Health in a landscape
An individual’s health is measured by their physical and mental wellbeing. It has been proven in many studies that an individual’s physical surroundings can have an impact on their overall health. With a contemporary cultural emphasis on healthy living, land planners including urban designers and landscape architects have unique opportunities to integrate health into our everyday outdoor spaces. In a publication written by Landscape Institute, a Royal Chartered Institute for Landscape Architects and land planners, there are 5 essential principles that contribute to the success of a ‘healthy landscape’.
Principle 1
“Healthy places improve air, water, and soil quality, incorporating measures that help us adapt to, and where possible mitigate, climate change.”
A healthy place can improve air, water, and soil quality that can all attribute to adaption and mitigation of positive climate changes. These improvements can be achieved by the following:
Using vegetation to improve existing air quality
Vegetation not only provides oxygen it can also attribute to reducing air pollution. Using certain strategies in plant choice and layout can attribute to further air quality improvements. For instance, broadleaf vegetation will absorb pollution more effectively than evergreens with needle like foliage however, evergreens offer year round benefits. Low density vegetation can provide air filtration while high density can create a barrier.
Using ecosystems to
Valley West Landscapes is a landscape designer that is located in Troutdale, Oregon. They have been happily giving service to Portland, Gresham, Troutdale, Wood Village, West Linn, Tigard, Beaverton, Hillsboro, and beyond. Valley West Landscapes has been providing landscaping services in the Portland area since 1997. They specialize in landscape maintenance, tree care services, landscape cleanups, barkdust services, irrigation systems, flower program, and more. Valley West Landscapes offers free consultation.
Trees and plants play a large role in cleaning pollutants in out atmosphere. They trap pollutants in and release clean oxygen for us to breath. Planting more trees in a polluted industrial area can improve local air quality. Other pollutants can be carried by winds and simply settle and seep into the ground. They can also attach to water vapor, which then falls to the ground as precipitation. This is commonly referred to as acid rain. These processes do happen slowly. We, as a planet, are spewing more pollutants in the air than these natural process can handle, which has led to an ever increasing ozone layer.
According to Louv, the replacement of open meadows, woods and wetlands by manicured lawns, golf courses and housing developments has led children away from the natural world. What little time they spend outside is on designer playgrounds or fenced yards and is structured, safe and isolating. Such antiseptic spaces provide little opportunity for exploration, imagination or peaceful contemplation. Louv’s idea is not new. Theodore Roosevelt saw a prophylactic dose of nature as a counter to mounting urban malaise in the early 20th century, and others since have expanded on the theme.
Identify a broad range of current environmental health problems likely to be exacerbated by climate change. How might existing public health practices be altered to anticipate these effects of climate change? What other key sectors (beyond health) should be engaged?
In today’s complex and interdependent earth systems, air pollution does not only affect human as a whole, but also the entire ecological systems that involves forests and wildlife (animals). Air pollution are caused
and plant life. Trees are natural air filters that pull harmful carbon dioxide from the air and convert it to oxygen. “Just one quarter-pound hamburger requires the clearing of six
As director of the New Jersey Clean Cities Coalition, you work towards the advancement and improvement of option fuel sources, and also option fuel vehicles. Taking into account your non-benefit association 's objectives, I feel you will discover my proposal to work effectively in correlation with your system. The burning of fossil fuels for energy is gradually destroying all of mankind with carbon dioxide, and the unavoidable issue of environmental change is approaching over every one of us. "CDC evaluations report about sicknesses prone to thrive in a hotter atmosphere" incorporate, "expanded wounds and passing’s from extreme climate, for example, typhoons, more respiratory issues from dry spell driven air contamination, an increment in waterborne ailments including cholera, increments in vector-borne illnesses including jungle fever and hantavirus, and emotional well-being issues, for example, despondency and post-traumatic stress"(Vogt, 2012). This is the reason, for the prosperity of the world, and the security of our planet 's wellbeing, New Jersey must seek after renewable energy.
The more students that learn about these issues the more chance they will think everyday before they throw away paper or other recyclable materials.Planting trees has multiple benefits such as creating an ecosystem to provide habitat and food for birds and other animals. Trees absorb carbon dioxide and potentially harmful gasses, such as sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, from the air and release oxygen. One large tree can supply a day's supply of oxygen for four people.(Evans) All together this will make the community a more beautiful and create a healthier environment.
Food is a necessity to survive, however air pollution in not beneficial to vegetation. “The deposition of ozone on vegetation weakens plants and stunts their growth,
Edgerton park can provide a healthy environment, and improve mental and physical health. It’s surrounded by trees, grasses, and plenty of plants. This provides clean air to everyone. Pollutants from the air can be dangerous to children if they live near the city. This park is a good place for children to play without worrying if they are going to get sick. The trees around the park is very useful to the neighborhood because it sucks up bad air. People don’t have to go to the park to benefit from it. Being exposed to nature and people can reduce stress and increase happiness. Enjoying the nature is a great way to relax. It is good to get out of the house for fresh air and clear your mind. The poem “View with a Grain of Sand” can be connected
> This was an important point made in the article as it places emphasis on how interaction with the environment can increase a person’s overall well-being: physical and mental. Many clinicians that I know will communicate to their clients the importance of engaging in nature to reduce depressive symptoms; they communicate that mental grounding and nature activities will improve self-confidence and provide clients with a sense of altruism and purpose.
Social and physical environments are an integral part of a well developed story. The physical environment is a stage for the introduction of characters. The Stage will immerse the characters within a story and give it context. Social environments are defined by external social constraints. These constraints are used to build and define a culture. The social constraints of a culture will place bounds and limits to the actions of it’s members. This paper will briefly discuss the importance of Social and physical environments, within “Paul’s Case “by Willa Cather and “Death by Landscape” by Margret Atwood
Heathlands have played a major part in the European countryside, known a semi-natural environment they are home to a number of unique and rare species of both flora and fauna such as the sand snake. Heathlands occur in very nutrient poor, often low pH of around 3.5-4.5 soils (Mitchell et al., 1997; Webb, 1986; Hardtle et al., 2007) these harsh abiotic factors result in very few species of flora being able to survive but those that do are extremely adapted, such as Calluna vulgaris (Ling heather), Erica tetralix (cross-leaved heath) and Erica cinera (Bell heather) (Mitchell et al., 1997). During primary succession after the retreat of the Pleistocene glaciations, heathland vegetation would not have been a major stage of succession due to being taken over by later stages of succession (O’Hare, 1998) such as coniferous forest, which are better
Death by Landscape is a short story, written by Margaret Atwood in 1990. The Author is a Canadian novelist, poet and essayist as well as an environmental activist and feminist with many national and international awards for her writings and activities. She was born in Ottawa, Canada and started to write when she was six years old. At the age of 16 she already knew that she wants to become a professional writer. She grew up in the outback of northern Quebec, maybe that’s the reason for her love to nature and northern environments and this is what builds the frame of most of her works. The story was first published in 1991 and is a part of
In Nature & Landscape: An Introduction to Environmental Aesthetics, Allen Carlson proposes that scientific knowledge can enhance our aesthetic appreciation of the natural world. He draws a connection between technical know-how used in the context of natural landscapes and art history or criticism in the context of conventional art forms. In either case, the viewer would find relatively more meaningful experiences of aesthetic appreciation than if one looked at a painting or landscape without any prior knowledge about it. Carlson endorses this point within his larger Natural Environmental Model, which asserts that though the environment is not entirely of our creation, it does not mean that we have to approach it without any prior understanding.