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Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Trees found to provide health effects worth around $7 billion

Alan: When The National Lunacy passes, Americans will look back on Ronald Reagan as the person who set in motion consuming contempt for Government and Science, two indispensable building blocks of The American Experiment. Descendants of American conservatives who condemned Science and/or championed Reagan will be as ashamed of their forebears as they are amazed at their dimwittedness.

Prima facie evidence:

Ronald Reagan: "Facts Are Stupid Things"

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"Priceless Ronald Reagan Quotes"

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Consider the most traitorous comment ever made by an American president.


Trees found to provide health effects worth around $7 billion

Researchers from the U.S. Forest Service’s Northern Research Station and the Davey Institute have undertaken the first wide-reaching study into just how much air pollution trees are responsible for removing.


Researchers from the U.S. Forest Service’s Northern Research Station and the Davey Institute have undertaken the first wide-reaching study into just how much air pollution trees are responsible for removing. The answer? The researchers estimate that the amount of pollution removed by trees results in an average air quality improvement of less than 1 percent.

This may seem tiny, even pointless,  but the research indicates that this saves more than 850 lives a year, and prevents 670,000 incidences of acute respiratory syndrome. It is thought that the positive effects this improvement provides are worth around $7 billion.

In their paper, published in the journal Environmental Pollution, the researchers found that although the amount of pollution removed is higher in rural areas, the positive health effects are much greater in urban areas. It is thought that this is due to the closer proximity trees have with people in urban areas.

Michael T. Rains, of the Northern Research Station, believes that this study demonstrates just how important it is for cities to be home to large amounts of greenery.

“With more than 80 percent of Americans living in urban area, this research underscores how truly essential urban forests are to people across the nation…Information and tools developed by Forest Service research are contributing to communities valuing and managing the 138 million acres of trees and forests that grace the nation’s cities, towns and communities.”

The study took into consideration four pollutants, all of which are subject to air control standards from the EPA: nitrogen dioxide, ozone, sulfur dioxide, and particulate matter measuring less than 2.5 micrometres in diameter. The EPA describes such particulate matter as “’Inhalable coarse particles,’ such as those found near roadways and dusty industries”.

Dave Nowak, of the Northern Research Station, and one of the researchers on the study, says that trees are much more valuable in urban areas than in rural areas, despite their lower number. “In terms of impacts on human health, trees in urban areas are substantially more important than rural trees due to their proximity to people. We found that in general, the greater the tree cover, the greater the pollution removal, and the greater the removal and population density, the greater the value of human health benefits.”



Read more: http://www.sciencerecorder.com/news/trees-found-to-provide-health-effects-worth-around-7-billion/#ixzz38pA0LFj0


The Ronald Reagan Myth



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