Healthy Gardens Healthy People

You are probably reading this page because you care about gardens and know from your own experience why gardening is beneficial. You probably know that gardens are vital to many aspects of our individual and community life. Because gardens are already an important part of your life, you may not give them a lot of thought. We hope to fertilize and enrich your thinking about gardens and gardening with the information we provide on this page. We believe the more you know about the benefits of gardens, the better you will be able to advocate for gardens and gardening programs that you treasure.

We know that when everyday citizens get involved with neighborhood gardens, amazing things can happen, and our quality of life improves. Collective Roots encourages you to join our efforts to develop our knowledge about the benefits of gardens.

GENERAL BENEFITS OF GARDENS
WHAT PEOPLE WANT FROM GARDENS
HEALTH BENEFITS OF GARDENS
SOCIAL BENEFITS OF GARDENS
ECONOMICS OF GARDENS
ENERGY BENEFITS OF GARDENS
GARDENS AND QUALITY OF LIFE
HEALTH IN SCHOOL GARDENS & ENVIRONMENTS

We invite you to tell us how GARDENS benefit your life. Please email Wolfram Alderson, Executive Director with any suggestions, facts, or links that might support this effort. Consider contributing to our online forum on Healthy Gardens Healthy People.

GENERAL BENEFITS OF GARDENS

• The Meaning of Place / Place Meaning
• Food System Change
• There is a quiet revolution stirring in our food system

WHAT PEOPLE WANT FROM PARKS AND RECREATION

• NATIONAL COMMUNITY GARDENING ASSOCIATION SURVEY

HEALTH BENEFITS OF GARDENS

"The link between gardening and health is now a scientifically proven fact."

-Wolfram Alderson, Executive Director, Collective Roots

"Our environment and our health are inextricably linked, particularly among low-income urban populations. By paying greater attention to the built environment including homes, schools, parks, transportation and community design, we can reduce instances of chronic disease such as diabetes and asthma."

“The intersection between healthy people and a healthy environment is becoming clearer every day, with public health advocates emerging as crucial defenders of sustaining clean water and skies far into the future.”

HEALTHY GARDENS, HEALTHY PEOPLE

These introductory statements address a few of the fundamental elements of "Healthy Gardens, Healthy People," an exciting new collaborative initiative being developed by Collective Roots. Some important links to research and data that supports the vital links between human health and gardens are provided here:

• “School garden programs that are effective in achieving health and educational outcomes can serve as one relatively low-cost mechanism aimed at reducing health and educational disparities.” The Effects of School Gardens on Students and Schools: Conceptualization and Considerations for Maximizing Healthy Development, Emily J. Ozer, PhD. Read the whole report by clicking here.

• Center for Disease Control - Active Community Environments (ACEs) is a CDC-sponsored initiative to promote walking, bicycling, and the development of accessible recreation facilities.
• "Movement to Reconnect Kids with Nature is Growing Nationwide." October 2007 issue of The Nation’s Health, the newsletter of the American Public Health Association. The article features the children and nature. Download the whole article (click here).
• Health Benefits of Urban Agriculture: “Health professionals increasingly recognize the value of farm- and garden-scale urban agriculture. Growing food and non-food crops in and near cities contributes to healthy communities by engaging residents in work and recreation that improves individual and public well-being." (Excerpt from an excellent paper (click here) from members of the Community Food Security Coalition's North American Initiative on Urban Agriculture. 12 pages with 15 page bibliography by Anne C. Bellows, PhD Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey; Katherine Brown, PhD Southside Community Land Trust; Jac Smit, MCP The Urban Agriculture Network.) This article outlines the benefits of urban agriculture with regard to nutrition, food security, exercise, mental health, and social and physical urban environments. Potential risks are reviewed. Practical recommendations for health professionals to increase the positive benefits of urban agriculture are provided.
• SF DPH Healthy Development Measurement Tool
• Australian Healthy Parks, Healthy People Initiative
• Kids Walk to School
• Hey Kid, Try Walking! Communities Win When Schools Are Close To Home
• U.S. Obesity Trends 1985 to 2000
• Diabetes Trends Among Adults in the U.S
• Physical Activity helps prevent problems of aging
• U.S. students at age 11 are in the top third of countries for frequent television watching, with 34 percent of girls and 36 percent of boys reporting that they watch four or more hours of television per day.
  
