Beauty and Grace

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Trees add beauty and grace to any community setting. They make life more enjoyable, peaceful, relaxing, and offer a rich inheritance for future generations. Trees help us experience connections with our natural heritage and with our most deeply held spiritual and cultural values. They help to define character and promote a sense of place. The strong ties between people and trees are most evident in the resistance of community residents to removing trees.

Reduce Stress and Illness

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In dense urban environments there is often a lack of green space for residents. Roof Gardens and roof top parks provide important green spaces to improve the quality of life for urban residents. Trees can provide community focal points - even in rooftop gardens.

Research indicates that trees help reduce stress in the workplace[1]. Trees can reduce stress and illness by providing psychological refreshment and a sense of well being through softening the built environment, creating character and a sense of place and permanence. Trees can release scents and aromas that elicit a positive emotional response, contributing to health and well being.

Police officers even believe that trees and landscaping can instill community pride and help cool tempers that sometimes erupt during long, hot summers!

Hospital patients have been shown to recover from surgery more quickly when their hospital room offered a view of trees[2].

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[1] Scenic America: http://www.scenic.org/tree/health
[2] Trees Are Good: http://www.treesaregood.com/treecare/tree_benefits.aspx