In Canada, for example, 82 per cent of the population now lives in cities. The percentage of urban dwellers is slightly higher in the United States at 84 per cent, while Mexico sits at 78 per cent. According to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, which tracks global urbanization trends, Canada and the U.S. now rank among the Top 50 urbanized countries – ahead of Germany, England, Italy and other Western European states.

Some cities may be experiencing booming growth, but public investment in urban infrastructure such as sewage and solid waste management, energy production and distribution, transit, and other built structures has lagged. As noted in a recent Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives study, this growing urban infrastructure deficit is impossible to ignore:

“The evidence is clear, both in the statistics, and in the everyday experience of Canadians in every part of the country: in spine-jarring streets and highways; in mind-numbing and catastrophically wasteful traffic jams … in the struggles of rapidly growing communities to keep up with the need for the basic nuts and bolts of urban civilization.”

The study and other research show governments have responded to the infrastructure deficit during times of crisis, spending billions with economic stimulus programs to keep the construction industry going during economic downturns or when alarming episodes of crumbling expressways and sewage floods make headlines.

At the same time, a less obvious but incredibly valuable asset of cities – green infrastructure like urban forests, local parks, healthy waterways and beaches – has received comparatively little political attention or government funding, despite its enormous value to urban dwellers.

Natural ecosystems and vegetative technologies like green roofs and engineered wetlands extend the life of many types of traditional infrastructure by assisting, for example, with storm water management. They also provide a range of additional co-benefits that improve the health and well-being of urban communities. This includes reduced smog, enhanced habitat for biodiversity like songbirds and insect pollinators, increased workplace productivity, and even psychological and restorative benefits for urban dwellers, such as stress relief.

Yet, while leafy neighbourhoods still exist in older parts of major cities, such as Toronto and Chicago, most remain largely deforested. Experts have determined that a minimum 30 per cent forest cover is required to maintain a healthy local ecosystem, yet only 18 per cent of Toronto and an abysmal 5 per cent of some of its bedroom communities are covered in trees. Indeed, despite their critical value as natural assets, forests and other elements of green infrastructure continue to be dug up, drained and paved over to make way for more roads, strip malls and subdivisions.

The consequences of this decline and degradation are far reaching. They include higher built infrastructure costs associated with managing storm water and greater vulnerability to natural disturbances such as floods and storms, as Hurricane Sandy demonstrated. Furthermore, new research also shows that people living in neighbourhoods lacking in mature trees and other green infrastructure face increased depression and other health risks.

A recent U.S. Forest Service study found that widespread infestation of urban forests and tree-lined streets by the emerald ash borer, an invasive insect, has not only killed tens of millions of urban trees, but is contributing to higher rates of death from cardiovascular and lower respiratory tract illness among urban dwellers. These are the first and third most common causes of death in the U.S.

The direct causal relationship between trees and human health is not fully understood, but scientists believe people living in urban areas are less active, suffer from greater stress levels and are exposed to poorer air quality in neighbourhoods lacking green infrastructure. Conversely, trees are so efficient at removing airborne pollutants like carbon monoxide, lead and nitrogen dioxide that Columbia University researchers estimate for every 343 trees added to a square kilometre, asthma rates in young people drop by about 25 per cent.

And let’s not forget greenhouse gases. Another recent study by the U.S. Forest Service found that America’s urban forests store an estimated 708 million tons of carbon, an environmental service with an estimated value of $50 billion. Annually, net carbon uptake is estimated at 21 million tons, representing $1.5 billion in annual economic benefits.

While higher levels of government have yet to catch on to the enormous value of sustaining and growing the stock of green infrastructure in our cities, leadership is happening at local levels. For example, the David Suzuki Foundation and more than a dozen local community groups have launched a cheeky new campaign to create Canada’s first “Homegrown National Park” in downtown Toronto. This new crowdsourced green urban corridor will be located along one of the city’s most notable “lost rivers,” which now lies buried beneath asphalt and concrete. The project aims to enhance, restore and create urban green space and other green infrastructure through planting native trees and shrubs, cultivating bird- and bug-friendly gardens, and growing food in backyards and on balconies.

