This essay is a finalist in the 2024 Retro Report Civic Engagement Challenge, a student contest supported by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
By Madison Vancol
Trees are a vital component of our environment and a major asset to the health and well-being of our communities. Apart from providing us with oxygen–a basic element to sustaining human life, trees stabilize soil, slow storm surges, improve air quality, regulate climate, and, of course, offer shade. However, black and brown communities in Brooklyn encounter a significant lack of tree cover, magnifying environmental and health challenges. While predominantly white areas see more lush, green trees lining their streets, the adjacent black and brown neighborhoods experience the consequences of their absence.
Joe Pannell, the Vice president of Urban Forest Policy at a national nonprofit environmental organization called American Forests, gives a notable depiction of the importance of trees, describing them as “a life-saving infrastructure.” He goes deeper into this sentiment, stating, “a map of tree cover in almost every American city is also a map of race and a map of income.” The unequal distribution of trees across communities has substantial impacts within the realms of environmental economics and sustainability.
According to ABC News, in East Flatbush, where people of color make up 97% of the population, there is only 15% tree coverage. Black and brown communities have 33% less park space across the borough of Brooklyn, while largely white neighborhoods such as Midwood, Prospect Heights, Carroll Gardens, and Middle Village, are in greater proximity to parks (Sanders 2021). This discrepancy is indicative of historical injustice through its ties to redlining in the United States. The redlining policies of the 1930’s prohibited the funding of parks and trees in neighborhoods predominantly dominated by people of color, and these effects can be directly traced to the circumstances we live in today. A Harvard Study of 108 cities in the United States revealed that previously redlined areas had 94% elevated land-surface temperatures in comparison to their non redlined counterparts, with recorded differences of as much as 12.6 degrees Fahrenheit (Newsome 2023). Evidently, the growing tree canopy disparity has long-term effects, hindering communities of color. Windless parcels of blazing streets and sidewalks have afflicted black and brown communities, raising their risk to the byproducts of oppressive heat: dehydration, heatstroke, exhaustion, and impaired cognitive function. It can also aggravate pre-existing health conditions including asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and increase premature birth rates (Newsome 2023). These disparities also fundamentally increase energy costs, causing a spike in expenses. Trees have the capacity to mitigate rising temperatures, but with less tree canopy coverage, communities of color are losing a major part of their armor in this battle and are becoming more susceptible to the dangers of climate change.
Ultimately, the lack of tree canopies in black and brown neighborhoods in Brooklyn needs a more urgent response. Whether through the lens of climate change, physical health, or environmental economics, this issue disproportionately affects people of color and contributes to a range of disadvantages for their welfare.
