Parks and Recreation: The Environmental Benefits, part 2
Continuing the article written by Ashley Bell for Michigan Parks and Recreation Magazine from the Summer 2006 edition:
“Parks produce substantial environmental benefits by way of pollution control. Soil, trees, and other vegetation are highly effective in absorbing contaminants that pollute the air and water and are cheaper to develop and maintain than pollution control facilities. The U.S. Forest Service calculated that one tree alone generates $31,250 worth of oxygen, provides $62,000 worth of air pollution control, recycles $37,500 worth of water, and controls $31, 250 worth of soil erosion over a 50-year lifetime (footnoted). In one year, the Florida Department of Natural Resources estimates that the average tree in a city is worth $275 in air conditioning costs, erosion control, wildlife protection, and air pollution.
“A study commissioned by the non-profit organization Surface Transportation Policy Project reported that the air in many cities throughout the United States is polluted–and the amount of pollution is growing. “Almost half of all Americans–over 130 million people–live in areas that violate federal health standards for air pollution,” the policy project reports (footnooted). Thirty metropolitan areas had increases in the number of days with ground level ozone…Detroit and Grand Rapids are two of the 30 cities that had an increase in the number of days with unhealthy ground level ozone…
“…high concentrates of air pollution, especially particulates which are emitted from the smoke of cars and power plants, are linked to a laundry list of health problems including asthma and other respiratory problems, cancer, heart disease, heart attacks, strokes, high blood pressure, birth defects, brain damage, and ever premature death (footnoted). The Journal of the American Medical Association published one of the most persuasive pieces of scholarship linking air pollution to physical health…
“Everyday parks fight against these deadly pollutants and make the air cleaner, fresher, and healthier. Leafy plants improve air quality by absorbing significant levels of air pollutants like ground level ozone, sulfur dioxide, and particulates. Trees can reduce the street level of particulates by 60%. (footnoted) Parks with contiguous forests remove 15% of ozone, 14% of sulfur dioxide, 13% of particulates, 8% of nitrogen dioxide, and 0.05 percent of the carbon monoxide from the air (footnoted). In 1994, trees in New York City removed an estimated 1,821 metric tons of air pollution at an estimated value to society of $9.5 million (footnoted).”
to be continued tomorrow…
