| Columns and Editorials

Making Green Space Available to All

Trust for Public Land · Seattle Times · October 18, 2023

Featuring Howard Frumkin, Nature and Health researcher and Steering Committee member

Trust for Public Land staff collects park design input from Jennie Reed Elementary students. Credit: Adair Freeman Rutledge, courtesy Trust for Public Land

Nature invites you to discover the many benefits it offers. Spending time in nature can perk up your mental health, improve your cognition and calm your busy brain. Mounting evidence suggests nature promotes both physical and psychological well-being.

Green spaces — forests, parks, shrubs and tree-studded neighborhoods — play a large part in nature’s design.

“If we had a medicine that delivered as many health benefits as parks, we would all be taking it,” says Dr. Howard Frumkin, senior vice president and director of the Land and People Lab for Trust for Public Land.

Parks are a mental health resource, with studies showing that people who spend regular time in green spaces enjoy lower levels of stress and are less likely to experience anxiety disorders and depression. For young people, parks provide a space to decompress, exercise and hang out.

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