This is a summary of Amy Fleming’s “The Importance of Urban Forests” I wrote for my English 100 course. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Amy Fleming\u2019s article \u201cThe Importance of Urban Forests: Why Money Really Does Grow on Trees\u201d takes a deeper look into how important urban forests really are in big cities. Fleming begins by introducing Jill Jones, a historian who has recently published her book, \u2018Urban Forests\u2019. Jone\u2019s explains how one of the most city friendly trees, the American Elm, has been \u201cwiped out by Dutch elm disease\u201d(1,2). Fleming then goes on to dictate how around the world urban green spaces are being threatened. Several groups advocating for the protection of trees worry about how the expansion of cities will affect nearby forests. When addressing an upcoming conference regarding \u201csustainable urban development\u201d she says \u201cThe document is littered with references to green spaces being essential for mental and physical health, community building and performing urgent ecological tasks. Research has turned up fascinating evidence as to why town councils, planners and developers \u2013 in whose hands the fate of urban trees lies \u2013 should take heed.\u201d (2,2). This document would make a strong case for cities to continue to develop and expand their green spaces. Jone\u2019s goes on to discuss the older narrative city officials pushed that city trees are just \u201cexpensive ornaments\u201d(2,3). As the article progresses strong evidence is presented which points to trees actually benefiting cities economically. Fleming backs this up with solid statistics saying, \u201cWhen the New York City park department measured the economic impact of its trees, the benefits added up to $120m a year\u201d(3,1). One can see from this that having a green space in a city is economically rewarding. Jone\u2019s is featured again, she talks about how trees are not only \u201ceconomic drivers\u201d but also help to relieve stress and encourage good mental and physical health overall. One might notice that underprivileged areas often lack green spaces. Fleming puts emphasis on the overall need for trees in city spaces saying, \u2018The value we place on trees and nature is informed by childhood experience. Children growing up dislocated from nature results in, say some researchers, an \u201cextinction of experience\u201d. These children will ultimately understand and value nature less.\u2019(5,3). Fleming\u2019s argument for more urban green spaces in this article is not only strong evidentially but it\u2019s compelling. Children need green spaces to learn, and people generally need to feel a connection to nature.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This is a summary of Amy Fleming’s “The Importance of Urban Forests” I wrote for my English 100 course. Amy Fleming\u2019s article \u201cThe Importance of Urban Forests: Why Money Really Does Grow on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11580,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-79","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eportfolios.capilanou.ca\/antoniascott\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eportfolios.capilanou.ca\/antoniascott\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eportfolios.capilanou.ca\/antoniascott\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eportfolios.capilanou.ca\/antoniascott\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11580"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eportfolios.capilanou.ca\/antoniascott\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eportfolios.capilanou.ca\/antoniascott\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80,"href":"https:\/\/eportfolios.capilanou.ca\/antoniascott\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79\/revisions\/80"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eportfolios.capilanou.ca\/antoniascott\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eportfolios.capilanou.ca\/antoniascott\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eportfolios.capilanou.ca\/antoniascott\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}