A stark but scarcely believable fact emerged recently from the National Centre for Biotechnology Information at the U.S. National Library of Medicine. The fact, widely reported, was that the average attention span of a human being has dropped from 12 seconds in 2000 to eight seconds in 2013 meaning our attention span is one second less than the attention span of a goldfish. This is put down to our increased use of digital technology but even if it is not true, it is undeniable your mind does wander. We all know that it is impossible to maintain continuous and focus on a task. Even at your best you will still find your mind wandering every so often and as it does so does your gaze. As a new study shows however, what you see when you gaze away from your screen does impact how your mind functions and it seems green roofs offer some significant benefits.
Green roofs are quite simply roofs where plants and grass have been planted instead of just having a roof. Aside from their obvious aesthetic qualities green roofs offer many benefits. They help with stormwater management because water is stored by the substrate and then taken up by the plants from where it is returned to the atmosphere through transpiration and evaporation. As a result green roofs reduce the amount of stormwater runoff and also delay the time at which runoff occurs, resulting in decreased stress on sewer systems at peak flow periods.
The greater insulation offered by green roofs can also reduce the amount of energy needed to moderate the temperature of a building, as roofs are the sight of the greatest heat loss in the winter and the hottest temperatures in the summer. Plants on green roofs also capture airborne pollutants reducing overall pollution and filtering noxious gases.
Green roofs can support the environment by sustaining a variety of plants and invertebrates, and providing a habitat for various bird species. A green roof can also provide humans the opportunity for community building either through Garden development or providing a space for socialising.
All of these effects feed in to green roofs being a health promoter for humans. Of course, humans feel better seeing green, living things as opposed to concrete or tin or tile. Now in the new study, further mental benefits seem to accrue as it seems that green roofs can even help humans concentrate.
The new study involved subjects carrying out a boring mental task in a city office block. The task involved watching a computer screen as a series of numbers flashed up and for each number they had to press the corresponding key on the keyboard unless it was the number three. In the middle the subjects were given a 40-second microbreak where they could look at a nearby rooftop. In some instances the rooftop was an ordinary concrete rooftop while others were able to view a green rooftop.
The results showed that people who looked at the green roof made significantly fewer mistakes and showed better concentration in the second half of the task than those who looked at the concrete roof.
In so many ways, the colour of the future is green.
