Spruce tree in my back yard
If you live in a neighborhood where there are quite a few trees growing outside, you probably live in a community that is healthier than places without many trees. You can celebrate that fact this Christmas season by putting Christmas tree ornaments on a tree in your yard!
A new study led by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service helped to prove how healthy trees are for humans. Researchers found that each tree planted in a community showed something very interesting. There were fewer non-accidental and heart related deaths among people living near those trees.
Younger trees that were one to five years old indicated a 15 percent drop in the human death rate. But trees that were 11 to 15 years old showed a 30 percent drop in the human death rate in that community. The older the trees are, the larger they usually are. The larger trees were better at keeping people healthier.
How amazing is that! More and more people are coming to realize that trees are healthy for humans. This particular study was done in the Portland, Oregon area. You can find the research paper used to write the report about this study at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412022005360?via%3Dihub.
The title of the research paper is The Association Between Tree Planting and Mortality: A Natural Experiment and Cost-Benefit Analysis.
The study showed that the economic benefits of planting trees were much greater than the cost of taking care of those trees. Not only that, but the trees helped people stay healthier, so the entire community benefited. That is so cool!
You can help to celebrate what this study found by decorating one or more of the trees in your yard at Christmas time. The decorations will help to make your neighborhood look more Christmassy. They also will show how much you value trees and how much you love them.