• The Center for Screen Time Awareness
• Read more about the Health of U.S. Youth
• Teens Living in Disadvantaged Neighborhoods Lack Access to Parks and Get Less Physical Activity
• The Influence of Community Factors on Health The Influence of Community Factors on Health: An Annotated Bibliography, Fall 2004 Developed by PolicyLink, and funded by The California Endowment, this annotated bibliography contains more than 150 entries of research on how community factors affect health. This publication and many other excellent resources on this page: http://www.policylink.org/publicationsByFocus.html
• SF Department of Public Health Program on Health Equity and Sustainability Main page: www.sfdph.org/phes/

Creating A Healthy Environment: The Impact of the Built Environment on Public Health

Special focus on Childhood Obesity:

San Mateo County has one of the highest percentages of overweight (at or above the 95% percentile of Body Mass Index for age) among low-income children between the ages of 5 and 19. The County ranks 49th out of 61 regions in California. Read a recent report by clicking here.

San Mateo County Prevention of Childhood Obesity Taskforce
For more information about the San Mateo County Prevention of Childhood Obesity (PCO) Task Force, please contact Jennifer Gross at jgross@co.sanmateo.ca.us or call (650)573-2319.

Introduction to Childhood Obesity
Mayo Clinic provides a comprehensive overview (CLICK HERE)
National Institutes of Health (CLICK HERE)
Wikipedia overview (CLICK HERE)

SOCIAL BENEFITS OF GARDENS

Gardening is a universal language that brings the community together. Gardening conversations and activities bring neighbors together, melting differences between racial and ethnic groups. Gardening is an effective tool to unite neighborhoods.
Community gardens and urban forestry projects contribute to lower levels of domestic violence. See the study (CLICK HERE)

VALUES OF OPEN SPACE

• Standards for open space:
  • A national standard of 10 acres per 1,000 residents is set by the National
    Recreation and Park Association:
    http://www.nrpa.org/content/default.aspx?documentId=3405
  • There is some international work in this area as well:
    http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/07/18104215/42175

ECONOMICS OF GARDENS

Investing in open spaces such as school and community gardens is good investment from a health as well as an economic perspective. Although it may seem like common sense, open space advocates still must argue for the preservation of gardens and other types of open space that are an indispensable part of a healthy and sustainable urban landscape. Financial justification is nearly always required, especially when the cost of land is high. Due to the concern over the preservation of parks and open space in low income communities such as East Palo Alto, there has been an increasing interest in quantifying the values of open space that are essential for both active and passive recreation.

Measuring the economic value of open space is a difficult yet necessary exercise. While the costs associated with acquiring, developing, and maintaining open space for public recreation is relatively easy to calculate, its benefits are hard to quantify. As communities grow and develop, a more complete picture of the economic benefits of open space will provide city agencies, voters, and developers with necessary information to set priorities and develop policies that will strike a balance between open space, development, and other objectives. Unless decision-makers are better equipped, city residents may risk losing one of our most valued assets – open spaces available for public access and recreation.

In response to the lack of information available on the economic value of open spaces such as gardens, Collective Roots is interested in partnering with local universities and researchers to study the value of gardens, estimate the impact gardens have on property values, explore the role gardens can play in economic development, and provide recommendations on how the municipalities can maximize the economic value of its community and backyard gardens.

There is a growing body of research on the economic benefits of parks. It seems like much of this research is relevant and may contain similar variables as research on gardens that also provide recreational open space.

The following is a list of resources on the economic benefits of parks:

• Economic Impacts of Protecting Rivers, Trails and Greenway Corridors
• Investing in local parks offers excellent economic, social returns
• Economic Value of Open space
• Trust For Public Land (TPL) - Urban Parks ROI

ENERGY CONSERVATION AND GARDENS

• Parks cool big cities:
  

(need additional references)

• Energy savings while you are in the garden (CLICK HERE)

GARDENS AND QUALITY OF LIFE

• Neal Pierce, Obesity and Sprawl, the Connection Tightens April 21, 2001
• Planning Healthier Suburbs, Where Cars Sit Idle and People Get Moving New York Times; New York, N.Y.; Oct 17, 2000; Jane E. Brody
• Sprawl Harms Our Health - The Sierra Club
• Perils of suburban living gain attention - The Bergen Record
• Does the built environment influence physical activity? - Examine the evidence.

HEALTH IN SCHOOL GARDENS AND ENVIRONMENTS

• Healthy Children Ready to Learn, A White Paper on Health, Nutrition, and Physical Education. State of Education Address - January 24, 2005 - State of Education. Healthy, active, and well-nourished children and youths are more likely to attend school and are more prepared and motivated to learn. Yet an alarming number of students in California are overweight, unfit, or both. These children and youth are developing serious health problems now and face dire consequences in the future.
• Read the California Department of Agriculture report on research that supports the use of school gardens as a strategy for improving children's health.