Natural Spaces...
...& physical health
- There is increasing evidence that green spaces can improve the
patient experience and speed recovery, and improve staff wellbeing, as
well as helping to counteract carbon emissions
- Obesity levels for children aged 6
have doubled in the last 10 years and have trebled in 15 year olds. It is
estimated that by 2020 half of all children could be obese.
- 1 in 10 boys and 1 in 18 girls aged
5-10yrs have a diagnosed mental health disorder. Those children aged
11-17yrs have higher levels with 1 in 8 boys and 1 in 10 girls.
- Contact with nature can
significantly reduce the psychological distress caused by stress, particularly
in children with the greatest number of stressful events.
- There is good evidence that
being outdoors is the most powerful correlate of physical activity,
particularly in pre-school children
...& mental health
- Stress,
anxiety and depression account for the loss of around 60 million working
days each year.
- The cost of mental health to the economy in
terms of loss of output from people being unable to work is estimated at £23
billion a year, with a further estimated cost of £41 million a year from
reduced quality of life and loss of life.
- The number of Incapacity Benefit claimants with mental health
conditions have doubled in the last decade to nearly 850,000 people
...in the built environment:
- Green spaces help to regulate air quality and climate, reduce
energy consumption by countering the warming effects of paved surfaces,
recharge groundwater supplies and protect lakes and streams from polluted
runoff.
- Through the cooling process of transpiration, turfgrasses
dissipate high levels of radiant heat in urban areas. Trees in a
parking area can reduce on-site heat buildup, decrease runoff and enhance
nighttime cool-downs.
- Studies have shown that grass surfaces absorb harsh sounds
significantly better than hard surfaces such as pavement, gravel or bare
ground. These benefits are
maximized by an integrated landscape of turfgrasses, trees and shrubs.
- Trees, shrubs and turf remove smoke, dust and other pollutants
from the air. One tree can remove 26 pounds of carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere annually, equalling 11,000 miles of car emissions. One study
showed that one acre of trees has the ability to remove 13 tons of
particles and gases annually.
- By using trees to modify temperatures, the amount of fossil
fuels used for cooling and heating is reduced. Properly placed deciduous
trees reduce house temperatures in the summer, allowing air conditioning
units to run 2% to 4% more efficiently but allowing the sun to warm the
house in the winter and three trees planted in the right place around
buildings can cut air-conditioning costs up to 50 percent.
- Urban forests reduce urban air temperatures significantly by
shading heat sinks such as buildings and concrete and returning humidity
to the air through evaporative cooling
- Quiet Areas will soon need to be identified for protection from
transport noise under the Environmental Noise Directive.
