Urban cities aren't normally associated with beautiful, lush forests and green space.

But environmental advocates.

Say micro forests, which are dense, tiny forests with high.

Biodiversity, are resulting in big environmental benefits for cities like Elizabeth.

Not only can they help lower temperatures in places where buildings, blacktop and other surfaces absorb and retain heat.

But environmental advocates believe these tiny urban forests could ultimately be the secret weapon against climate change.

And if you're skeptical, I got a tour of one of the city's micro forests and got to speak with residents who say the installation is a game changer.

Even in the Amazon, you do have a place to sit.

The air quality isn't great.

33 year old Shaniqua Garrett says her options are little to none when it comes to finding a healthy green space here in Elizabeth to spend time with her two children.

But now Garrett has two places to take her kids.

After the city installed two tiny urban forests, including this one behind Kennedy Arms Housing complex, to boost biodiversity and fight climate crisis.

They're called microbes.

It's a concept that was developed in Japan and is starting to catch on in America.

Micro forests are best served in urban communities where there's heat islands and not too much space to plant.

So this is a micro forest.

Micro means small.

It's not a giant place.

It's a demonstrate site.

So it's doing this work and improving the air quality.

It's doing this work and drainage is doing this worse and shading and cooling the community in a very small space.

Jonathan Phillips is executive director of Groundwork.

Elizabeth, one of the organizations that partnered with the City of Elizabeth to create and finance the micro forest during an event to celebrate the installation of the city's micro forests.

Phillips noted They do most things large forests do just in a tinier space.

So we have a harder climate than we used to.

This helps with the heat island effect.

We also have a wetter climate as today will speak to, and this will absorb some of the water and air quality.

Air quality.

This trees and shrubs will definitely improve the air quality for for the residents or for everybody in Elizabeth.

Phillips says the entire project took a few weeks to complete.

So right now in this area, we have a micro forest the size of about three parking spaces.

We have between 150 and 175 trees and shrubs in this area.

It's probably about 1800 square feet.

So you can do these any size you like or.

Brown grass, overgrown shrubbery, not well organized.

Usually a collection of garbage people would throw things in there.

So we took a very unsightly piece of property and turned it into a beautiful forest.

Kathryn Hart is the deputy executive director of the Housing Authority for the City of Elizabeth.

She says the micro forests have been life changing.

Really.

I think they may not realize it, but there's been an impact on people's mental health as it's a calming effect.

We've come off the pandemic, although we're not finished yet with it, but with the social isolation that a lot of the residents here felt, putting this forest in kind of was a beacon of hope for them.

I'm looking for its emotions by just keeping the community clean.

I'm making them my space and my children to when they come and play and say.

We turned basically unused land into something that will be impactful to the community.

The second installation of the micro forests is at O'Donnell Dempsey Towers Housing Complex that was completed.