Urban nature is good for your body and mind, and great for your block and whole community. Nature includes trees on the street, greened vacant lots, parks, community gardens, trails and more.
Deeply Rooted is a community-academic collaborative that uses the healing power of nature to promote health and safety in Black and Brown Philly neighborhoods. They are increasing greenspace, providing resources to communities to support programming in and about urban nature, creating jobs, and fighting for environmental justice.
Even SMALL green spaces can have a BIG impact:
Green vacant lots can:
- Help you feel less depressed
- Help you feel safer in your neighborhood
Planting trees can:
- Reduce stress and increase your energy levels
- Lower your blood pressure and help you sleep better
- Lower risk of chronic diseases like hypertension, diabetes, and heart disease
- Help mothers have healthy pregnancies and deliveries
Urban nature can help your community be healthy, including:
- Bring neighbors together to relax and socialize
- Reduce crime, include lowering gun violence
- Provide shade and help a street cool down on hot summer days, which saves money on air conditioning
- Clean the air, decrease noise, and filter storm water, leading to a cleaner environment for you and your family
- Create jobs in your neighborhood for community residents
Did you know….
- Urban nature is a racial justice issue. Black and Brown neighborhoods today have the least amount of nature.
- During the COVID-19 pandemic, green spaces were shown to decrease risk of disease spreading and provided spaces for social distancing.
- In children, spending time in green space can improve brain and language development and decreases rates of inattention, hyperactivity, and attention.
Learn more at: https://www.urbanhealthlab.org/deeply-rooted
Contact: DeeplyRootedPHL@gmail.com
Cynthia Ryant-(708) 510-5062 or email cynthia@southwestcdc.orgJackie Jones- (267) 787-1314 or email jj.jones@southwestcdc.org
