I went into working for Green Columbus not knowing much about trees or the environment. One of the questions in my interview was, “Are you passionate about sustainability?” And I flat out responded with, “No.” I backed it up with how I have developed passions over time the more I learn about something. It is week two at Green Columbus and I am starting to develop that passion. I have spent this past week researching trees for our giveaway in October, to update our website. It felt like a homework assignment, but it was very impactful for me to read. As I spent this week researching, Green Columbus did a presentation to some high school students in a STEM program Nationwide about the impact of trees.

One of the high school kids taught me that storm runoff water is what creates potholes. Did you know that trees reduce stormwater runoff? When there are more trees, the water from storms is soaked up by the trees, and it hits the leaves of the trees before it hits the ground. Did you know trees reduce air pollution, improve mental health, reduce the heat island effect, improve the market value of properties, and businesses with more trees have customers who spend more time shopping and spend more money? Trees have an environmental, physical, and economic impact. But the most staggering fact I learned about trees: trees reduce crime. It is proven that when there is a 10% increase in trees, crime is decreased by 12%. This fact does not seem real, but there have been multiple studies done that prove that trees can reduce crime.

There is a map that tells you the tree equity score of each neighborhood in Columbus (https://treeequityscore.org/map/#11.82/39.9435/-82.94988). The tree equity score takes into account the tree canopy, the crime rates, unemployment, surface temperature, health risk, and population to produce a score. Neighborhoods in Columbus with fewer trees have high crime rates, higher health risks, and higher unemployment. This is not a coincidence. There are neighborhoods in Columbus that have a 20-point difference in their tree equity score, and they are only five minutes from each other. Trees tell a story. Green Columbus is teaching me how to hear the story, and how to respond.