The health attributes of plants have long been known, but also long ignored.
Plants keep us alive, keep us healthy, feed us, shelter us and keep us warm. Yet it seems a majority of people have no connection to their food, their health, their lives!
Facebook creates opportunity to have friends without ever needing to go outdoors – does this sound right? Likewise, fast food and convenience stores separate the farmers from the consumers giving the public a distant ‘surreal’ perspective on food production.
We need food. We need farms. We need fertile soils. We need bees.
City dwellers need public space to prevent ‘urban temperature banks’ and for their mental minds. These lungs of cities filter pollutants, temper the temperature and shelter city wildlife. The space provides a sense of peace amongst the hustle and bustle of urbanisation. Public seem to want more parks and politicians seem to promise more open space parkland but rarely do these spaces appear where they are most needed (i.e. the income from rates is far too attractive).
Worldwide there are concerns about the missing bees (/issue_23_preview/iss23_evh.htm and http://www.vanishingbees.com/); concerns about deforestation and clearing, erosion and salinity; carbon footprints and greenhouse warming.
Some references about the health benefits of plants:
- http://www.nipa.asn.au/fpdb/NGIA_NP_2010-06.pdf
- http://www.nipa.asn.au/docs/news_officeplants.pdf
- http://www.nipa.asn.au/articles/article13.htm
