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