Trees Don’t Make Cities Livable. They Make Cities Survivable.
Trees give our communities beauty, wildlife habitat, and shade. Research shows that the benefits of trees are even more profound: they save human lives. Thirty years of data from the Portland nonprofit Friends of Trees, discovered that residents in neighborhoods with more trees experienced lower rates of cardiovascular and nonaccidental mortality. The reduction in mortality was more strongly associated with older trees, meaning that the impact of trees on human mortality grows stronger as trees mature.
Citations
Donovan, Geoffrey H.; Gatziolis, Demetrios; Longley, Ian; Douwes, Jeroen. 2018. Vegetation diversity protects against childhood asthma: results from a large New Zealand birth cohort. Nature Plants. 4(6): 358-364. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-018-0151-8.
Donovan, Geoffrey H.; Michael, Yvonne L.; Butry, David T.; Sullivan, Amy D.; Chase, John M. 2011. Urban trees and the risk of poor birth outcomes. Health & Place. 17: 390-393.
Donovan, Geoffrey H.; Gatziolis, Demetrios; 't Mannetje, Andrea; Weinkove, Robert; Fyfe, Caroline; Douwes, Jeroen. 2021. An empirical test of the biodiversity hypothesis: Exposure to plant diversity is associated with a reduced risk of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Science of The Total Environment. 768: 144627-. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.144627.
Gernes, Rebecca; Brokamp, Cole; Rice, Glenn E.; Wright, J. Michael; Kondo, Michelle C.; Michael, Yvonne L.; Donovan, Geoffrey H.; Gatziolis, Demetrios; Bernstein, David; LeMasters, Grace K.; Lockey, James E.; Khurana Hershey, Gurjit K.; Ryan, Patrick H. 2019. Using high-resolution residential greenspace measures in an urban environment to assess risks of allergy outcomes in children. Science of the Total Environment. 668: 760-767. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.03.009.
Donovan, Geoffrey H.; Michael, Yvonne L.; Gatziolis, Demetrios; Mannetje, Andrea 't; Douwes, Jeroen. 2019. Association between exposure to the natural environment, rurality, and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in children in New Zealand: a linkage study. Lancet Planet Health. 3: e226-e234.
Donovan, Geoffrey H.; Butry, David T.; Michael, Yvonne L.; Prestemon, Jeffrey P.; Liebhold, Andrew M.; Gatziolis, Demetrios; Mao, Megan Y. 2013. The relationship between trees and human health: evidence from the spread of the emerald ash borer. American Journal of Preventative Medicine. 44(2): 139-145.
Donovan, Geoffrey H; Gatziolis, Demetrios; Douwes, Jeroen. 2019. Relationship between exposure to the natural environment and recovery from hip or knee arthroplasty: a New Zealand retrospective cohort study. BMJ Open. 9(9): e029522-. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2019-029522.