Heroes Not Zombies

I read a study today comparing children in pre-schools with different types of playground. The researchers looked at the state of their “biomes” – in other words, the health and diversity of their gut “flora” which, we know, plays an important part in the immune system.

The children whose school playgrounds were concrete and tarmac had poorer “biomes” than those whose playgrounds had grass and woodland ground cover eg heathers and blueberries.

This is yet another study, taking a slightly different angle on things time, which shows there is an immune benefit from time spent in natural environments.

Recently another study indicated that urban air quality is so poor in European cities that it’s probably responsible for many thousands of deaths every year.

We also know that Covid and other airborne diseases spread much more intensively in indoor environments where the air quality is poor – yet little seems to be happening to rectify that!

These are just some of the examples which show that if we want to get a handle on these waves after waves of viral and bacterial infections then we should address the condition of the environments we are living in.

Can we envisage a two pronged programme to improve indoor and outdoor air quality, hand in hand with increasing natural diversity in our urban environments and habitats.