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6 stouffville suntribune saturday sept 1 2007 nion tstouffville suntnbune 6290 main st stouffville on l4a1g7 wwwyorkregioncom publisher tarc proudfoot editor in chief debora kelly business manager robert lazurko director interactive media technology john futhey director advertising york region printing distribution general manager barry black bob dean director circulation systems lynn pashko letters to the editor mayor should know works traffic will double re neighbours dont want works yard aug 25 in response to residents concerns regard ing increased truck traffic in the bethes- da road area mayor wayne emmerson responded to these concerns by assuring them that and i quote the towns fleet of eight trucks shouldnt bother residents mr emmerson seems oblivious to the fact that residential building permits he approved 12 years ago are doubling our population and this explosion might just increase the demand on town services which in turn may increase the size of the towns truck fleet lets be charitable and say double per sonally i would say triple so now mr emmerson will you assure those same residents a town fleet of chari table now 16 trucks shouldnt bother them how about 24 plus the traffic created by the employees coming and going to work one more sorry example of the flawed thinking of our mayor and the only faux pas we hear about are public i shudder to think of what goes in closed meetings dale carter stouffville thanks for sharing stanley cup with stouffville brad brad may made my day aug 15 seeing the stanley gup was one thing touching it another and drinking from it something i will never forget i just want to say thanks to the entire may family for allowing our hockey com munity and town to share in the visit of the cup to stouffville listening to the oldtimers at bruces mill sharing their stories of when they- first saw the cup and hockey games back in their day was a lot of fun i can be now be one of them and share my story with your grandchildren and greatgrandchildren the next time it comes to town will that be with the leafs to the young smiling faces that had not seen it up close or at all before what a privi lege to have it in our small town once again stouffville is in the papers on the 6 pm news and the sports channels this town always finds a way to become front and centre in the sports world a special thanks to ken and darryl may for putting all this together on behalf of brad big thanks to brads wife and children for sharing his outstanding accomplish ment with us mike humphreys stouffville what pip the last 48 years of your life look like being outdoors has proven health benefits when your mom told you to go outside and play she really did know what was best for you just being outdoors or having access to the natural world has been proven to have physical and mental health benefits and new research has now found that the more diverse and vibrant an ecosystem is the healthier it is for us one of my personal favourite places in the world is haida gwaii the queen charlotte islands off the coast of british columbia the diversity of life there in the cold nutrientrich waters on the shorelines and in the oldgrowth forests is simply astonishing im hardly alone lodges and retreats are popping up all along bcs pristine mid and north coast as people search for places to get away from the stress of their everyday lives people gravitate to these kinds of places they usually say because they are beautiful peaceful or relaxing sometimes they will ven ture as far as calling experiences with these ecosystems uplifting moving even spiritual for others its a feeling thats difficult to describe in words but being in nature just somehow makes them feel better although many people may not realize it theres actual biological value in having experiences with nature value that is measurable and quantifiable its long been established that general health mental fatigue and physical injury all recover faster when patients have access to natu ral areas studies have shown for exam ple that surgery patients recover more quickly when they have views of natural landscapes outside their windows rather than views of bricks and concrete some people attribute this con nection with nature to the perceived benefits of having access to fresh air and fewer distractions david suzuki with faisal moola but it actually goes much deep er famed harvard ecologist e o wilson calls this connection to the natural world biophilia its a term he coined and it sim ply means that he believes humans have an innate kinship with other living things so im sure dr wilson wasnt the least bit surprised by a recent study published in the science journal biology letters the study found that the psy chological benefits of urban greens- paces increase with the diversity of life found in them researchers interviewed more than 300 parkgoers in the medi umsized city of sheffield england and compared their answers to an analysis of the species richness or biodiversity of their parks they found while the overall size of a park influenced the visitors perception of how it made them feel even moire important was the diversity of life bigger parks made people feel better yes but speciesrich parks were even more beneficial in fact the researchers report that visitors to the greenspaces were actually able to consciously per ceive differences in species diver sity especially with plants as it turns out when it comes to our health and wellbeing not all parks are created equal simply providing a grass field for example is likely to be far less beneficial than a natural area with a greater diversity of plant and ani mal life we now know that humans are able to consciously or otherwise judge the overall diversity and vibrancy of greenspaces whats more the more diverse and vibrant those ecosystems are the greater their value to humanity in terms of our own personal health and well being with three quarters of canadians now living in urban areas we must hope that our city planners and municipal politicians are paying attention to this kind of research it underscores the need to both protect our most diverse ecosys tems and to design our cities to have larger and moregreen spaces ultimately our health depends on it take the nature challenge and learn more at wwwdavidsuzukioig letters policy the suntribune welcomes your letters all submissions must be less than 400 words and must include a daytime telephone number name and address the suntribune reserves the right to publish or not publish and to edit for clarity and space letters to the editor the suntribune 6290 main st stouffville on l4a ig7 jmasonyrmgcom editorial editor jim mason jmasonyrmgcom interactive media marketing advertising manager dawna andrews itandrcws0yrmgcom advertising retail manager staceyallen sallcngfyrmgcom classified manager ann campbell acampbcllyrmgcom assistant classified manager bonnie rondeau brondcauyrmgcom production team leader sherry 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