sfenvironment.org

Environmental Justice and the Urban Forest

San Francisco is home to about 668,000 trees, 108,000 of which—called "street trees"—are maintained by the city, by Friends of the Urban Forest (FUF), and by individual property owners. But some poorer neighborhoods and high-density districts don't have enough street trees to counteract the effects of air pollution and global warming from traffic and industry.

A single tree will absorb one ton of carbon dioxide over its lifetime. But in most cases, the neighborhoods that really need trees—to reduce air pollution and the emission of greenhouse gases, to attract wildlife, and to increase the attractiveness of neighborhoods and their property values—have the fewest trees. On a percentage basis, half as many trees have been planted in environmentally distressed neighborhoods like Bayview Hunters Point, the Mission, and Chinatown than in more affluent areas.

That's where environmental justice and the urban forest intersect. In San Francisco, we're dedicated to improving the quality of life for residents who bear a disproportionate burden of environmental contamination in their neighborhoods. Whether it's living next to a toxic Superfund site, a polluting power plant, or a maze of freeways, low-income city dwellers often have increased exposure to pollution and fewer resources at their disposal for recourse.

There are still more than 100,000 empty spaces on the city's sidewalks where trees could be planted, many of them in these traditionally underserved neighborhoods. The city's plans include filling those empty tree basins thereby doubling the number of street trees and providing a greener future for the communities that need it the most.

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