Published on April 18, 2023
Officials with the state and city of Seattle on Thursday launched a renewed effort to plant trees in urban areas most affected by pollution, flooding and other extreme weather events, like the unprecedented 2021 heat wave that smashed record highs and killed more than 150 people in Washington.
Redlining, or racially discriminatory mortgage and land-use policies, shaped the inequities that persist today. “They didn’t plant trees,” said Kristie Ebi, a professor at the Center for Health and the Global Environment. “The intention was to make those areas less nice to live in. And part of the less nice to live in was they didn’t plant as many trees. It was part of the whole redlining process.”
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Originally written bIsabella Breda for The Seattle Times.