Bec and Asa from Drive chatted to CEO of Nature Play WA Dr. Kelsie Prabawa-Sear about urban tree canopies and the next generation.
Protecting and improving our urban tree canopy plays a major role in children’s health, comfort and ability to play outdoors. Trees provide shade, cooling and opportunities for imaginative and nature-based play. Increasing tree canopy now has long-term benefits for the next generation growing up in our cities and suburbs. Dr. Kelsie began by explaining what a tree canopy is.
“It is the branches going over and giving us shade.”
Why We Need Tree Canopies
She said it provides 3 important elements:
Provides shade from sun and UV
Keeps cities cooler
Offers homes for creatures
“From an environmental point of view, it provides one shade from the sun and UV, helps keep our cities cooler and, with biodiversity. It offers homes for all kinds of beautiful creatures.”
Benefits for Children
Dr. Kelsie said there is a lot of research that suggests if children have exposure to greenery, even through a window, it creates a sense of calm.
“Shade from UV is one of the more important benefits. There’s lots of research that says kids who can see trees can see movement and greenery, whether it’s out a window or in real life, you know, like they’re underneath it, it naturally gives that sense of calm and sense of focus, which helps them to feel better too.”
The Colour Green Sparks Creativity
Dr. Kelsie also confirmed the research conducted on children’s wellbeing and academic achievements credits greener environments.
“Kids who have views of greener environments do better because they feel calmer and then they can focus better. So it even helps their learning. There is no end to the magic benefits of trees.”
Let’s Grow Grants
The government has recently put out some statistics and from their research, the hope is to double the tree canopy with the help of grants to assist community groups, houses and schools.
“Households can apply for $150 each adult to get a native tree. So if families have a space on their property somewhere that they could get another tree, there’s heaps of funding available because the government understands how important it is for our community,” said Kelsie.
She said it is as simple as requesting one from local council and they will log you in to have it planted the following year.
There are benefits for families, should they decide to keep their trees instead of cutting them down.
Residential Tree Perks
“The more trees you have, the less air conditioning you need, the more likely you are to go outside and actually big trees now bring increase the value of homes. So we’re looking at things It’s like, lots of different reasons for families to want trees. And they’re not that hard to grow, really. Just need a little bit of water for the first year or so, and they tend to do their own thing after that.”