Health News
A research team at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health explored how planting trees can save lives. The study is published in the journal Environment International.
The Study
The researchers surveyed data from a tree-planting campaign conducted by the non-profit organization Friends of Trees along the streets of Portland (Oregon, the US) in the years 1990–2019.
They tallied the number of trees planted in a given area with the participants’ health information. These included mortality due to cardiovascular, respiratory, or non-accidental causes in that same area.
The Findings: How Trees Improve Health
The results revealed the health benefits of planting trees and similar instances of exposure to nature. Each tree planted was associated with significant reductions in cardiovascular, respiratory, or non-accidental mortality by almost 20%.
The study supports campaigns designed to plant and save trees.
The authors remarked: “Our results provide an important evidence-base for tangible interventions (e.g., planting trees) to increase the longevity of urban residents.”
To Know More You May Refer To
Donovan, G. H., Prestemon, J. P., Gatziolis, D., Michael, Y. L., Kaminski, A. R., & Dadvand, P. (2022). The association between tree planting and mortality: A natural experiment and cost-benefit analysis. Environment international, 170, 107609. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2022.107609
