25-10 - Flipbook - Page 71
October 2025
Tree planting as a way of stunting climate change is complex and at times
unreliable. Still, many cities across the world aim to vastly increase the number
of trees they have, often citing carbon absorption as well as improved
resilience to extreme weather and other benefits to local people. Edinburgh,
for instance, is trying to become a million-tree city by 2030.
There's one very good reason to plant tree patches in urban areas: people
who live near them benefit.
Around the world, many people are interacting with nature less and less.
That's also the case for children: one 2017 survey in the US found by the time
they were 12, children on average spent over three times as many hours on
computers and watching TV as they did playing outside.
At the same time, research shows urban nature can improve physical,
psychological and social well-being. A 2024 Canadian study, for instance,
found the diversity of birds and trees in urban areas was linked to good selfreported mental health. Children who spend more time in natural
environments
have
significantly better mental
health, according to a
2024 study led by Fiona
Caryl, a public health
data scientist at the
University of Glasgow.
Creating new urban
forests is one way of
making this happen. And
they can also provide
resilience benefits for
locals in the form of
everything from cooler
microclimates to flood
protection. In one study
looking
at
Madison,
Wisconsin,
researchers
found city blocks with more canopy cover had lower daytime temperatures
than those without, especially when cover reached over 40%.
Earthwatch, meanwhile, monitors the impacts of the UK's tiny forests using
measurements taken by locals 3 just as the schoolchildren were measuring
during my visit. Its latest report found that tiny forests have cooler daytime air
temperatures and faster water infiltration rates (by 32% on average) than
surrounding areas.
Scotland's wee forests have a particular focus on school and community
engagement. Its 34 sites are all planted near schools, with a particular effort to
have them in areas of deprivation. Children and other locals are involved in
planting and long term citizen science data collection, with some harnessed
as "tree keepers" to help to monitor and maintain the forest in the long term.
Other wee forests in Scotland are connected with local health
services, with two in the Dundee area on the land of medical practices
which take part in green prescribing, which connects patients with free
