Environmental News Network - New York City Greenery Absorbing All Traffic Emissions on Many Summer Days

Details: By Yale Environment 360; 06.Jan

On many summer days, trees, shrubs, and grasses across the New York metro area soak up as much carbon dioxide as is generated by all cars, buses, and trucks, according to new research.

Cheryl Porter

On many summer days, trees, shrubs, and grasses across the New York metro area soak up as much carbon dioxide as is generated by all cars, buses, and trucks, according to new research.

For the study, researchers used aerial radar imagery to map the city in six-inch parcels, which allowed them to pinpoint small patches of greenery in densely built neighborhoods — modest backyard gardens, shrubbery growing in vacant lots, and individual trees dotting city sidewalks. Previous research has focused on larger green spaces, such as parks, but these areas cover only around 10 percent of New York. The new study accounts for the rest of the landscape as well.

“Most people have assumed that New York City is just a grey box,” Roísín Commane, a Columbia University researcher and coauthor of the paper, said in a statement. “But just because there’s a concrete sidewalk somewhere doesn’t mean there’s not also a tree that’s shading it.”

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New York City Greenery Absorbing All Traffic Emissions on Many Summer Days