Her neighborhood is one of the four neighborhoods in south Louisville that has embarked on a $15 million, five-year study that will once and for all answer if health is tied to an area’s tree canopy. The study launched in 2018 when researchers collected baseline information about the neighborhood’s air pollution and resident’s heart health. Over the next three years, they’ll plant trees and monitor those same residents. In 2022, they’ll observe any changes. 

As early as 1984, researchers were beginning to understand the role greenery plays in health. Roger Ulrich watched as patients with tree-facing windows had shorter hospital stays compared to their counterparts who looked at brick walls. The links between health and vegetation have continued for decades. Scientists saw the benefits of trees in everything from absorbing auto emissions to cooling sidewalks. They studied how greenery correlates to decreases in stress levels, heart rates, muscle tension, asthma and blood pressure.  

There’s a well-known link between health and greenness. But an important component was missing from the story: a controlled scientific study. 

The Green Heart project will be the first-ever experiment to see if increasing an area’s tree canopy will improve residents’ health.

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