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The
Environmental Benefits Of The Landscape
- Our Green Urban Ecosystem
Natural Cooling
Our communities' plants are natural air conditioners, cooling without
harming our environment.
Utility companies are so convinced that trees provide significant
air-cooling by the shade they produce, they fund neighborhood tree
planting programs. Studies show that lawns are more than 25% cooler
than hard surfaces. Step from the lawn onto the street on a hot
summer day to demonstrate. Plants accomplish this cooling without
need for electricity, including burning fossil fuels to create that
electricity.
More is at stake than just keeping our individual homes cool. The
heat island effect is a well-documented climate phenomenon. In
studies funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and
Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory among others, researchers have found
that the temperatures in urban areas are rising steadily when compared
to rural and natural areas. This causes increased need for air
conditioning and could contribute to global warming. The same studies
find that intensive tree planting programs can reduce the heat island
effect, cooling entire cities.
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