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Cures run through it

Climate-change control

Canada’s forests absorb about a quarter of the planet-cooking carbon emitted by the tar sands, tailpipes and the nation’s other spewers. Urban forests like those in our ravines help mitigate climate change, too, by sequestering carbon dioxide in their tissue. More than 10 million trees and shrubs blanket over a quarter of Toronto, and nearly 40 per cent of those are in ravines. The bigger and the healthier the trees, the more they sequester.

A thriving ravine system like Toronto’s is taking in nearly 14,000 metric tonnes of carbon every year, according to calculations based on a 2008 report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which came to study our urban treescape. Encroach on those ravines and you can bet on reversing T.O.’s gains in its CO2 reduction plan.


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Hepa filter

The boreal forest may be deemed the “northern lungs of the earth,” but our ravines are the lungs of this city. They not only turn thousands of tonnes of carbon dioxide (see above) into pure, clean oxygen for you and me to inhale, but they also filter out a lot of lung-clogging pollutants.

A little number-crunching based on figures from the USDA reveals that Toronto’s canopied ravines remove over 700 tonnes of air pollutants each year. This is mostly smoggy substances that can make going outdoors a challenge for kids, seniors, anyone with lung disease – stuff like ozone, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide as well as lung-lodging particulate matter.

That means those shady canopy systems help keep cost down for pollution-related hospital visits. Actually, the USDA calculates the total economic saving from our arboreal pollution-filtering at $16.9 million annually, with 7 mil of that coming from our ravines.


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Nature’s Brita and flood control

Without a network of deep-rooted trees, well, you unleash a torrent of problems. Heavy rains are guaranteed to leave you up to your knees in flooded roads and soggy basements. Flood control is why the city brought in its ravine bylaw preventing anyone living on a ravine from taking down a tree or altering a slope without permission.

That forested ravine up the street from you isn’t just controlling the erosion that can make flash floods so much more destructive it’s also helping to filter water and absorb harmful substances as the tributaries weave their way to Lake Ontario en route to our taps.


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Inner city A/C

Anyone who lives amidst concrete knows a city crowded with slabs of grey and choking tailpipes is always a few degrees hotter than outlying green spaces. The USDA found T.O.’s trees save residents $9.7 million in cooling costs every year. They also help control energy costs in winter by shielding structures from frigid winds.


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Green Therapy

Who needs Zoloft when you’ve got a patch of wild ravine nearby? As Eva Selhub and Alan Logan, the authors of This Is Your Brain On Nature, point out, even a quick walk in nature offers up a layer of protection against psychological stress, easing anger, boosting mental clarity, focus and cognitive rejuvenation.

Forested areas are actually chock full of negative ions, airborne molecules that reduce stress and tension. Ditto for areas near moving water, making forested ravines with a flowing rivers or creeks doubly therapeutic. Research at the University of Sheffield found that the more biodiverse an urban green space, the better we feel. No wonder natural ravines are more soul-soothing than parkettes.


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Jungle gym

You can put your gym membership on hold if you live near a ravine. Studies throughout the U.S. and the UK found that kids living in green parts of town are less likely to gain weight and have lower rates of asthma than kids living in greyer ‘hoods. Runners take note: one study on novice exercisers found that jogging through woods results in faster completion times, more enjoyment and less frustration than running open non-wooded trails. The same goes for walkers.

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