How Systemic Racism Linked to Fewer Trees in Your City _ One Small Step

A racist practice from the 1930s could be impacting your community's resilience to climate change. Let me explain. This is a map of Baltimore. These highlighted neighborhoods at the top have more than 40% tree cover. Now take a look at the center of the map. These areas have less than 12% tree cover. Less tree cover means hotter temperatures, less flood control, more pollution, and during heat waves, more death. That's because the more trees a neighborhood has, the more resilient it is to climate change. So in this episode presented by Tazo, I want to know, how do we bring more trees to cities? This disparity in tree cover is not random. It's connected back to a racist practice called redlining, which began in the 1930s. If we take a look at the map again, these outlined areas at the top were labeled as desirable neighborhoods by the Home Owners Loan Corporation in 1937. And you can see that they have more trees today. Meanwhile, these center areas, which are tree-deprived to this day, were labeled as hazardous because they had large African-American populations. Redlining, which occurred in hundreds of communities across the country, made it almost impossible to get a home loan approved, which led to disinvestment, poverty, and a wealth gap between white and Black families, the effects of which are still being felt today. And surprisingly, it also led to fewer trees. You could layer these maps and see, there's much lower canopy footprint in these spaces than there are in areas that have traditionally been funded. Trees have been planted, maintained over time, replenished. As the impacts from climate change are being felt more than ever, not having trees is a big problem. However, there are organizations on the local, state, and national level working to reverse this trend. I'll learn from Bietra Wilson how the U.S. Forest Service is working with states and cities. Urban forestry is also a jobs producer. It's an opportunity for people in the inner city to have living wage careers. Jad Dailey, head of American Forests, a national nonprofit with a mission to address tree inequity in cities. We see a need and opportunity to plant about 31 million trees per year in cities across America. And a local organization in Baltimore employing members of the community to plant more trees. I'm Lucy Biggers, and this is One Small Step. Imagine you're walking down a tree-lined street in the summer. The sun is beating down and it is hot. But when you're in the shade, you feel comfortable, maybe even cool. This experience may seem trivial, but it illustrates how trees mitigate some of the worst impacts of climate change. Research has shown having trees in the neighborhood can reduce temperatures by as much as 20 degrees in the summer. And during a heat wave, that could mean life or death. One study out of Philadelphia found that increasing tree cover in the city by just 5% could prevent over 270 deaths per year. Research has also shown that more street trees are associated with a lower prevalence of early childhood asthma. But due to a history of inequity in our cities, communities of color have less tree cover. The tree equity is really thinking about reverse engineering that and targeting these communities that have been systemically deprived of these green resources. Beatrice Wilson leads the National Urban and Community Forestry Program for the U.S. Forest Service. Beatrice's program partners with state and local organizations across the U.S., putting federal dollars to work planting trees. Urban and community forestry, if you think about where people live, work, and play, these are the trees in those spaces. So I manage a program that's roughly $40 million and it's delivered through state forestry agencies. As a mother of an asthmatic child, it's absolutely critical that communities that are already behind, you know, the curve with regards to health, there's this environmental justice component to trees in communities as well. And then, you know, we're in the midst of a pandemic right now. It's a respiratory virus. And so the opportunity to recreate an open space and socially distance, if you're like me, who has little ones who need to get outside, there's the recreation and green space and health activity. In addition to improving health and creating jobs, adding more trees to your city also sequesters carbon, which helps mitigate the effects of climate change. Almost 20% of the carbon capture in trees and forests in the United States is actually happening in urban areas. Chad Daly is the president and CEO of American Forests, a nonprofit that works to plant more trees in the U.S. In November 2020, American Forests launched a tree equity score that looks at the disparity of trees in different cities. Which maps tree cover across the country to show where we have it and where we don't, neighborhood by neighborhood. In every urban area, 50,000 people or more. And then adds in looking at income, looking at race in those neighborhoods and helps us identify where do we not only