We are a Cincinnati-based tree service, and Louisville, KY is only 100 miles away. In many ways, Louisville has an almost identical climate to Cincinnati: humid in the summers, often snowy in the winter, with deciduous and coniferous trees dotting the landscape and covering the hills. We live in a beautiful part of the country, and the trees both here and in Louisville truly contribute to that beauty.
There is a project in Louisville that caught our attention for a number of reasons. “Green Heart Louisville” is a study on the long-term health impact of trees on the human population of the city. The study looked at stress, respiratory health, cardiovascular health, and general social comfort, all related to the presence of trees.
The basic hypothesis is that more trees lead to healthier people, and that planting and maintaining trees in a neighborhood improves not only the quality of life, but the quality of residents’ health. (This Cincinnati tree service has an inkling that the study will show deep connections between health and trees, but we may be a bit biased.)
The Green Heart Louisville study is sponsored and administered by the Institute for Healthy Air, Water, and Soil — who are collaborating with the Nature Conservancy. The project was started in 2017 and was originally intended to last for five years, but was actually extended to last for seven.
The groups working on the Green Heart Project chose Louisville in part because the city has higher levels of air pollution than most cities in the United States. The American Lung Association gave Louisville an “F” rating for six years in a row before the study began. And while the national percentage of people suffering from asthma is 8 percent, in Louisville that percentage is 13 percent.
The results of the study were released this summer, and they have been clear and fantastic to learn about:
“Researchers at the University of Louisville’s Envirome Institute found that people living in the neighborhoods where the project conducted its “greening intervention” showed lower levels of a blood marker of inflammation strongly associated with cardiovascular health, as well as diabetes and some cancers. (Source: UofL news.) This finding is significant, because it means that adding trees to a neighborhood may reduce community members’ risk of heart disease. The Green Heart Louisville Project is the first study to show that an intentional increase in trees and shrubs in a neighborhood can indeed improve human health.”
As your Cincinnati tree service, we here at Tree Images want to assist you in keeping your yard healthy and thriving, and thereby helping your family and your community to continue to be healthy and thriving, as well. We can give you information on how your property could improve, if you call us at 513-528-4167.
