On the northern tip of Manhattan sits Inwood Hill Park, the island’s largest remaining stand of old growth forest. This is Lenapehoking, Lenape land, and the subtle shifts in its autumn colors are a wonder that, true to the likely intent of the so-called “sale” of Manhattan, should be equitably shared by all who live here.

As daylight hours grow shorter and temperatures drop each fall, the green chlorophyll in deciduous leaves breaks down, revealing the golden tones of the underlying carotenoid and flavonoid pigments.

Red anthocyanin develops in some leaves like those of Red oak to protect them from drying out in the sun before the tree has managed to recover all the sugars it can from its leaves.

Other deciduous trees in Inwood Hill Park, where colors grow most vibrantly warm in mid-to-late November, include American elm, Tulip poplar and Bitternut hickory. 

Before falling, leaves exhale terpin and isoprenoid gasses through their stomata, while fungi release other familiar autumn scents as they decompose leaves that have drifted to the forest floor. Savoring these seasonal scents is a key component of forest bathing practices strongly linked with improved mood and wellbeing.

Time spent in nature reduces stress and exposure to air and noise pollutants; improves memory, creativity, and sleep; and helps to build community among increasingly atomized neighborhood residents. Access to parks is a health justice issue, and a racial justice issue too.

The benefits of urban parklands remain deeply inequitably distributed across the United States. In New York City, Black and brown communities have access to 33 percent less park space than predominantly white communities. These disparities are among the many harmful legacies of redlining, and redressing them is an essential component of struggles for environmental justice.

The Trust for Public Land’s NYC Park Equity Plan proposes the creation of 70 new parks in areas of the city that have endured generations of environmental injustice. If enacted, 100 asphalt schoolyards would be transformed into green playgrounds open to the community outside of school hours, and every city resident would live within a 10 minute walk of a public park where they could regularly share in its seasonally shifting pleasures.

On a national level, the recently introduced Outdoors for All Act would improve access to green spaces in impoverished urban neighborhoods as well as protect sacred indigenous lands.

These measures are a far cry from decolonization, but they would make material improvements in the wellbeing of millions of folks across the country so they’re worth pursuing as steps on a path to truly just and sustainable interrelationships with the land and with each other.