Green and Prosperous Land by Dieter Helm

Author:Dieter Helm [Dieter Helm]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2019-02-03T16:00:00+00:00

The new green spaces

Part of this return of nature to our towns and cities is about public spaces and public initiatives. But much of the wildlife potential is in the hands of private companies and individuals. In the peregrine case, every major skyscraper could have built-in nesting sites and roosts for birds. It could be a very low-cost opportunity to improve their space. While the boss might worry about office workers being distracted by the magnificent sight of a peregrine swooping past their window, it would do wonders for the workers’ sense of well-being, and productivity would go up as a result. It could add a little to the soul in what is often a soulless workspace.

Offices, office blocks and skyscrapers have lots of other ways of adding nature back to their buildings. Green walls are one option, and they not only benefit wildlife but they purify the air.11 Green plants are good for health as well as for a sense of well-being. They can soak up pollutants. This is true for inside as well as outside spaces. Studies suggest that houseplants not only improve office air quality, but also the general sense of well-being.12

Some environmentalists may see these as literally window dressing, but they are not. They are first small steps to get people to re-engage with nature, even if it is to look at the beauty of a flower on a pot plant. The next step is the window box; a remarkable number of urban dwellers in flats and tower blocks, and without gardens, grow stuff in window boxes. The benefits are considerable: they start to create new greener spaces, and the flowers can be important sources of nectar. It is hard to overestimate the health benefits. Studies show that physical and mental health outcomes are linked to exposure to ‘green’. Although there is as yet little evidence of the size of the economic gains, they are likely to be significant. Mental health problems have high costs.13

Moving on from the inside to the outside, and into the gardens, these constitute a remarkable reservoir for wildlife. There are the obvious beneficiaries: the garden birds like robins and blackbirds; the small mammals like hedgehogs; the plants and trees and nectar and the insects.

There are some wonderful urban gardens and there are gardens which are, from a wildlife perspective, more barren and sometimes deadly. Wonderful wildlife gardens are not what the typical glossy magazine or garden TV programme shows. A wonderful garden for nature is typically quite messy. Gardening for nature is not the same as gardening for the Chelsea Flower Show. Immaculate lawns are usually the product of fertilisers and weed- and moss-killing chemicals. Unblemished foliage is usually the result of slug pellets. Garish colours are usually exotics rather than native plants.14

Many gardens are deathtraps for wildlife. The slug pellets harm the thrushes and the hedgehogs that feed on the poisoned slugs and snails, both because there are fewer of them and because the poisons accumulate. They go into the food chain.

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