By jtsherkHS 401, Spring 2015, Mary Yarborough Court Holliday Hall Landscape Improvements. At the macro scale, the benefits of the urban forest include; 1- improvement of air and water quality, 2- reduction of heat island effect (caused by pavement without shade to be 50-90 degrees hotter than the air), 3- Reduction in stormwater runoff and pollution, 4- capture and long term storage of atmospheric carbon dioxide CO2, (which helps to mitigate and/or defer global warming) 5- increase in aesthetic value, 6- provides human recovery from stress.