Many people like summer sunshine, but too much heat can be dangerous and unhealthy. Hot and humid weather can cause heat illness and even death. If you or someone you know has these symptoms, you need to cool down quickly!
Heavy sweating
Muscle cramps
Light headedness, feeling faint
Headache
Decreased energy
Loss of appetite, nausea
Luckily, New York City has increased the number of ways to Keep Cool during heat emergencies. The parks department has concentrated on water features, drinking fountains, and tree cover as ways to beat the heat outside.
Here’s a link to a map of all the places where you can cool off:
Spray showers are fun and feel great for kids. The sprinklers are turned on when the temperature reaches 80 degrees F. These are indicated on the map as well as the beaches and outdoor pools that are open to all. NYC even provides free sunscreen at the pools.
There are thousands of drinking fountains across the city – even some for pets!
The map also shows the parks with thick tree coverage, as well as the shadiest blocks to walk.
Another option: If you’re looking for a fun and safe way to beat the heat, consider requesting an official hydrant opening. You can go to your local firehouse and they might open and close a hydrant safely for you.
And if you’re not an “outdoors person,” NYC has many cooling centers. They are located in air-conditioned facilities that offer people relief from the heat, such as:
Most important: drink lots of water even if you’re not thirsty, wear loose light-colored clothing, and avoid sun and strenuous outdoor activity between 11 AM and 4 PM.
Field of Lighthttps://www.fieldoflightnyc.com/ Wander across 6 acres, through an installation of almost 19,000 spheres of light, and enjoy the beautiful shifting colors. With the skyline on one side, and the East River on the other – this will be a walk you’ll remember! (Now through the end of 2024.)
For some outdoor cinema fun, Movies Under the Stars – Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire
Friday, October 18th 7:00 – 9:00 pm
In Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, the Spengler family returns to where it all started – the iconic New York City firehouse – to team up with the original Ghostbusters.
In Kissena Corridor Park, Queens (at entrance – Colden Street and Elder Avenue)
We come together to consider foods that signify moments of togetherness. This fire feast is to give energies back, to consider our togetherness and how we strive for freedom of others.
Oasis – n., something or some place that provides refreshing relief
Wander – v., to move about with no plan
Stillness – n., quiet, absence of sound
Burial ground – n., a place where people are buried when they die
Lush – adj., growing thick and healthy
Enchant – v., to charm and delight, to put under a magic spell
Contemplate – v., to look at something for a long time, to think about deeply
Dazzling – adj., amazing, impressive
Perennials – n., plants that bloom every year
Abundantly – adv., large in amount or number; more than enough.
Neglected – adj., not taken proper care of
Decline – v., to go downward
Guerillas – n., a group of soldiers who do not work as part of an official army.
Rubble-strewn – adj., covered with rocks and debris, messy
Din – n., loud noise
Wonder – v., to feel admiration, surprise, or amazement
In these last few weeks of summer, what better way to spend an hour (or two!) than discovering a green oasis in the middle of New York City? If you need a break from concrete and steel, we recommend a visit to one of these special and precious places… to wander in or just to sit and savor the stillness of the late-season beauty.
M’finda Kalunga Garden
The name of this garden means “Garden at the Edge of the Other Side of the World” in the Kikongo language.¹ It is named in memory of the African American burial ground that was located on nearby Chrystie Street between Rivington and Stanton Streets. There is dense and lush growth everywhere, with little paths winding through the trees and shrubs. Flowers bloom, chickens roam, and the fish pond will enchant you as you take a bench and contemplate the peacefulness.
Relax under the trees in the M’finda Kalunga Garden.
LaGuardia Corner Garden
LaGuardia Corner Garden is an award-winning community garden in the heart of NYC’s Greenwich Village. It is a place of natural beauty, where the visitor can find an oasis of calm in urban surroundings. During the growing season visitors can enjoy a dazzling display of daffodils, tulips, irises, peonies, roses, and other perennials, as well as shrubs and fruit trees.
The gates may be open at other times when the weather is fair. You can go in whenever you see the garden open!
Lilac blooms abundantly in the LaGuardia Corner Garden.
Liz Christy Bowery-Houston Garden
This was the first Community Garden in New York City, founded in 1973; it is located on the northeast corner of Bowery and Houston Streets in Manhattan.
In the 17th century, this site was part of a large farm owned by Peter Stuyvesant, the last Dutch governor of New Amsterdam. Hundreds of years later, in the 1970s, this “bouwerie” (the Dutch word for ‘farm’) was neglected and filled with abandoned buildings; a neighborhood in complete decline.
In 1973 a local resident named Liz Christy and a group of gardening activists known as the Green Guerillas were planting window boxes and vacant lots with ‘seed bombs.² They saw the large rubble-strewn lot as a potential garden and in December went to the City to find a way to gain official use of the land. Volunteers hauled the garbage and rubble out, spread donated topsoil, installed a fence and began planting.
In 2002, it became one of the protected community gardens by law. The garden feels like a private place despite the din of traffic. Two ponds are home to fish and turtles, there is a perennial lotus, a native plant habitat, vegetables, herbs, and many flowering plants. The tallest Dawn Redwood tree in the city is located in the garden.
Perfect for a bit of wonder, a little relaxing meditation, a moment of peace…bring a snack, a sun hat, and yourself to a garden before the warm weather ends!
¹ Kikongo is one of the Bantu languages spoken by the Kongo people living in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the Republic of the Congo, Gabon, and Angola.
Seed bombs are little clay-covered mounds of seeds and growing soil. They’re often used to help reseed natural plants to wild areas, and they were first made popular by guerilla gardeners, people who use public space to grow things.
