Save Trees and Improve your Health – Many of us are searching for a ‘change for the better’ and this can be achieved with small steps or full-blown strides. The world has changed dramatically over the past year. More of us are forced to be based at home and utilising online resources, is becoming second nature.
To help contribute to change and help to reduce waste at the same time Women Talking look at the benefits of choosing a sustainable online pharmacy and how this will ultimately benefit the planet.
e-Surgery is an online platform founded in 2018 by NHS professionals looking to make a difference to patient care. In their experience as Doctors and Pharmacists, they witnessed first-hand, wasteful prescription practices and people waiting weeks for simple treatments. They shared a vision: quality healthcare that was accessible from home, with paperless prescription and next day delivery.
Not wishing to use outdated prescription systems that contribute 47,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases annually e-Surgery went paperless, with the knowledge that caring for their patients means caring for our planet too.
As the biggest plants on the planet, trees are vital. They give us oxygen, store carbon, stabilise the soil and give life to the world’s wildlife. As we evolved, they provided additional necessities such as shelter, medicine, and tools.
It’s critical that woodlands, rainforests and trees in urban settings, such as parks, are preserved and sustainably managed across the world.
How do Trees Benefit our Health?
We’ve heard about the benefits of being outside in nature, as it’s good for the body and the mind. But it’s not just our wellness that benefits from these majestic giants.
Trees and shrubs, like all plants, also help to protect us from pollutants. The canopies of trees act as a physical filter, trapping dust and absorbing pollutants from the air. Each individual tree can remove up to 1.7 kilos every year.
Harmful heavy metals, nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus on our land surfaces can contaminate our water, but the roots of shrubs intercept these pollutants. They also provide shade from solar radiation and reduce noise.
As well as protecting our environment over 20 species of British trees and shrubs are known to have medicinal properties and research shows that within minutes of being surrounded by trees and green space, your blood pressure drops, your heart rate slows, and your stress levels come down.
Trees Benefit the Environment
Trees absorb carbon dioxide as they grow and the carbon that they store in their wood helps slow the rate of global warming, which should be a concern to all of us.
During those chilly winter months, trees do us a great service by blocking strong winds from reaching our home by reducing the wind speed, leading to reduced heating costs. In the summer they produce shade and cool the air as they lose moisture and reflect heat upwards from their leaves. It’s estimated that trees can reduce the temperature in a city by up to 7°C.
Trees also help prevent flooding and soil erosion. A forest’s roots and rich organic layers can help by slowing down the flow of water, encouraging it to gradually absorb into ground – this directly reduces erosion and helps you hold on to your land and soil.
Trees Boost our Wildlife
Trees increase our quality of life by bringing natural elements and wildlife habitats into urban settings.
Trees host complex microhabitats. When young, they offer habitation and food to amazing communities of birds, insects, lichen and fungi. The trunks of older trees also provide the hollow cover needed by species such as bats, woodboring beetles, tawny owls and woodpeckers.
One mature oak can be home to as many as 500 different species.
Trees and the Economy
People are attracted to live, work and invest in green surroundings. Property values of homes with well-maintained landscapes and close to mature trees can be 5-18% higher than others. Trees and the Economy
Companies benefit from a healthier, happier workforce if there are parks and trees nearby, allowing staff to connect to the outside world even looking at trees from a window is proven to reduce stress, anxiety and improve wellbeing.
Spiritual Value
The main reason we like trees is because they are both beautiful and majestic. No two are alike. Different species display a seemingly endless variety of shapes, forms, textures and vibrant colours. Even individual trees vary their appearance throughout the course of the year as the seasons change. The strength, long lifespan and regal stature of trees give them a monument-like quality. Most of us react to the presence of trees with a pleasant, relaxed, comfortable feeling.
As you can see trees have substantial benefits to our planet, valuating the importance of going paperless whenever possible. The simplest of changes can ultimately make a difference to the overall outcome for the planet.
e-Surgery won the UEA Innovation Award in 2018, not only for paperless prescriptions their packaging is fully recyclable, and their site runs on 100% renewable energy servers, if all companies took similar innovative action the world could be well on the way to being a better place.
Lilly Light