Tree Benefits

- Trees have the potential to reduce social service budgets, decrease police calls for domestic violence, strengthen urban communities, and decrease the incidence of child abuse according to the study. Chicago officials heard that message last year. The city government spent $10 million to plant 20,000 trees, a decision influenced by Kuo’s and Sullivan’s research, according to the Chicago Tribune.
- Residents who live near trees have significantly better relations with and stronger ties to their neighbors.
- Researchers found fewer reports of physical violence in homes that had trees outside the buildings. Of the residents interviewed, 14% of residents living in barren conditions have threatened to use a knife or gun against their children versus 3% for the residents living in green conditions.*
- Studies have shown that hospital patients with a view of trees out their windows recover much faster and with fewer complications than similar patients without such views.**
- A Texas A&M study indicates that trees help create relaxation and well being.
- A U.S. Department of Energy study reports that trees reduce noise pollution by acting as a buffer and absorbing 50% of urban noise.
*Prow, Tina., “The Power of Trees”, Human Environmental Research Laboratory at University of Illinois.
**American Forests, “How Trees Fight Climate Change”, 1999.
source:Benefits of Trees In Urban Areas