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Personal Benefits Natural open space can provide us with many personal benefits. It gives us places for outdoor recreation like; hiking, biking, running, horseback riding and dog walking. Also, studies have shown that nature increases general health and well-being and has a positive impact on people’s mood and psychological stress. Environmental Life Support Nature contributes to the basic life support to our communities. It provides us with clean air, absorbs carbon dioxide, decomposes and creates new soil. Native trees and plants also reduce flooding and erosion and offsets air pollution. Ecosystem Health Indicator Open space with natural habitat can be an indicator of the ecological health of an ecosystem. An ecosystem includes all of the living things (plants, animals and organisms) and the non-living things (air, water and soil) in a given area, interacting and working together as a system. All the parts of an ecosystem working together create a balanced environment, but some factors such as habitat destruction, pollution and invasive species can change the balance of the environment and threaten the health and existence of that ecosystem. |
Last updated: July 7, 2015