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Archive for 'April 2012'

Do Your Kids Think National Parks Are Cool?

Would a visit to a national park get your kids fired up? An article this week in USA Today says public land managers are trying to figure out ways to make parks and wilderness areas more attractive to younger visitors. But is the appeal of digital media continuing to cause young people to tune out of outdoor-based adventures? It's a long-running discussion, one popularized by author Richard Louv and his best-seller Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder. One ...

Posted by T.D. Wood on April 6, 2012 5:48 PM & Tagged kids and national parks | permalink | Comments



National Walking Day: Will You Step Out?

April 4 is National Walking Day, an invention of the American Heart Association intended to prod chair-bound Americans into discovering the rewards of bipedalism. True: Walking strengthens the body and benefits the heart. Beyond that basic tenet of wellness logic, here are 2 other reasons to consider joining a walking event being staged on Wednesday in communities across the country (or potentially organize one), or to voluntarily hoof it on foot to work on Friday, designated as National Walk ...

Posted by T.D. Wood on April 5, 2012 4:57 PM & Tagged National Walking Day, Rebecca Solnit, walking and wanderlust | permalink | Comments



How Healthy Is Your County? National Rankings Are Out

If your town has play fields and trails a-plenty, chances are it snagged a higher overall score in the national county-by-county health rankings, just out this week from County Health Rankings & Roadmaps. Besides outdoor recreation, the rankings consider a huge range of public health factors, from car accidents to unemployment rates. There's even a slick interactive map where you can see how your county stacks up. In Hernando, Mississippi, the rankings prompted the mayor to boost the health of ...

Posted by KellyH on April 4, 2012 4:52 PM & Tagged Cycling, outdoor recreation and public health | permalink | Comments



Dream Job: An REI Staff Photographer's Climb and Paddle Adventures in Thailand

Editor's note: You know you have a great job when you get sent to Thailand to take pictures of people having fun in gorgeous places. REI staff photographer Paul Lebel is one of those lucky guys. Just take a look at his story and see his photos (warning: you may get hooked on Thailand) displayed below: My name is Paul Lebel, and my job is to film and produce multimedia content for REI... all over the world! I didn't get here by chance. I started 26 years ago as a freelance still photographer, ...

Posted by Steve T on April 3, 2012 5:59 PM & Tagged Climbing, REI Adventures, Thailand, Travel and paddleboarding | permalink | Comments



Bike Commuting: It's a Gas, Gas, Gas (Saver)

Could high gas prices persuade you to become a bike commuter? A USA Today article published last week examined some tactics being used by a cross-section of U.S. commuters to counter rising gasoline prices. Two of the people interviewed mentioned that cycling was part of their cost-saving strategy, an approach that includes the bonus of fitting exercise into a busy lifestyle. How about you? With weather turning nicer as gas prices head higher, are you more motivated to give bike commuting a ...

Posted by T.D. Wood on April 2, 2012 4:18 PM | permalink | Comments