Growing More Trees On Roads In Europe Could Potentially Save Human Lives
Growing more trees is always a good idea. Most people would be aware by this point of how many advantages nature offers. Now, a study is also demonstrating how doubling the number of trees will not only save Earth, but its people as well.
As climate change progresses, temperature fluctuations are set to continue. The study’s lead author, Tamara Iungman from Barcelona Institute for Global Health, states that extreme heat in urban areas often comes with adverse health outcomes. These include cardiorespiratory failure and even premature death.
According to data collated from 2015, it is estimated that 6,700 premature deaths are related to high heat in urban landscapes. From there, a sobering number of 2,644 could have been prevented.
And one way to stop this trend from continuing is by planting trees. An increased amoung of greenery can sprout good health benefits, reducing cardiovascular disease, dementia, and other mental issues.
Per The Guardian, temperatures could drop by 0.4°C (32°F) if tree coverage in Europe goes up from 14.9% to 30%. A new model that studied 93 European cities was able to determine that this, in turn, could reduce heat-related deaths by 39.5%.
Looking at a few individual cities, only 7% of Cluj-Napoca, Romania, has trees, despite having the highest rate of heat-related premature mortality in 2015 (32 per 100,000 residents). It is only 3.6% in Lisbon, Portugal, and 8.4% in Barcelona. Comparatively, those rates are 15.5% in London and 34% in Oslo.
Ultimately, the team has set a goal of increasing coverage to 30%. Researcher Mark Nieuwenhuijsen states that this goal is reachable as it does not require buildings to be pulled down in place of parks. Incidentally, these areas have enough space to host these many trees.
In addition, he suggests that cities that are dominated by vehicles look to replace asphalt roads with trees instead.
[via New Scientist and The Guardian, Photo 212786334 © Jan Wachala | Dreamstime.com]
