Earth Day Teach In

Green Heart

By Anonymous -



backyard sanctuary photo credit: me
On a recent walk through my neighborhood, I was counting the places where big, old trees had been cut down. I know some of the old giants were diseased and dying and had to go, but why hadn’t new trees been planted? Did anyone besides me and the squirrels miss them? Do people realize the amazing benefits trees provide like improving air quality, cooling temperatures and buffering traffic noise? Are these benefits even measurable?

Luckily, they are and I was excited to learn about Green Heart Louisville which aims to do just that. Green Heart Louisville is a partnership between the University of Louisville in Kentucky, the National Institutes of Health and the Nature Conservancy.
Louisville’s air quality ranks among the worst in Kentucky. Between 2004 and 2012 Louisville had lost 54,000 trees per year due to development. The tree canopy had dropped to 37% and it had become one of the nation’s fastest warming heat islands, but some areas of the city were faring worse than others. In fact, statistics showed decreased life spans for residents of the south and west sides of the city compared with those living in the more affluent east side. This health gap led researchers to look at what was going on in neighborhoods where lifespans were longer. An abundance of trees was one of those things and something that could be brought to other neighborhoods. You can watch a short PBS News Hour segment about the study here :)

Green Heart Louisville will measure the public health impacts of improving air quality through increasing urban green space and planting trees with the goal of creating a “Green Print” for healthier communities. The five-year study started in 2019 with 700 participants who were given baseline physical and mental health assessments. Half of the participants received new trees, shrubs and other flowering plants for their property and half did not. Changes in the baseline health assessments will be compared between the two groups. 

I am excited to follow this study and hope that the results will indeed create a “Green Print” which can be used by communities like South Bend to bolster the case and broaden the conversation for the benefits of increasing urban green space. 

*An interesting measuring sustainability aside, the Green Heart Louisville project helped U of L achieve its Gold STARS rating from AASHE Louisville Cardinals Gold STAR


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