By Tina Deines

Care and kindness. Shade and relief.

These are some of the messages of hope that visitors shared after viewing dozens of shade-themed artworks and participating in interactive activities at an exhibition that explored the role of trees and shade in Los Angeles.

“Roots of Cool: A Celebration of Trees and Shade in a Warming World,” co-curated by Edith and Jolly de Guzman, took place at Descanso Gardens in Los Angeles from July 12 to October 12, 2025. The exhibition explored the relationship among urban trees, heat, environmental justice, and neighborhood well-being. It also highlighted how decades of discriminatory planning and disinvestment have left lower-income areas with fewer trees and hotter streets.

The show also included interactive components, such as surveys and prompt-based activities using drawing and writing — all of which were compiled and analyzed. The Center’s new report is among the first to examine how people respond to climate adaptation messages immediately after experiencing an interactive art exhibition. It is also one of the first to use participatory exhibitions to better understand public perceptions of shade equity and climate adaptation.

One finding was that a majority of respondents did not feel that their neighborhood had enough shade-producing trees for walking on a hot, sunny day. Another prompt asked people to choose a shade fact from a list that surprised them the most. Most people selected the statement, “School playground surfaces often get hot enough to cause second-degree burns.”

Overall, participants responded to the exhibition with far more optimism than despair.