Continuing to ignore the green infrastructure needs of our cities, such as local parks and naturalized school grounds, is shortsighted. Green spaces complement traditional infrastructure, provide a multitude of ecological benefits and contribute to the health and well-being of urban populations.

The post Shifting from grey to green appeared first on Corporate Knights.

Bush’s prediction that environmental protection would cause an economic apocalypse in the region proved to be unfounded. Rather, job losses in the forestry sector were more than offset by a boom in new types of employment. Economic growth was driven by the arrival and expansion of high-tech firms, like Sony and Hewlett-Packard, and federal programs that retrained former loggers and mill workers for diverse new employment opportunities, including in the high-tech manufacturing sector.

Every socioeconomic indicator showed that, far from facing economic ruin, former resource-dependent communities responded positively to increased nature conservation. Over the following decade, the region’s graduation rates increased, income levels rose, poverty fell, and the unemployment rate remained unchanged despite a 91 per cent reduction in logging on public lands. Today, despite being the historical timber-basket of the U.S., Oregon now credits high-tech manufacturing with producing 10 per cent of its economic output – more than eight times the national average.

To the north, in the Chilliwack Forest District of southwestern British Columbia, resource-dependent towns that were built on logging and milling ancient forests into two-by-fours now support a far more diversified employment base as well. The proportion of employment from logging in the region now represents less than 1 per cent, compared to growing film production (2 per cent), high-tech (8 per cent), and tourism (10 per cent).

This shift in employment patterns is partly because many former resource-dependent communities located near larger urban areas have been successful in attracting diversified businesses – drawing city people who want to shift gears and enjoy the benefits of living in a community more connected with nature.

For many firms, the motivation to establish workplaces in communities like Eugene and Portland in Oregon and Victoria, B.C., or nearby bucolic bedroom communities, is a recognition that employees benefit from access to nature and improved quality of life. As the mayor of the mill town of Springfield, Oregon, told the New York Times shortly after logging restrictions came into effect to protect the spotted owl, “It wasn’t blind, dumb luck that helped us land Sony; the company wanted a pristine place on the river.”

Indeed, many of today’s most successful companies are recognizing the importance of quality of life for their employees – at work and at home. Many are willing to locate their operations closer to nature, and to green their own workplaces. Thus we have seen a boom in the number of green roofs, green walls and rain gardens integrated into the design of office complexes.

This green wave in the workplace has been bolstered by the many positive benefits of green time over screen time. Over the last decade, researchers from fields as diverse as biology, psychiatry, ecology, horticulture and medicine have come to the conclusion that spending time in nature is good for our own health and well-being. Their research has shown that access to natural assets like parks and green spaces can improve our physical and mental health while enhancing community.

University of Illinois researcher Frances Kuo has documented that access to nature close to where people live and work can result in less stress and more job satisfaction among employees, as well as increased productivity and reduced absenteeism and employee turnover.

In addition to health benefits, nature also provides a myriad of non-market economic benefits, according to research by the David Suzuki Foundation and others. These benefits come in the form of services provided by the community’s natural ecosystems, or natural capital. Forests purify the air and keep the city cool in summer. Wetlands filter drinking water and protect communities from floods. Fields and farms provide local food and habitat for pollinators and other wildlife.

The benefits of easier access to nature have not been lost on governments. Ontario has permanently protected more than 700,000 hectares of near-urban green space and farmland through its internationally renowned Greenbelt. Quebec recently announced its plan to wrap Montreal and Quebec City in protected greenbelts as well, and the federal government plans to create Canada’s first urban National Park, in the Rouge Watershed in the heart of the Greater Toronto Area.

These initiatives to protect nature, literally in the backyards of millions of people, are happening at a time when fewer Canadians are visiting our existing system of far-flung wilderness parks. Visits to the National Parks system are down 7 per cent across Canada as a whole, down 10 per cent in Quebec and Ontario, and 18 per cent lower in the Maritimes. Parks Canada officials are now openly talking about the creation of the new Rouge National Park as a “gateway park” for the Canadian public, with the hope that citizens will become better connected with nature in their backyards and more likely to visit Canada’s cherished wild spaces.

The fact is, nature is clearly worth much more than we think. It provides essential services and produces health and economic benefits that far exceed the short-term gains obtained from its destruction.

The post The nature effect appeared first on Corporate Knights.