Classic case of science "journalism" mixing up correlation and causation. The study only controlled for income in the broadest possible strokes, so in all likelihood, this is just one more study confirming that rich people live longer.

It's possible that the green space lowers cortisol levels, thereby lessening the negative effective of aging, which would also account for the differences in Black vs. white participants (as Black people in America almost uniformly have higher cortisol levels simply because of the higher stress levels experienced by minorities in the US). More study (and rigor) is required to say for certain.

However, this headline is simply not supported by the study.

Surely they mean: not living near Green spaces will decrease it by 2.5 years

This is the best summary I could come up with:

A study published Wednesday in the peer-reviewed journal Science Advances suggests that if you have long-term exposure to more greenery where you live, on average you may be adding 2.5 years to your life.

To explore the association between long-term exposure to greenery and aging, the researchers compared age-related biological changes in the study’s participants over a 20-year period against data on green spaces near where those people live.

While that helped identify the location and quantity of plant life, the approach does not provide details about the type — for example, whether the area is a golf course or a forested nature trail — or quality of green space.

Knowing more details about the green spaces studied and what people might be doing in them is critical, said Karen Seto, director of the Hixon Center for Urban Ecology at the Yale School of the Environment.

In the meantime, the research should encourage people to think more about their surroundings when making healthy living decisions, in addition to diet, sleep and exercise, Hou said.

“We need to start changing our perspective on green space and really viewing it as an essential piece of infrastructure, just the same as sewer systems and garbage collection,” he said.

The original article contains 797 words, the summary contains 205 words. Saved 74%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

I like green spaces and all but you can miss me with that extended life stuff.