Everyone Says Trees Are Good for Us. This Scientist Wants to Prove It.

Written by

Bishop Sand · Washington Post · January 29, 2024

Featuring Kathleen Wolf, Nature and Health researcher

Aruni Bhatnagar looked up.

“This tree right here, it’s got a lot of good leaves so you can stick a lot of air pollutants in it,” Bhatnagar, a cardiology researcher, said as he gestured toward a magnolia tree on the U.S. Capitol grounds.

Bhatnagar, silver haired and wearing a black turtleneck, was in D.C. for the World Forum on Urban Forests to speak about his $15 million Green Heart Louisville project — an initiative aimed at showing a causal connection between greenness and human health, and a potential model for U.S. cities looking to measure the effects of their tree planting.

In 2018, Bhatnagar, a University of Louisville medical school professor, decided that he wanted to “do something” about air pollution in Louisville, which has repeatedly earned failing grades for air quality from the American Lung Association. His contribution, he decided, would be to find the connection between trees and better heart health using the gold standard for evidence: clinical trials.

‘Yes, Black People Do Hike’: Overcoming the Diversity Gap in Outdoor Recreation

Written by

Deedee Sun · KIRO 7 News · January 21, 2022

Featuring Kathleen Wolf, Nature and Health researcher

A big draw of the Pacific Northwest for many is the unparalleled natural beauty available here. But research shows people of color are much less likely to enjoy nature through outdoor recreation.

Segregation historically extended to the outdoors, but groups in Western Washington are working to repair the divide.

“It’s not too many faces, people of color out there,” said Joseph Mitchell, a lead organizer with the Facebook group, “Black People Hike.”

Our Evergreen Surrounds Can Help Us Weather Our Pandemic Blues

Written by

Christy Carley · Seattle Met · November 6, 2020

Featuring Kathleen Wolf, Nature and Health researcher

An urban sidewalk lined with trees and plants
Seattle’s Freeway Park. Credit: Taylor Vick, Unsplash

On the whole, Washingtonians are pretty good at spending time outdoors. But after months of attending Zoom meetings in pajamas (camera off), the temptation to stay hunkered down throughout the colder months might be hard to overcome.

Yet it’s vital to resist the lure of a total living room retreat, according to University of Washington social scientist Kathleen Wolf. Even a small dose of nature can have a lasting positive effect on one’s mental state, says Wolf, whose research in the School of Environmental and Forest Services focuses on the connection between the natural environment and mental health.

Scientists have long known of a correlation between exposure to nature and reductions in stress, anxiety, and depression. Recently, though, researchers have examined this connection more closely, conducting experimental studies that Wolf likens to vaccine or pharmaceutical trials. Volunteers are recruited, asked to adopt certain behaviors, and then evaluated at the end. Some primary care doctors in the U.S. have even begun handing out nature prescriptions to their patients, explaining the benefits of getting outside and sharing information about nearby parks.

Finding Respite in the Nature Nearby to Combat Stress

Written by

Kiyomi Taguchi · UW News · April 17, 2020

Featuring Kathleen Wolf, Nature and Health Researcher

Taking a walk can make you feel better, but is there scientific research? Yes, says Kathleen Wolf. She’s a research social scientist at the UW School of Environmental & Forest Sciences who studies how people can benefit from nature experiences.

As studies have shown—and personal experiences can attest—spending time in nature helps reduce anxiety, improve mental health and well-being, and bolster physical health. Studies also show there is much to be gained from nature close to home, whether in a yard, on neighborhood walks or even indoors.
Wolf is currently turning her expertise towards helping develop policies that are mindful of nature in our civic spaces and incorporate thoughtful planning when we design our communities.

How Micro-Doses of Nature Help Our Health and Climate

Written by

Sara Barron and Kathleen Wolf · Pursuit· December 3, 2019

Co-authored by Kathleen Wolf, Nature and Health researcher

Two young adults walking through a forest carrying notebooks.Cities around the world are facing major challenges. Industrialised nations are experiencing epidemics of chronic diseases like diabetes, cardio-vascular disease and dementia, and it would be all too easy to give up hope of finding solutions.

But there is positive news.

A growing body of research reveals that spending time outdoors in and around trees, parks and gardens can boost our physical and mental health and help prevent a wide range of diseases.

And just as multiple short bursts of physical activity can have the same benefits as one long exercise session, micro-doses of nature throughout the day really add up.

‘Nature Prescriptions’ Could Be the Next Health Revolution – And Washington Is an Early Adopter

Written by

Wilson Criscione · Inlander · June 05, 2019

Featuring Kathleen Wolf, Nature and Health researcher

A young adult walking through the forest and looking at trees while wearing headphonesKathleen Wolf, a research social scientist at the University of Washington, says there’s value to more research on nature prescriptions. Two decades of research has shown that time in nature is good for you, for a variety of reasons. But more evidence is important, she says, because it can teach us about things like dosage — how to optimize the benefit of going outside. The University of Washington has launched a study, with a $1 million grant from REI, to answer many of those questions.

