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Fringey Mini: Aorticulture · Journey to the Fringe

• 0:00
  Okay, Chelsea, instead of doing somewhat doom
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  and gloom, I actually have a good idea. I'm going
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  to do a follow -up on a way long ago episode.
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  It's not really a follow -up. It's just following
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  in the trajectory of that episode. We're going
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  to talk about that negative impact of lawns in
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  a weird roundabout way. And an article that actually
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  came out on January 21st, 2026 from UC Davis
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  Health, written by Lisa Howard, article title,
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  trees, not grass and other greenery associated
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  with lower heart disease risk in cities. Really?
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  New research analyzing 350 million street view
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  images finds urban tree canopies may reduce cardiovascular
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  disease while grassy areas may increase it. Multi
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  -institutional study led by the University of
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  California, Davis finds that living in urban
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  areas with a higher percentage of visible trees
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  associated with a 4 % decrease in cardiovascular
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  disease. By comparison, living in an urban urban
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  area with a higher percentage of grass was associated
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  with a 6 % increase in cardiovascular disease.
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  Likewise, a higher rate of other types of green
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  space like bushes or shrubs were associated with
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  a 3 % increase in cardiovascular disease. Quote,
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  our findings suggest public health interventions
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  should prioritize the preservation and planting
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  of tree canopies in neighborhoods. End quote,
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  said Peter James. First author of the study,
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  James is an associate professor at UC Davis Department
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  of Public Health Sciences and director of the
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  Center for Occupational and Environmental Health.
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  Quote, urban forestry initiatives and policies
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  that protect mature trees are likely to yield
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  greater cardiovascular health benefits and compared
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  to investments in grass planting. End quote,
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  James said. In 2023, more than 900 ,000 people
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  died from cardiovascular disease in the U .S.
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  That's the equivalent of one in every three deaths,
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  according to the Center for Disease Control and
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  Prevention. Oh man, from a time you could trust
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  them. Cardiovascular diseases are serious conditions
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  that affect the heart and blood vessels. This
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  includes problems with the heart, such as arrhythmia,
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  heart valve disease, and heart failure. And problems
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  with blood vessels like blood clots, including
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  strokes, and peripheral artery disease. Previous
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  research using satellite imagery has shown that
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  urban green spaces can be beneficial to public
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  health, but satellite imagery can classify a
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  wide range of vegetation as green space. Quote,
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  satellite imagery has allowed for important new
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  understandings about how the landscapes built
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  and natural can influence human health. But because
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  the view is from above, far, far above, and lumps
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  all types of vegetation into one category, it
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  can mask differences that may be significant,
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  end quote, James explained. James is a prominent
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  researcher known for innovative use of street
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  -level imagery and satellite imagery in environmental
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  health research. Street -level imagery, most
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  commonly derived from the platform Google Street
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  View, captures neighborhood environments photographed
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  from the vantage point of what a pedestrian would
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  see and has been increasingly used in public
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  health research. The new study was among the
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  first to create a street level assessment of
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  how trees grasses and other green spaces would
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  impact cardiovascular health the researchers
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  used deep learning to analyze more than 350 million
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  trees street view images to estimate how much
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  of each neighborhood was covered by trees grass
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  or other green space they then linked those findings
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  to nearly 89 000 women in the ongoing nurses
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  health study they determined that the type and
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  percentage of greenery trees grass or other green
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  spaces within about 500 meters of each person
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  Interesting. Interesting. such as population
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  density, census region, air pollution, and neighborhood
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  socioeconomic status. The researchers were surprised
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  by the potentially harmful association with grass
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  and other green spaces, but the surprise findings
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  highlighted the importance of disaggregated green
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  space data to better understand cardiovascular
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  effects. The authors suggest that there may be
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  multiple reasons for the unexpected negative
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  association, including an increased use of pesticides,
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  air quality impacted from mowing, lower cooling
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  capacity compared to trees, and low capacity
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  to filter noise and air pollution additional
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  additional research may help identify the unique
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  environmental factors that can adversely impact
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  cardiovascular risk the study had several limitations
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  first the cohort is all female and primarily
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  white which limits generalizability due to the
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  relatively homogenous racial and socioeconomic
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  backgrounds of participants also researchers
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  use the nurses residential addresses which don't
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  capture how they spent their time for example,
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  at work, or how they interacted with other green
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  spaces, when street view images only represent
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  a snapshot in time and cannot see private green
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  spaces that may influence health, such as the
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  backyard gardens. Despite these limitations,
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  the findings offer significant insights. Quote,
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  the research opens a promising new avenue improving
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  cardiovascular health through community -level
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  environmental changes rather than relying solely
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  on individual lifestyle choices. End quote. Said
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  Erica Rimm, co -author of the study. Rim is professor
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  of medicine at Harvard Medical School and of
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  epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard T .H.
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  Chan School of Public Health. Quote, heart disease
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  has such an enormous impact on the Western world
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  that even moving the needle slightly towards
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  earlier prevention can make meaningful difference.
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  End quote, Rim said. That's the end of the article.
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  Chelsea, what do you think? Does that mean that
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  doctors should be like when you can tell that
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  there's some cardiovascular? I'm not a doctor,
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  so don't rate my eloquence of putting. this do
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  you live near trees well i would they might be
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  saying like what do you have planted in your
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  yard or what's your community look like yeah
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  if not we're gonna and they might even say we're
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  gonna have to be pulling this out you're at risk
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  of heart attack we need you to pull out all that
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  grass And plant some trees and have them grow
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  real quick. It's super interesting. It really
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  is. And like, really think about that. Like a
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  4 % decrease versus a 6 % increase. Yeah. So
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  we're talking about 900 ,000 people a year that
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  this impacts. That's a 10 % swing or 90 ,000
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  people. Yeah. It seems like a lot and doesn't
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  even make sense to me. But that's a crazy correlation.
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  Like grass versus trees. Thank goodness I have
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  some trees. outside of my house. Yeah, but they
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  did point out like there's some interesting parts
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  of it. I do also think it'd be interesting to
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  compare that to somebody who lives with like
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  a lack of green, whether or not that has a difference
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  too. But we've seen it too with like golf courses
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  impacting the local water supply when it's groundwater
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  that you're getting. Yeah. The pesticides, we
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  don't really know the full impact on the human
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  life that it has. The lawnmowers, they have CO2.
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  Maybe there's going to be an impact with batteries
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  doing this now, but you're also potentially having
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  your own exercise be every other week mowing
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  the grass and like they said like stressors include
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  noise pollution which trees can block yeah so
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  maybe you just have a less stressed lifestyle
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  but maybe also this doesn't impact men at all
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  and actually it is one of those very gendered
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  stereotypes is men are the ones who take care
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  of the yard so maybe they're actually getting
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  the health benefit of having the yard not looked
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  at because it's the women that are in this long
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  toodle study so many implications yeah and Hey,
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  you guys got 48 hours. Think of more. And email
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  these guys. Maybe they'd like that. I don't know.
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  Maybe email us. Tell them we sent you. We have
• 7:35
  got no emails. Yeah, we were just talking about
• 7:39
  that. Send us some. Okay. Yeah. Anyhow, bye.
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  Bye.