IF3050QA Critical Thinking Coursework 2 Assignment Brief | LMU

Assignment Task 2

Task 1

Develop a poster agreeing or disagreeing with the writer's view (350 words). Provide evidence in the form of at least one other source, referenced?

Task 2 

This Task requires you to record a presentation on how sustainability relates to your subject pathway. Create a persuasive piece of work that refers to at least one aspect of sustainability. It could relate to the text or any of the other UN sustainability goals. The Audio recording should be no less than 2 minutes. USE PowerPoint TO AUDIO RECORD ON YOUR POSTER.

Research shows The Positive Effect of Nature on Health and Happiness. So, Why Does the Environment Remain on the Margins of Debate?

Tony Juniper
Fri 30 Aug 2013 07.00 BST

While for several decades the environmental agenda has been predicated on the goal of protecting nature from people, there is a new and very powerful body of material suggesting that a new storyline is needed: one based on the notion of protecting nature to conserve the well-being of people.

Research demonstrating how human health can benefit from exposure to green environments, nature and wildlife, both in relation to physical and psychological wellbeing, is now very substantial. Some dates back a few decades.

Data collected in a Pennsylvania hospital between 1972 and 1981 showed how recovery after gallbladder surgery was faster when patients could see trees and greenery from their beds. More6recent research6in the Netherlands, looking at more than a quarter of a million people, found that those living near green space rated their health and wellbeing as higher than those who did not. The relationship was consistently found across different neighbourhoods, but green space was found to be especially beneficial for people on lower incomes.

Researchers working in the north of England found a6measurable6between the level of species diversity and the psychological benefit expressed by people who used natural areas in the urban environment.

There is evidence to show how exposure to nature is associated with reduced stress and improved work performance. Other studies have demonstrated a link between exposure to nature and fewer reports of ill-health among prisoners, increased self-discipline among inner-city girls6and reduced mortality among elderly people. One6study6found that for every 10% increase in green space, communities can show a reduction in health complaints equivalent to a reduction in average age of 5 years.

Another found that exercise in green environments can create immediate6improvements in self-esteem. Several researchers have demonstrated how office workers experience lower job stress, higher job satisfaction, and fewer illnesses if they have views of natural areas than if they do not. Another piece of research found that children suffering from stressful situations recovered more quickly when they were in areas with access to nature. As is the case with other studies, the benefit is seen most clearly among low-income and socially deprived groups.

On top of the gains that individuals can realise from being in nature, there is a body of evidence pointing to social benefits too. For example, community cohesion has been found to increase where there are more trees. In one 6study on a huge Chicago housing estate6people knew more of their neighbours when there were more trees where they lived. In areas dominated by concrete, people interacted less. There was also less domestic violence in greener areas.

In the UK, there has been some effort to highlight the linkages between health and wellbeing and access and exposure to nature. But while a small handful of conservation groups, health professionals and official agencies have worked to better understand and to spread awareness about such linkages, there has as yet been no coherent government programme of action. It seems to methat this is a considerable missed opportunity.

Clean air acts helped improve the environment and had dramatic beneficial impacts on people's well-being. Different controls on industrial pollution and pesticides led to similarly positive outcomes. At the global level, progress has been made on at least two.