Wolf says two decades ago, she was called a “tree hugger” for being interested in those questions. That has started to change.

“I think we’re seeing greater attention to the importance of being in nature,” she says.

Imagine going back hundreds of years in the past, before computers, before heating or air conditioning, before our lives were lived primarily indoors, and telling the humans of that time that in the future, doctors would be prescribing time outside.

More Trees More Life

Written by

Andy Tsubasa Field · Eugene Weekly · March 15, 2018

Featuring Kathleen Wolf, Nature and Health researcher

UW Research Scientist Kathleen Wolf. Credit: Mary Levin

Kathleen Wolf, a researcher at the University of Washington, says that when she was an urban forester in the ’80s, requesting from the city of Key West more resources for street trees, her proposal wasn’t taken seriously.

“I was told ‘Oh trees, they are so pretty. But we have the fire and police department, and all these other needs,’” Wolf says.

Wolf, however, says that recent research shows tree abundance as essential for a community’s wellbeing over a lifetime.

As a keynote speaker Saturday, March 5, at the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference, an annual gathering of environmental lawyers and activists, Wolf presented research on the effects of tree abundance on psychological and physical health.

Exploring Efforts to Use Nature to Heal Patients, and Lower Stress

Written by

Ideastream Public Media · October 3, 2016

Featuring Gregory Bratman and Kathleen Wolf, Nature and Health researchers

A young adult strolling through a meadow

Studies have shown that being near trees and green spaces reduces stress and anxiety, eases depression, and even replenishes attention. In 2015, a Stanford University study found that people who strolled through green areas experienced a decrease of activity in the parts of their brains associated with rumination, or negative thinking, compared to those who walked beside a busy urban street. Greg Bratman led that study, as well as a second one.

“In the other study we put out in 2015… we also looked at anxiety, and negative or positive mood or affect,” Bratman said. “We noticed a pattern there as well… the nature walkers experienced decreased anxiety, decreased negative affect or feelings of negative mood, and also decreased rumination.”

Green space exposure has also been associated with reductions in elevated heart rate, blood pressure, and levels of the stress hormone cortisol. Kathleen Wolf, a researcher at the University of Washington who focuses on the link between nature and health, says one possible explanation for these physiological responses may be that humans are inherently wired to benefit from nature.

The UW Medicinal Herb Garden: More Than Just a Pretty Space

Written by

Cassi Flint · The Daily · Oct 21, 2015

Featuring Kathleen Wolf, Nature and Health researcher

The UW medicinal herb garden, located on the South side of campus near the Chemistry Building, is home to a thousand different species of plants and herbs. Credit: Andrew Chan

The garden, just a few minutes’ walk south of Drumheller Fountain, offers a welcome break for people who spend their days in cubicles or windowless offices, said Keith Possee, the gardener single-handedly responsible for the beautification and upkeep of the garden.

People have talked about the relaxation value of gardens for centuries, according to Kathleen Wolf, a researcher in the social sciences at UW’s School of Environmental and Forest Sciences. But now there is scientific evidence that confirms the importance of parks and gardens to urban spaces.

As director of the Green Cities: Good Health project at the UW, Wolf is responsible for curating this evidence from research institutes around the globe and publishing it online for the public to access.

“Parks and gardens aren’t just pretty,” she said. “They’re essential.”

Shade Crusade: Why City Trees Are Good Medicine

Written by

Sandra Hines · UW Magazine · March 2008

Featuring Kathleen Wolf and Nancy Rottle, Nature and Health researchers

Two people on a park bench under a canopy of trees.

A shopping blog for “green, eco-friendly pet owners” features a dog collar made from recycled inner tubes and lined with silver seatbelt material.

A so-called “eco-luxury” vodka uses only locally grown grain and comes in a bottle of recycled glass for what the Missouri distiller says is, a “vodka with a green state of mind.”

And now you can go green to the grave with biodegradable coffins. It’s composting at its best, says the owner of Natural Burial in Portland, Ore., which sells products like the Ecopod, a kayak-shaped coffin made out of recycled newspapers.

Seems like everything and everybody is going green these days.

But where is the green going? American Forests, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit, found that  America’s largest cities have lost more than a quarter of their tree canopies since 1972. In Seattle, the city’s urban forester Mark Mead, ’82, ’87, says that 18 percent of the city has canopy cover, down from 40 percent just 35 years ago. That’s about half of what is recommended for a city of its size, according to American Forests.

“If we don’t have urban green in our surroundings, our lives are diminished. And it’s usually taken for granted until it’s gone.”

Kathleen Wolf, UW College of Forest Resources