Impact of Trees

Module 8 Lesson 3

LESSON 3: IMPACT OF TREES ON A CITY OVERVIEW: Now that students have seen how people can actively work to better the environment, students will learn how trees can have both an environmental and financial impact on cities. Students will explore a case study of a city area and evaluate the impact of planting trees in certain locations within an area of the city. They will use this understanding to then propose improvements for their field site in the following lesson. SUB-QUESTION: What is the economic value of trees? WAYS OF KNOWING URBAN ECOLOGY
Students will Recognize the impact of trees on air quality. (ecosystem change, ecosystem state and structure, ecosystem services) Understand how carbon sequestration works and why it is an important process. (ecosystem change, ecosystem state and structure, ecosystem services) Read scientific research reports and understand the ways in which data is being used to support claims. Evaluate and interpret data demonstrating the impact of trees on air quality. No specific goals connected with acting on urban ecology in this lesson.

Understand

Talk Do Act

SAFETY GUIDELINES: No specific safety issues are associated with this lesson PREPARATION: Time: 1-2 class periods Materials: Activity 3.1: Impact of trees on a city Handouts of CITYGreen reports (three reports in total) PowerPoint File of study site images

INSTRUCTIONAL SEQUENCE Activity 3.1: Impact of planting trees in a city

Impact of Trees

Module 8 Lesson 3

Part 1: Getting Started 1. Introduce students to carbon storage and sequestration and describe how trees store carbon. Some questions that you can focus on are: o What is the wood of a tree made out of? This is an important question because students often do not understand that wood is mostly carbon. o How do trees remove carbon from the atmosphere? What is the process and where does that carbon go? Part 2: Understanding the impact of trees 2. This portion of the activity is designed to help students better understand the impacts of urban trees on environmental indicators such as air quality, storm water runoff, and the impact of planting trees in urban environments on energy savings and carbon generation avoidance. For this activity you have: o Report A: Dorchester baseline report: This report summarizes the current situation around Dorchester High School today. There are 137 trees around the school study site and surrounding area. o Report B: This report summarizes the impact of planting 25 American Linden trees that are 4 inches in diameter close to buildings and other structures in the study site. o Report C: This report summarizes the impact of 25 Linden trees on the environment 20 years into the future near buildings. 3. The tree evaluation reports have several components. To guide students through the analysis of the reports: o Break the students into groups and have them analyze the Dorchester Baseline report (Report A). Show the students the PowerPoint slide for the baseline image. This will help students to see where the trees are located. o To analyze the report you should have the students focus on particular items in the report and have them record those data in Data Table 2. The land cover distribution describes the breakdown of the land use on the study site. Have students pay particular attention to the Tree Canopy cover (the amount of land shaded by trees) and Impervious surfaces (pavement, roads, etc..). Note that in the baseline report there is only 3% tree canopy coverage. o Have the students examine the ecological benefits of the trees in the study site. CITYGreen breaks down the pollutants in more detail that trees remove from the air. CITYGreen also assigns a dollar value for the pollution removal. For more details see the Teacher Background on Air Quality and CITYGreen.

Impact of Trees

Module 8 Lesson 3

Teacher Background: How a dollar value is assigned

To put a dollar value on removing existing pollutants CITYgreen: 1. Calculates the cost of physically removing the pollutants by using industrial scrubbers as a form of emission control. 2. The impact of poor air quality on long-term health care costs that result when individuals breathe polluted air. In fact, did you know that the environmental protection agency estimates that 60,000 people die annually in the United States from the effects of particulate pollution? 4. Have students examine the other aspects of the baseline report. Have them note o How much carbon is sequestered by the 137 trees. o How much energy is saved o Stormwater runoff savings o Total savings for trees on the study site 5. After the students have a sense of the value of trees on the study site ask them what would happen to the values if they were to plant 25 Linden trees near the buildings on the study site. o Show the students the PowerPoint Slide showing where the Linden trees were planted o Have students look at CITYGreen report (Report B) and have the students compare the impact of adding the Linden Trees to the baseline report. Students should note some differences particularly in terms of carbon avoidance and some additional energy savings. 6. Now, the students are going to explore the impact of planting the trees in grassy areas farther away from buildings. Show the PowerPoint slide that shows the planting of Linden trees in grassy areas. Ask the students what if any differences they would expect to see. Have the students look at Report C and have students compare to report B. Optional 7. (optional). If you have time you can discuss the issue of where to plant trees by distributing reports D and E. These two reports have Linden trees planted in the grassy areas of the study of site. Ask them if anything surprises them when they compare the two reports. Are there any differences? Were there any differences that they were expecting to see but did not see?

Closure Activity Ask the students what they have learned about the importance of trees in urban areas. Then have them either write down or describe what their recommendations are for tree planting around their study site.