UIS Earth Week Keynote Lecture
"Building Tree Equity to Support Health Using The Miyawaki Method" - Christine Dannhausen-Brun
Christine Dannhausen-Brun, the Chief Operations Officer of Nordson
Green Earth, a non-profit and all-volunteer organization based in
Chicago, will discuss her work using the Miyawaki method of tree
planting to bring the benefits of forests to urban communities. By
creating tiny native forests, Nordson builds tree equity and helps ensure
that everyone can benefit from the health, community, and social
benefits that greenspaces provide. Miyawaki forests grow quickly and
are self-sustaining in two to three years and mature in twenty to thirty
years (versus centuries). They are low maintenance and can help
historically disadvantaged communities mitigate the health effects of
climate change. They also help remediate damaged urban soils and can
support sixteen times as many species as non-native landscapes.
Dannhausen-Brun will explain how these tiny forests are established
and why tree equity matters.
Christine Dannhausen-Brun earned a BA in psychology from the
University of Chicago and an MPH from the University of Illinois at
Chicago with a major in Health Policy Administration. She has 15+ years
of experience as a public health researcher and evaluator. As Chief
Operations Officer of Nordson Green Earth, she works with
communities to plant tiny native forests and collaboratively build
greenspaces that can improve health outcomes and help fight climate
change. Ms. Dannhausen-Brun is also a Senior Research Specialist at the
University of Illinois College of Medicine Rockford where she conducts
community needs assessments and evaluates statewide chronic disease
programs that work to improve health by addressing social drivers of
health.
Co-sponsored by UIS Sustainability Committee, UIS Green Fee
Committee, School of Integrated Sciences, Sustainability, and Public
Health
