Feb 05
2008
Fewer Americans Spending Time Outdoors
According to the Nature Conservancy, fewer Americans are spending time in outdoor activities, which could have a serious impact on our environment.
This was one of the stories on the NBC evening news last night.
The Nature Conservancy conducted research that revealed Americans are spending more time with indoor activities, such as the Internet, electronic games and movies and less time at outdoor activities such as camping, fishing and hiking. In fact, the percentage of the American population enjoying the outdoors is at an all-time low.
Although I haven’t seen the research, my own observations of how people spend their leisure time tells me this is probably true.
The reason this is worrisome is that with fewer people spending less time at nature-based activities, nature will become unappreciated and unexplored. If we learn everything we know about nature from the television, our first-hand understanding and appreciation of the importance of clean air and healthy soil and forests and abundance wildlife is diminished.
It’s interesting, too, that participation in outdoor activities is down at the same time there are record numbers of people who are overweight and obese.
I wonder how many of us consider visiting a local nature park, hiking or going to the seashore among the weekend entertainment options of movies and eating out? I know the last time I suggested a hike to Calvert Cliffs State Park to a friend-who-shall-not-be-named I was met with the “you must be mad” expression. We went to an Indian restaurant instead.
So what do we do to reverse this trend? How can we as individuals encourage outdoor activities, particularly those that respect the environment and encourage conservation efforts?
Robin
February 5th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
Robin, I think you’re right. People seem to love technology so much that they don’t even consider the outdoors. As for our family, we (the adults anyway) love parks, camping, biking. As the children have reached teenhood, they like it less and less. I don’t know what the answer is, other than we keep dragging ours to the outdoors.~~Dee
February 6th, 2008 at 3:36 am
Hi Robin,
I saw the same report and I thought to myself, "well, how sad is that?"
I think part of the reason is the fear factor. Remember just a few weeks ago the nutjob who killed that young woman (was it West Virginia?) and probably others too? It definitely makes me think twice about going out on my own–especially in an unfamiliar area.
The other thing is a fear of the unknown. For people who have had little or no exposure to the outdoors, there’s a lot of scary noises and stuff out there. A mouse or squirrel scuffling around in dry leaves sounds more like a bear when you’re out there in a quiet place. Plus there’s poisonous stuff out there you shouldn’t touch or eat….all manner of unidentified hazards, if you’re not familiar with nature.
So it ends up being kind of a catch-22….if you’re not familiar with nature, you tend to shy away from it and stick with what’s familiar, but by not spending time outdoors, there’s no way you WILL become familiar with it.
I wish I had a solution. I know it’s much easier when you have someone else to go with who already knows a little bit about nature (my spousal unit is the example). By going to the woods with him, I started learning about nature and once the spark took hold, I couldn’t get enough of it and now learn as much as I can from being out there.
I guess the only solution is that I should move to Maryland or you should move to Minnesota….it’s a pretty safe bet that if I had the choice of going to a state park or an Indian restaurant, the state park would win!
February 6th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
Gosh Robin I would want to go to the park with you. After a good hike to work up a hunger we could go to the Indian restaurant. :)
Kidding aside I have read more than one article about how children are not fully developing because they aren’t in nature enough. It is a scary concept. I hope they are all wrong.
If you try to go to a national park during summer you can hardly get in. However during winter we have all of our City and County parks to ourselves so it seems true.
February 7th, 2008 at 7:53 am
I have been reading about this problem, too. In my semitropical town, people are only outside long enough to get from the air-conditioned car to the air-conditioned house. Sigh.
But belated kudos to you on your botanical drawing class! I know you’re enjoying it. Can’t wait to see more of your drawings!
November 20th, 2008 at 10:06 am
I think one of the few positives that will come out of the poor economy is that people will start to spend more time outdoors. I know this has been the case for me anyway.
February 12th, 2010 at 1:30 am
Been wondering about this issue. Thanks for posting this article. You made some good points there. It’s well written and helpful. – Jaime