have a lack of trees, but where is it most seriously putting people at risk? And then we are using that data to go city by city and say, we can do better than this. We have to deliver tree equity. Have you looked at the potential of like, if you just added more trees to like cities, how many of that could be? We see a need and opportunity to plant about 31 million trees per year in cities across America. And if we can sustain that level of planting, we can both overcome the losses of trees that we're seeing in some places, but then also actually move forward and get cities up to their fuller potential. Concentrate that planting in those neighborhoods that are underserved in so many ways, including in trees. Great research from the U.S. Forest Service shows that urban trees reduce home energy use for heating and cooling by 7.2% nationally. Translate that into energy we didn't have to use, gas we didn't have to burn. It's a huge savings in terms of greenhouse gases that we didn't emit. So clearly there are a ton of benefits to bringing more trees to cities, but planting and sustaining them takes a lot of money and people to do the job. The Baltimore Tree Trust was founded in 2008 with the mission of increasing Baltimore's average tree canopy cover from 27% to 40%. In their first decade, their planting efforts were focused in nine neighborhoods of East Baltimore, which is an area in the city impacted by redlining and with about 10% tree cover. It's long been known that parts of East Baltimore are some of the worst hit areas for various issues related to community health. We have huge rates of childhood asthma, rates of hospitalizations that are skyrocketed compared to other parts of the city. Tree Trust was founded with the stated initiative to actually address the equity side of things and not just the citywide effort to increase tree canopy. Justin Bowers is the Associate Director and Chief Operating Officer of Baltimore Tree Trust. Right now, the organization plants 3,000 trees per year, but in five years they want to plant 10,000 per year. But it's not just about planting. In the first two years, a young tree needs care and attention, and that's where job creation comes in. That means watering, that means pruning, taking care of tree wells in terms of making sure that stakes are upright, they're mulched. In the past three years, almost 50 people have come through our workforce development program and helped us plant trees and also take care of the trees. It's a year-round job that provides a living wage for anybody with almost any background can do it. And so in Baltimore City, where we have huge rates of unemployment and underemployment, After over a decade of effort to increase tree canopy in the city, recent reporting by NPR found that Baltimore's tree cover has only increased by 1%. And experts estimate the city and nonprofits would have to plant 25,000 trees annually to reach the goal of 40% tree cover by 2037. When we're talking about climate justice and tree equity, these numbers from Baltimore show how bringing trees to cities is an enormous task and that there's way more room for investment. What are the challenges to bringing more trees to cities? So getting buy-in from the municipality, getting support from the mayor's office or your council people to not only support the benefits of trees, but recognize them as capital. The same way we look at sewers and sidewalks and all these public utilities that we invest heavily. What year will these trees really be at their capacity for shade, water holding, air pollution, purification, all the things that you mentioned? A street tree that we planted five years ago is probably already doing its fair share of shading the concrete around it, reducing the ground level temperature. If we're talking about the benefits to air quality and to improving rates of pulling out greenhouse gas emissions, the real optimal age for a city tree would have to be 25, 30 years before it's starting to do that at a rate that is causing a citywide impact. What is one small step that people can do? Look up. Take notice of the trees around you and appreciate them for what they're doing for us because there's so much more than just beauty. Trees are some of the most amazing creatures that exist in this planet. Planting a tree may seem simple, but it's clear there are a multitude of benefits. Trees can help us make up for past inequalities and help us craft a more equitable future. While also fighting climate change and creating jobs. I want to thank Tazo for sponsoring this episode as part of their commitment to fight for climate justice. The climate crisis has been disproportionately impacting communities with Black, Indigenous, and people of color for decades. To help make an impact, Tazo is partnering with singer-songwriter SZA and American Forests, who we spoke to in this episode, to launch Tazo Tree Corps, which will create paid, locally hired jobs, and plant and care for trees in cities across the U.S. as a first step to combat climate injustice. Head over to tazo.com slash treecorps to learn more.