Question

5. How is the environment beneficial to us?​

Answer 1

Answer:

Our environment provides a wide range of benefits, such as the air we breathe, the food we eat and the water we drink, as well as the many materials needed in our homes, at work and for leisure activities

Answer 2

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➡Improved Air Quality

• Trees are called the earth's lungs. Not only do they provide oxygen for us to breathe, but they clean the air of many pollutants harmful to humans. Open space has an overall positive effect in the improvement of urban ventilation. By protecting open space and creating parks, trees and other vegetation are also preserved and protected, often planted. This vegetation plays a significant role in improving air quality in the region.

➡Climate Change

• There is a rising interest in limiting our greenhouse gas emissions and becoming more energy efficient, both regionally and globally, in order to deal with climate change. Natural lands like forests, grasslands, and parks are key assets in this effort, whether they are large preserves serving as carbon "sinks," or small local neighborhood parks helping cool their environs.

➡Improved Water Quality

• Preserving open lands and creating parkland preserves natural processes of infiltration and limits imperviousness, both of which are intimately linked to stormwater management and water quality. A study from 1993 by the Illinois State Water Survey estimated the value of open space for floodplain storage, including wastewater reclamation, pollution abatement and aquifer recharge as more than $52,000 per acre in the Chicago region (IL Environmental Council, 2007).

➡People Act Greener

• A less definable environmental benefit of preserving parks and open lands is the idea that having access to parks and natural lands "reminds" people to act more environmentally responsible. Land preservation can change behavior.

➡Challenges

• Although the effects to the environment often seem obvious, there are several challenges to utilizing parks and land preservation as a strategy to promote environmental benefit. Determining how environmentally beneficial a park or preserve is depends on a few key factors– its size, location, and use.