{"id":15251,"date":"2025-03-10T15:41:55","date_gmt":"2025-03-10T15:41:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/?p=15251"},"modified":"2025-03-10T15:49:18","modified_gmt":"2025-03-10T15:49:18","slug":"healing-your-city-and-sanity-with-gardening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/en\/healing-your-city-and-sanity-with-gardening\/","title":{"rendered":"Healing Your City and Sanity With Gardening"},"content":{"rendered":"

How to fight climate change, battle biodiversity loss and help your mental health with urban gardening<\/h2>\n

Cities are under the strain of relentless heat, pollution and concrete jungles. But there\u2019s a powerful solution to give urbanites a break. Urban gardening. Even the smallest green spaces can help. With a little work, your street, balcony, stoop or rooftop can become a haven for wildlife, fight climate change and provide a balm for your own mental health.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Fighting Climate Change<\/h3>\n

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Cities suffer from what\u2019s called the \u201curban heat island effect\u201d, which is just a fancy way of saying cities are hot. They\u2019re <\/span>so<\/span><\/i> hot that the urban jungle can be up to 5.6\u00b0C warmer than rural areas. All that concrete and asphalt, cars and buildings give off tons of heat. Luckily we can fix it with \u2013 <\/span>plants<\/span><\/i>! Plants release moisture into the air and cool their surroundings. One study in Madison, Wisconsin found that areas with 40 per cent or more tree canopy saw a big reduction in air temperature \u2013 even on the hottest days. Street trees alone lower temperatures by an average of 3.8\u00b0C. Green walls? They can cool cities by 4.1\u00b0C on average!<\/span><\/p>\n

Providing Biodiversity Hotspots<\/h3>\n

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As our cities expand, habitats for animals are lost or fragmented, leaving wildlife with fewer places to live. But when urbanites plant gardens (particularly gardens that are filled with native plants and use no pesticides), they offer food and shelter to a variety of species. Some studies have found that rare birds and bee species are found in community gardens which goes to show just how valuable urban gardens are to biodiversity. Not only are native plants critical to creating habitat for wildlife, so is planting diversly with species that bloom at different times of the year. Finally habitat complexity \u2013 offering different kinds of plants and structure from shrubs to flowers, leaf litter to deadwood \u2013 gives wildlife a chance to thrive. <\/span><\/p>\n

Giving Pollinators a Boost<\/h3>\n

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Urban gardens give pollinators a leg \u2026.er\u2026wing up. Unlike larger animals, pollinators thrive in small spaces, making the tiniest gardens or a balcony with potted plants a haven for these pollination powerhouses. After all, pollinators are able to get around easily \u2013 bees, moths and butterflies can clock plenty of kilometres to find food, water and shelter which makes urban gardens the perfect spots to refuel. You can think of these gardens as stepping stones \u2013 linking fragmented habitat! <\/span><\/p>\n

Addressing Mental Health Challenges<\/h3>\n

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Studies have found that spending as little as 10 minutes in nature can reduce stress, improve mood and give cognitive function a boost. In fact, gardening in particular has massive benefits for those suffering from depression, fatigue and low self-esteem. One study from the U.K., found that people who spent time gardening in their front yards \u2013 swapping lawns for lush gardens \u2013 not only reported a decrease in stress but they also developed stronger social connections with their neighbours!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Do you live in a city? <\/span>Consider certifying your garden as wildlife-friendly habitat with the Canadian Wildlife Federation! <\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How to fight climate change, battle biodiversity loss and help your mental health with urban gardening Cities are under the strain of relentless heat, pollution and concrete jungles. But there\u2019s…<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":15253,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[636,631,642,6,638,637],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-coasts-oceans","category-connect-with-nature","category-education","category-endangered-species","category-fields-forests","category-lakes-rivers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/60"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15251"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15251\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15252,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15251\/revisions\/15252"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}