120 Minutes of Nature
The health benefits of spending time in nature are well documented, but a new study from Nature looks at how much nature people associate with good health. In this study, the relationships between nature exposure and self-reported well-being in 19,806 participants was examined.
Overwhelmingly, the likelihood of participants reporting good health was higher when their time spent in nature was greater than or equal to 120 minutes per week, regardless of the interval (i.e. how long they spent in nature in a single instance). This connection between health and well-being and nature makes a good case for enhancing access to natural spaces. Read the full report here.
Global Tree Restoration
New research published in Science this month delves into the unparalleled impact that global forest cover can have on climate change mitigation. By examining the existing potential, world-wide, for tree planting, scientists found that ecosystems could support more than a 25% increase in forest cover or more than 500 billion trees. Planting this many trees would increase carbon storage capacity by over 200 gigatons. This carbon sequestration would cut atmospheric carbon levels by 25%, highlighting tree planting as one of the most effective solutions for climate change mitigation – but, we must act fast.
For more information, the full report can be found here.