Category: Uncategorized
Why am I doing research about trees and environmental justice?
The One About Trees
I always assumed that everyone else felt the same way I did about trees. I figured labeling myself a ‘tree lover’ would be obvious, like saying I’m an oxygen lover, or a pizza lover. Anyone with a pulse and the use of at least one of their five senses appreciates trees, right? Wrong.
People sometimes ask me why I think urban trees are so important, when there are so many other things that people in cities need. And I usually rattle off a laundry list of the more technical benefits of trees: shade, stormwater mitigation, cleaner air, it being low-key step toward climate resilience, etc. But at the end of the day the truth is that trees in the city just make me happy. Some of my fondest early memories are of urban trees– the giant sycamores in my kindergarten playground, the grove of eucalyptus that I played in near our house (before they were cut down). I was raised in the suburban sprawl of Los Angeles, and like many kids, the trees on the street where I lived were my first taste of nature.
Before I ever thought about the value of trees as “natural resources” or “ecosystem services”, I innately got that they were important. They gave shade, and a place to climb and play. I knew that some of them got really big and lived the length of many human lifetimes. Trees made me aware of the passage of time on a larger-than-human scale. I think they gave me hope that there was more to the world than strip malls and parking lots.
When I moved to the Pacific Northwest as a teenager, I brought this connection with me, and for a budding (haha) tree lover, Portland, Oregon was the place to be.
Of course I always assumed that everyone else felt the same way I did about trees. I figured labeling myself a ‘tree lover’ would be obvious, like saying I’m an oxygen lover, or a pizza lover. Anyone with a pulse and the use of at least one of their five senses appreciates trees, right? Wrong.
After working for the City of Portland’s Tree Inventory Project for a summer, I realized that not everyone has the same feelings about trees that I do. While working for the TIP I spent a lot of time in the field counting, measuring, and assessing street trees. While I was out pounding the pavement, I’d get approached or just yelled at by people who thought that inventorying trees was a waste of taxpayer money or felt like trees in general were a burden, and not a benefit. I was pretty surprised– there are so many people out there who hate trees?! What’s the deal? The benefits of trees have been pretty extensively studied, and its been shown that they have both environmental and psychological benefits. So why do so many people want trees off their streets? Oh, I was so naive!
People actually have a lot of well justified reasons to hate trees– the cost of maintenance, the mess of fruits and leaves, the blocked views. Sometimes the city plants trees without consulting people, and they are bitter about that. Sadly, trees in neighborhoods have also been seen as signs of gentrification– if new trees are getting planted, that often means that property values are going up and low-income residents are going to be displaced. This phenomenon has been referred to as environmental gentrification, or eco-gentrification.
But what do people really think about trees? Why do some city dwellers like me love trees and feel like they are a super valuable investment, while others think that trees are a nuisance or a waste of money/space. Is the connection to nature that trees give to me not universal? If so, I wonder why not? And if we can’t all agree that trees are a benefit to communities, then how do we decide how to manage them? What are other barriers (socio-economic, cultural) that might be influencing people’s feelings about trees?
Obviously, I had a lot of questions. Rather than speculate, I wanted to go out and ask people these questions. And that is how the germ of my cross country research trip was conceived.
The Cities
Click on the icons for fun facts! about each city I’m visiting on this trip, including Glacier National Park, which is not a research stop.
My Research Statement
A Forest for Everyone: Barriers to Inclusive Engagement in Urban Forestry
Abstract
Green infrastructure like trees have been linked to a variety of social benefits including lower crime rates, reduced stress, and increased social capital, not to mention the suite of environmental services that they provide like stormwater management and climate resilience. However, we also know that neighborhoods with concentrated low-income and minority communities have less green space and trees per capita. This begs the ethical question often posed by environmental justice activists of “who gets what, when, why, and how much?”. In recent years, several city forestry departments have explored ways to rectify this inequity, with mixed results. Common barriers include lack of funding, lack of effective policy instruments, and lack of physical availability of tree planting sites, however perhaps most vexing is the lack of participation or interest from the communities themselves. Public participation is an integral part of the sustainability framework, and the inclusion of marginalized communities in the decision making process is essential to achieving equitable outcomes. Understanding the multiple spaces of identity, power and agency in which minority and low income communities respond to environmental issues can lead to policy and programmatic changes, helping city foresters and environmental advocacy groups better engage and serve these communities.
This research centers around the perceptions of trees and the urban canopy by marginalized communities. Questions I will ask are: Do these communities want to increase their canopy? What benefits do they see trees providing? What are their concerns about bringing trees into their neighborhood? What are their needs and how do trees fit in (or conflict with) these needs? In getting answers to these questions, I hope to gain a better understanding of the barriers to engagement, toward designing better tools for planners, urban forestry practitioners, and environmental groups to manage and maintain an equitable urban forest.
Who The Forest is For: An Exploration of Trees, Equity, and Environmental Justice 