Fast Fact Library

Urban greenery can play a significant role in absorbing atmospheric carbon dioxide. According to a Columbia University study, trees, shrubs, flowers, herbs, and grasses in the five boroughs of New York City...

Wei, Dandan, Andrew Reinmann, Luke D. Schifer, and Roisin Commane. High resolution modeling of vegetation reveals large summertime biogenic CO₂ fluxes in New York City. Environmental Research Letters 17, 12 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aca68f.

Street trees can reduce non-accidental and cardiovascular mortality. In a study of street trees planted in Portland over 30 years, planting 11.7 trees annually in each census tract was associated with 15.6 fewer non...

Donovan, Geoffrey H., Jeffrey P. Prestemon, Demetrios Gatziolis, Yvonne L. Michael, Abigail R. Kaminski, and Payam Dadvand. “The association between tree planting and mortality: A natural experiment and cost-benefit analysis.” Environment International 170 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2022.107609.

Children growing up in environments with more vegetation, especially with more trees, achieved more positive early childhood development outcomes as compared to children growing in environments with more paved...

Jarvis, Ingrid, Hind Sbihi, Zoë Davis, Michael Brauer, Agatha Czekajlo, Hugh W. Davies, Sarah E. Gergel, Martin Guhn, Michael Jerrett, Mieke Koehoorn, Lorien Nesbitt, Tim F. Oberlander, Jason Su, and Matilda van den Bosch. “The influence of early-life residential exposure to different vegetation types and paved surfaces on early childhood development: A population-based birth cohort study.” Environment International 163 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2022.107196

Nature-based infrastructure in cities is 42% less expensive on average than grey infrastructure and provides 36% more value when accounting for avoided costs and co-benefits like increased biodiversity, reduced air...

Bechauf, Ronja, Emma Cutler, Andrea M. Bassi, Liesbeth Casier, Michail Kapetanakis, Georg Pallaske, and Benjamin Simmons. “The Value of Incorporating Nature in Urban Infrastructure Planning.” International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2022. https://www.iisd.org/publications/report/nature-in-urban-infrastructure-planning

According to a study of 17 sites in the Northeastern and Southeastern United States, asphalt intersections or crosswalks with improvements such as crosswalk art, intersection murals, painted plazas, or sidewalk...

Schwartz, Sam. (April 2022). “Asphalt Art Safety Study: Historical Crash Analysis and Observational Behavior Assessment at Asphalt Art Sites.” Bloomberg Philanthropies. https://assets.bbhub.io/dotorg/sites/43/2022/04/Asphalt-Art-Safety-Study.pdf

A cost-benefit analysis based on existing green schoolyards in California compared a green schoolyard prototype with a gray schoolyard prototype. Over a 20-year period, the green schoolyard's cumulative net cost was...

Trust for Public Land and MKThink. (2022). “California Green Schoolyards: A Cost-Benefit Study.” https://www.tpl.org/sites/default/files/220511_TPL_GSY_Report_Final.pdf.

Australian native rushes in constructed floating wetlands removed 42% to 53% of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from contaminated surface water over the course of a 28-day experiment in South Australia.

Awad, John, Gianluca Brunetti, Albert Juhasz, Mike Williams, Divina Navarro, Barbara Drigo, Jeremy Bougoure, Joanne Vanderzalm, and Simon Beecham. “Application of native plants in constructed floating wetlands as a passive remediation approach for PFAS-impacted surface water.” Journal of Hazardous Materials 429 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2022.128326

Time spent in nature is associated with increased valuing of nature, which supports pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors, according to a narrative literature review of 67 published articles from multiple...

DeVille, Nicole V., Linda Powers Tomasso, Olivia P. Stoddard, Grete E. Wilt, Teresa H. Horton, Kathleen L. Wolf, Eric Brymer, Peter H. Kahn, Jr., and Peter James. “Time Spent in Nature Is Associated with Increased Pro-Environmental Attitudes and Behaviors.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18, no. 14 (2021). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18147498

Quality pollinator habitat can be created beneath solar arrays. In an Oregon experiment, researchers found that pollinator abundance, diversity, and richness as well as pollinator-flower visitation rates were...

Graham, Maggie, Serkan Ates, Andony P. Melathopoulos, Andrew R. Molkdenke, Sandra J. DeBano, Lincoln R. Best, and Chad W. Higgins. “Partial shading by solar panels delays bloom, increases floral abundance during the late-season for pollinators in a dryland, agrivoltaic ecosystem”. Scientific Reports 11, 7452 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-86756-4.