Environmental Benefits
Healthy, properly maintained green space provides significant benefits to the environment in terms of water and air quality:
- Erosion Control and Run-Off Prevention – One of most significant functions of green space is to stabilize and protect the soil against water and wind erosion. This is particularly important in preventing nutrient run-off. Healthy, dense green space is three times more effective than weedy, unhealthy green space in preventing nitrogen run-off.
- Water Purification – Not only do green spaces absorb rainfall, but they also trap and remove pollutants, which are broken down by the root system and soil microbes.
- Air Purification – Green spaces purify and trap more that 12 million tons of dust, soil and other particulate matter. This is particularly important in urban areas due to the high incidence of asthma and other breathing disorders.
- Temperature Modification/Energy and Cost saving – Green spaces around homes can reduce air conditioning costs, potentially saving 6.3 billions (U.S., 2005).
Modeling studies (Manchester, U.K.) indicate that, despite the projected effects of climate change, addition of 10% green space in high density urban areas will allow cities to maintain current summer temperature levels (and thus current summer utility costs) for the next 70 years (up to 2080). - Oxygen Generation – A 50 by 50 foot green space releases enough oxygen for a family of four on a daily basis, an average 18-hole golf course release enough oxygen for 4000 to 7000 people and green space along the U.S. interstate highway system releases enough oxygen for 22 million people.
- Carbon sequestration – While the evidence clearly suggests that properly maintained green space is a net benefit in the effort to sequester carbon from the atmosphere, further study is required to determine precisely how significant the net carbon sequestration benefit is to the environment vis-à-vis such offsetting factors as fuel expense in maintaining green space, fertilizer and pesticide use, energy for water costs, etc.
[source: Benefits of Green Space – Recent Research, April 25, 2011, John Heinze, Ph.D. Environmental Health Research Foundation]
