Tim Radford – Population boom adds to city threats

LONDON, 28 October, 2016 – The world’s cities are growing even faster than the human population. Within the last 40 years, the global population has increased by a factor of 1.8,  but built-up areas have multiplied 2.5 times. All of this information, and much more, appears in a new European Commission (EC) publication called the Atlas of the Human Planet, prepared to coincide with the …

Science Shows Us Precisely Why Trees Literally Help Reduce Stress

(UR) It’s no secret: trees are an integral part of how we live on this planet. From their well-known and vital role in the oxygen cycle, and their importance to their ecosystems — they are also central to the human food system. But trees also have other, less obviously integral benefits that manifest in our lives. Sure, without trees it would definitely be harder to breathe — …

Casey Coates Danson – WHICH ASPECTS OF NATURE IMPROVE OUR HEALTH?

“We know that exposure to nature enhances our well-being, but we know less about the specific features that create these positive effects,” said MaryCarol Hunter, ASLA, University of Michigan, at the ASLA 2015 Annual Meeting in Chicago. A set of fascinating studies by Hunter and Marc Berman, a psychologist and neuroscientist at the University of Chicago, are beginning to converge on …

Urban Slums: A Death Trap For Poor Children – Valentina Ieri

It’s called the urban survival gap – fuelled by the growing inequality between rich and poor in both developing and developed countries – and it literally determines whether millions of infants will live or die before their fifth birthday. Save the Children’s annual report on the State of the World’s Mothers 2015 ranks 179 countries and concludes that that “for babies born …

6 Natural Solutions To Decontaminate Soil – MARCO TORRES

With a progressively educated population becoming more aware of the inherent dangers of the conventional food supply, urban farming has become hugely popular. However, more people are also becoming aware ofcontaminated soil and how heavy metals pose potential risks to their food crops. As backyard gardening continues to explode in popularity, we must ask how contaminated is our soil? Many municipalities …

We Aren’t Alone in Our Cities: 12 Ways Animals Have Adapted to Urban Life – Matt Soniak

As cities expand, it’s not just humans who are becoming increasingly urbanized. Concrete jungles and actual jungles are no longer realms apart, and as natural and human-created environments bleed into each other and intertwine, animals that walk on four legs, six or eight legs, fly or slither are calling cities home more and more. In Feral Cities: Adventures With Animals in …

Lack of food safety killing 2.2 mn every year

Lack of government policies on food and water safety is causing the death of 2.2 million people, including children, every year across the globe, health experts said on Sunday. They said the use of pesticides and fertilizers in the past 50 years has grown nearly 170 times. As a consequence, persistent residues of the chemicals contaminate food and disperse in …