Urban Dog Parks

Reports from the National Institute of Health indicate that owning a pet, such as a dog can have  number of health benefits for individuals and families. These benefits include lowering blood pressure and cholesterol, increasing serotonin levels, and reducing anxiety. With all of these benefits, it is no wonder that households with pets now outnumber households with children in the US. The difficulty with owning a dog, of course, comes in the fact that an owner needs a space adequate to take the dog for exercise and socialization. This is especially difficult to find in urban areas that are typically consumed by streets, buildings, and traffic. This has led to an increased demand for urban dog parks that allow dog owners to bring their canines to a safe and friendly environment to exercise, play, and interact with other dogs and people. Having a park in an urban area that allows the dog to run off the leash and interact with other canines helps to keep the dog content and happy, which in turn would improve it relationship with its owner. This also creates a place where pet enthusiasts can gather together and create a greater sense of community. This sense of community and togetherness applies to both the humans and their pets, as well. Having a central urban dog park also possesses environmental benefits in that it saves urban dog owners the trouble of having to travel outside of the city to exercise their dogs. This saves on fuel costs and the adverse impact on the environment that comes with increased automobile traffic.

For more information, visit the links below:

http://www.montgomeryparks.org/PPSD/ParkPlanning/Projects/site_selections/dog.park_silver.spring.shtm

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2011-12-07/dog-parks/51715340/1

http://www.nrpa.org/blog/meeting-demands-of-our-two-and-four-legged-residents/

Community Gardens

Community Gardens provide an excellent vehicle for promoting local food production, community interaction, and sustainable food growth for local communities that may not have otherwise been able to provide such an outlet. As a bi-national effort in the US and Canada, community gardening provides spaces for neighborhoods to produce sustainable produce that is free of pesticides or other factory-produced by-products. This allows citizens to maintain a level of knowledge about the produce they consume that is not always possible when purchasing from a store. This allows bring the citizens together as a community in an effort to mutually benefit one another by working together to produce the optimum quantity and quality of produce possible. This also gives this community an incentive to behave and farm responsibly and in a sustainable manner.

In terms of moving towards environmental sustainability, the Community Garden movement gives these communities the incentive to produce their gardens and crops in a responsible and sustainable manner. By creating a garden that gives ordinary people a responsibility and incentive to farm sustainably, this movement gives the ordinary person a reason to take interest in responsible environmental practices. In essence, by putting the farming in the hands of the communities, you create a network of groups that have an incentive and a vested interest in practicing responsible and sustainable farming.

For more information please visit the link below:

 https://communitygarden.org/