Author: Grace Elizabeth Agnello

A Critical Review of: “Green Space and Early Childhood Development: A Systematic Review”

Posted on by Grace Elizabeth Agnello

Introduction

Urban environments create struggles and health challenges for children, including exposure to air and noise pollution, discouraging physical activity, and increased temperatures. All of these things can negatively impact a child’s well-being and increase their likelihood of developing a chronic illness. This systematic review aims to explore the relationship between green space and early childhood development. This article caught my attention because although there is a lot of research about how green spaces positively influence communities, I have not heard much about how they can influence childhood development. Children are a very important part of our society, and they are the future. Studying the impacts that green spaces can have on childhood development can help educators better understand development.

Methods

Results

The evidence collected in this study prove that exposure to green space is associated with better pregnancy outcomes including birth weight and a lower likelihood of preterm birth. The exposure to green space during childhood was shown to increase physical activity, promote social interaction, and reduce stress and depression. However, these relationships are stronger in lower socioeconomic classes, and they vary by gender. The study believes that children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds are impacted more by green spaces because they are more likely to live in areas with more environmental problems.

There is a lack of direct evidence between green space and early childhood development. However, this review did show that exposure to green space influences a child’s physical growth and cognitive development.

Improvements to the Study

I believe that this study would benefit from providing clarity about what they consider “early childhood development” to be. In my opinion, the evidence that shows how green spaces positively influence physical and cognitive development, does point towards influencing childhood development. Physical and cognitive development are two key parts of overall development. I believe that this article would be improved by focusing on a single aspect of childhood development, such as only physical. Or the article could be organized in sections by the type of development.

Future Research

Future research in this field could separate children in age categories (0-1, 2-4, 5-7, 8-11, etc), and study how exposure to green spaces impacts their development. It would be interesting to follow the same child all the way through adulthood to study changes. Additionally, it would be useful to see how green spaces impact children of different ages. I believe the impacts on a 2-year-old and an 11-year-old would be vastly different. These results could assist urban planners and schools in designing green spaces in their communities.

Source

Islam, M. Z., Johnston, J., & Sly, P. D. (2020). Green space and early childhood development: a systematic review. Reviews on Environmental Health, 35(2), 189-200. https://doi.org/10.1515/reveh-2019-0046

A Critical Review: The Mental Health Benefits of Purposeful Activities in Public Green Spaces in Urban and Semi-Urban Neighborhoods

Posted on by Grace Elizabeth Agnello

Introduction

The overlap between mental health and green spaces is becoming a widely studied topic as urbanization increases and there are fewer green spaces. By 2050, 68% of the global population will live in cities. Living in cities can be associated with mental health stressors such as anxiety and depression, as well as physical health issues from air and noise pollution.

The research article I chose for this blog post is titled, “The Mental Health Benefits of Purposeful Activities in Public Green Spaces in Urban and Semi-Urban Neighbourhoods: A Mixed-Methods Pilot and Proof of Concept Study.”

Overview of the Study

In order to investigate if there are differential health and mental health benefits associated with activities in green spaces, three groups of volunteers at different conservation sites were selected and participated in group guided walks, practical conservation tasks, and citizen science. The conservation sites used in this study are managed by the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, The Conservation Volunteers, and the Friends of St. Nicholas Fields in the United Kingdom. Walking, conservation, and citizen science were shown to be associated with improved mood. These outdoor activities were also shown to be purposeful and helpful in providing structure. The categories of action that led to improved mood include the following: Restorative exposure that reduces attention fatigue and distress, facilitating social interaction and enhancing social cohesion, facilitating and promoting physical activity, and filtering out the negative effects of noise, air and heat pollution. Results were collected through a self-reported well-being test, which was measured using the Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental-Wellbeing Scale (SWEMWBS).

Figure 1. St. Nicks Nature Reserve, York

Improvements to the Study

I believe that this study would be more impactful if it focused on how people use green spaces in their own neighborhoods. It may be interesting to compare the mental and physical effects of green spaces in a neighborhood that has an abundance of them, versus a neighborhood with limited green spaces. This could also lead to more research about how to better implement green spaces in urban areas and how they are best used.

One other limitation that was explicitly mentioned in the article was that all of the study participants are existing volunteers for conservation and wildlife groups. I believe that this can lead to bias, because people who volunteer for a conservation group are more likely to enjoy green spaces and outdoor activities.

Significance of the Study

As discussed in this research article, the combination of long-term physical conditions with depression is associated with the greatest decrease in quality of life. It is important to reconsider how we can use the outdoors to improve the physical and mental health of people living in cities. As more people move to cities, the issue of accessibility will become more prevalent, and it will be important to have research that investigates these positive outcomes in order to make policy changes.

Source:

Coventry, P. A., Neale, C., Dyke, A., Pateman, R., & Cinderby, S. (2019). The Mental Health Benefits of Purposeful Activities in Public Green Spaces in Urban and Semi-Urban Neighbourhoods: A Mixed-Methods Pilot and Proof of Concept Study. International journal of environmental research and public health, 16(15), 2712. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16152712

A Critical Review: “Wildlife Conservation and Solar Energy Development in the Desert Southwest, U.S.”

Posted on by Grace Elizabeth Agnello

The research article that I have chosen to review investigates the impacts of solar energy development on urban wildlife species in the southwestern United States. Renewable energy developers are looking to turn public land into utility-scale solar farms that traditionally occupy at least one thousand acres of land. The Southwest United States is considered a hotspot for biodiversity and endangered species, which creates an interesting conflict between renewable energy development and impacts on wildlife. This region is attractive to developers because there is a lot of available dry land, and it is the area with the highest solar irradiance in the country.

This research article delves into the known and potential impacts that utility-scale solar has on wildlife, including habitat destruction and modification, wildlife mortality, dust and dust-suppression effects, off-site impacts, noise pollution, light pollution, fire effects, water consumption, and microclimate effects. I believe that the article does a thorough job at considering the environmental impacts of solar on urban wildlife in the area. Additionally, the article considers the construction and decommissioning of the solar farms and how these processes impact the surrounding wildlife. The results state that all energy production has social and environmental costs, which is why it is important to weigh the pros and cons of developing in a given area.

In order to advance this study, I believe that community impacts should be studied. Urban wildlife and green spaces hold a huge role in recreational activities for certain areas. This study fails to consider how solar plants could impact populations of wildlife that communities rely on. For example, if a solar plant has negative impacts on fish or deer, this could impact hunting in the area. Also, I believe that further research indicating specific species should be completed. Although the article discusses Aggasiz’s desert tortoise, I believe that the results would be more impactful if more species were selected and studied.

Overall, I chose this article because I am interested in sustainable energy development, and I believe that any and all types of development can impact wildlife. With developers wanting to be near cities and load centers, there will be an increase in interactions between these urban wildlife species that live near future energy centers. Developers must consider how their industrial development will impact species, and how to best mitigate these negative impacts.

Source: Lovich, J. E., & Ennen, J. R. (2011). Wildlife Conservation and Solar Energy Development in the Desert Southwest, United States. BioScience, 61(12), 982–992. https://doi.org/10.1525/bio.2011.61.12.8