For tonight’s meeting, the Springdale Community Coalition has asked each member to examine the trends in mental health issues in the community. Review the articles in your background information regarding mental health and green space. What measurements were used to assess mental health? How were these measurements related to green space? Analyze the amount of green space in your area and make predictions about the effects of the availability of green space on mental health in your community. Make a comparison of your predictions with available data on mental health statistics in your community (again you can relate this to state trends if data is lacking at the local level).

Air quality and asthma

http://www.epa.gov/asthma/triggers.html

http://www.lung.org/about-us/our-impact/top-stories/making-the-connection-asthma-and-air-quality.html

Carcinogens and cancer

http://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancercauses/othercarcinogens/generalinformationaboutcarcinogens/known-and-probable-human-carcinogens

Mental Health and the Environment

PLOS Medicine, Ferrari et al 2013: http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1001547