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Hondula is working with city officials as they take a twofold approach: figuring out how to keep so many people from dying of heat-related causes and how to bring down the temperature in one of America's fastest-warming cities. Phoenix hopes to win $5 million for the program as part of a competition by Bloomberg Philanthropies, and officials say it could serve as a model for other places grappling with higher temperatures.
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Now the city is testing text alert systems to more aggressively warn people when it may not be safe to be outside, even if there are no emergency warnings on that day.
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The city aims to have 25 percent shade cover by 2030, but it's still far from that goal. So on a recent afternoon, city employee Michael Hammett is working a line of people at a bus stop, peddling another option.