
I mean the opposite...
Taking a page from what Tuscon did and just working with the desert instead of against it. Teaching our kids how to live in the Chihuahuan desert and help take care of it.
For example, using native and desert adapted plants. Planting trees that actually belong here.
Creating shade where people actually walk, wait, work, and gather. Using rainwater better in a better way when we actually get it. Adding curb cuts and rain gardens so stormwater can go into planted areas instead of just rushing down streets and flooding intersections. Making schoolyards, bus stops, parks, medians, and neighborhoods less brutal in the summer.
Just because we are a desert city does not mean we have to look dead.
Tucson is not perfect, and El Paso does not need to copy them exactly. We are in the Chihuahuan Desert, not the Sonoran Desert, so obviously the plant choices and design would need to fit this area. But the overall idea makes sense.
We can be realistic about water and shade.
We can care about growth and still care about quality of life.We can support jobs and still expect better environmental planning.
As a whole, those things should not be treated like they cancel each other out.
Tuscon has these little urban community gardens and food forests filled with desert hardy plants and fruits to eat. I would love that here.
I've mentioned before about how a lot of us here don't really feel that the value proposition of El Paso offers much. El Paso has so much potential to be a legitimate powerhouse in the Southwest... but that has to include livability too. People still have to walk outside. Kids still need safe and shaded places to play. People wait for buses. Workers are outside in this heat. Families use parks. Neighborhoods should not feel like they were designed only for cars and concrete.
Shade is not just something nice to have here. It literally needs to be built into the infrastructure.
I just wish we would start thinking about desert design in a bigger, more serious way... not as random beautification projects, but as something that could help with heat, water, flooding, air quality, and quality of life over time.
El Paso could be so much better if we actually planned around the climate we have instead of making the desert feel even harsher.
