Briana Barr UP504 health and well being podcast

Today, we will explore the Cambridge Street Tree project and its effects on the local cityscape, while also addressing our intersectionality topic of the lack of tree canopy in high density, lower income, minorirty neighborhoods. Cambridge is expanding their local street tree aesthetic because its planners and city leaders see the value in more biocentric landscaping. In this podcast, I will argue that we should be starting more street tree projects in other urban areas across the rest of the United States.

Street Tree projects often have trouble receiving funding because policy-makers often view these initiatives as a low priority for the needs of a given city despite the many benefits that tree systems can provide. Trees are a vital part of our ecosystem by providing oxygen and preventing soil erosion. They also beautify our cities, provide shade during the summer, and filter out many harmful pollutants in the air. Additionally, they improve safety of neighborhoods by acting as a traffic calming measure.

Our intersectionality topic affects the minority populations of Boston who live in dense environments closer to the city center. There is a significant discrepancy in the number of trees present in these concrete jungles vs less dense neighborhoods away from the city center. Cambridge, MA is a wealthy suburb of Boston populated by professors, professionals, and students of MIT and Harvard. This city has the funding and resources to invest in a City Tree ecosystem, and they’ll enjoy the many benefits that street trees offer for communities. However, lower income neighborhoods of Boston not too far from Cambridge will not have the same lush tree canopy. According to American Forests, neighborhoods in Boston with a median income of $190k have 54% tree coverage whereas places with a median household income of $50k have only 13% tree shade. Because of this lack of tree prescence, potentially hundreds of thousands of people are subjected to higher temperatueres in the summer and heavier concentrations of pollutants.

Bibliography:

Amos, Dave, director. An Ode to Street Trees. Youtube, 31 May 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoRsVdIyhUM. Accessed 12 Dec. 2021.

“Exploring Tree Equity in Boston.” Speak for the Trees Boston, Speak for the Trees, https://bucas.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapSeries/index.html?appid=34e653bf29e64b72a64e78a175732b34#.

Greening the Gateway Cities, Massachusetts Urban Canopy Project, https://www.maurbancanopy.org/.

Leahy, Ian, and Yaryna Serkez. “Since When Have Trees Existed Only for Rich Americans?” New York Times, 30 June 2021.

“Selecting Trees for Your Urban and Community Forest.” Urban and Community Forestry Fact Sheets, 2020

Turner-Skoff, Jessica. The Scientific Benefit of Trees for People: A Literature Review, http://chicagorti.org/sites/chicagorti/files/Summary_ScientificBenefitofTrees-S%26C-2018-06.pdf. Accessed 12 Dec. 2021.