Thread by @nithyavraman

In the aftermath of another heat wave, it's worth talking about trees.

Trees play a big role in mitigating heat. But about 1/5th of LA’s tree canopy is found in just four neighborhoods.

That means 1% of LA residents live among 18% of our trees. (thread) treepeople.org/sites/default/…

Areas without trees experience the Urban Heat Island Effect, where heat from the sun gets trapped in the concrete and released throughout the day, further increasing temperatures.

These areas can be between 5 and 20 degrees hotter in summer than tree-covered parts of LA.

Heat islands put our unhoused neighbors, along with Angelenos who lack access to adequate air conditioning, at higher risk of heat-related death -- a preventable tragedy that claims around 60 to 70 lives each year in LA.
kcrw.com/news/articles/…

Ample tree canopy greatly reduces not only heat, but stress and air pollution as well!

Trees also store and purify water. One tree can keep as much as 1,400 gallons of rain from running off into the street each year.
kcet.org/shows/socal-co…

The locations of urban heat islands today are a direct result of racist urban planning practices.

A recent study across 100 cities found that formerly redlined neighborhoods are five degrees hotter on average in summer.
nytimes.com/interactive/20…

Historically redlined neighborhoods remain lower-income and are more likely to have Black and Latinx residents living in them today.

In LA, historically A-graded investment areas are 5.5° cooler on average, while D-graded areas are 2.1° warmer. That’s a difference of nearly 8°.

Sadly, instead of planting more trees, LA is rapidly losing them.

According to a 2017 USC study, virtually every LA neighborhood experienced a ten-year tree canopy reduction of 14 to 55 percent.
news.usc.edu/120872/mass-pr…

Decisions made by our elected leaders have contributed to LA losing more trees.

In 2018, LA's City Council voted to allow developers to pay a fee to remove trees, getting rid of a law mandating that two trees must be replanted for every one removed.
la.curbed.com/2018/6/6/17394…

The city of LA hired the nonprofit City Plants to come up with a plan for managing its urban forest and reversing the steep decline in its tree population.

Unfortunately, we have not followed through on fully funding and implementing its recommendations. cityplants.org/wp-content/upl…

City Plants estimated that LA requires an urban forestry budget of approx. $55-65 million to maintain and expand its tree canopy.

Instead, the city has *cut* its Street Tree budget -- from $27.8 million in 2019/20 to $19.7 million in 2020/21.
cao.lacity.org/budget20-21/20…

As we face our grim climate future, it is imperative that Los Angeles maintain and grow our tree canopy, and fully fund and implement the program laid out by @CityPlants.

You can read the whole @CityPlants report here: cityplants.org/wp-content/upl…