TOM JOHNSON / NJ SPOTLIGHT NEWS – With climate change bearing down on the world faster than scientists predicted, urban parks and green spaces can have an outsize role in making cities safe and more livable, according to a new report.

To some extent the country’s largest park systems recognize the problem, with 85% of them in major cities taking at least one action to leverage parks to meet the climate crisis, and more than half having taken three or more actions, a report by the Trust for Public Land found …