{"id":20572,"date":"2017-09-21T12:05:13","date_gmt":"2017-09-21T19:05:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/?p=20572"},"modified":"2024-09-21T13:40:00","modified_gmt":"2024-09-21T20:40:00","slug":"the-nature-fix-our-public-lands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/stewardship\/the-nature-fix-our-public-lands","title":{"rendered":"The Nature Fix: Our Public Lands"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

With\u00a0ever-increasing evidence that time outdoors is a panacea for common ailments, protecting\u2014and visiting\u2014our shared open spaces is more important than ever.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This September,\u00a0some 4 million fourth-graders will be eligible to receive free passes to America\u2019s national parks.<\/a>\u00a0Through this annual effort, Federal Land Management agencies strive to help create the next generation of park visitors and advocates. Called America\u2019s best idea by writer Wallace Stegner, the national parks lure young and old with promises of awe-filled scenery, glimpses of wildlife, recreation and an opportunity for solitude. As anyone who has visited national parks and public lands knows, the feeling can be downright medicinal\u2014an effect that has been argued for centuries and is now being proven by researchers around the world.<\/p>\n

Just a few months after the Civil War ended in 1865, the famous landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted argued for preserving America\u2019s most scenic lands. Although best known for his pastoral city park designs, Olmsted understood bigger expanses of public lands were also important for two unexpected benefits:\u00a0mental health and democracy. He wrote a plea to the California legislature to protect the Yosemite Valley because it was a unifying and quintessentially American space. “It is a scientific fact,\u201d he wrote, \u201cthat the occasional contemplation of natural scenes of an impressive character \u2026 not only gives pleasure for the time being but increases the subsequent capacity for happiness and the means of securing happiness.\u201d Moreover, he said, these spaces would enable us to get along better by helping us \u201cmaintain a temperate, good-natured, and healthy state of mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

In short, Nature was\u00a0essential for civilization, Olmsted argued. In 1890, the U.S. Congress agreed, designating Yosemite<\/a> the country\u2019s second national park. (Yellowstone<\/a> was designated in 1872.) Today, Americans share almost one million square miles<\/a> of public land, including 58 million acres roadless areas\u00a0and 130,000 miles of trails. And there\u2019s more evidence than ever that we should use them\u2014today’s research is backing up Olmsted\u2019s claims about the link between nature and mental well-being.<\/p>\n

In short, nature was essential for civilization.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In a series of studies<\/a> spanning the last three decades, researchers in Japan led by physiological anthropologist Yoshifumi Miyazaki at Chiba University sent 420 subjects to stroll in 35 different nationally protected forests for about 15 minutes. The results? On average, participants experienced a 12 percent decrease in cortisol (often called the stress hormone), a 7 percent drop in flight-or-fight nervous system responses and a 6 percent drop in heart rate.<\/p>\n

If being in green spaces is so good for us, you might expect to see lower death rates in people who live close to them. That\u2019s in fact what public health researchers are finding, at least in large studies of urban parks. In a study<\/a> published in The Lancet, epidemiologists Richard Mitchell and Frank Popham at the University of Glasgow looked at health and geographical data from 40 million people. They found a 4 to 5 percent drop in heart disease in neighborhoods closest to parks, forests and river corridors (even after adjusting for income). A similar study<\/a> at Harvard University found a 12 percent drop in mortality in women living closer to greenery compared to those living further away.<\/p>\n

Experts believe less stress and depression led to these gains in health.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s taken 150 years for Olmsted\u2019s ideas to gain traction in the American medical establishment, but it\u2019s happening now. In a number of U.S. cities, doctors are prescribing time in national and regional parks for their patients, particularly children, as an innovative and effective way to treat chronic diseases, like obesity and depression. Nooshin Razani, a pediatrician at Children\u2019s Hospital Oakland, has forged a partnership<\/a> with local parks so urban families can find transportation and join programs with park rangers. There are about 35 park prescription<\/a> programs nationwide and growing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI happen to believe that nature as a true medical intervention is not just a fad. It should be a public health priority to use time in nature in a clinical sense,\u201d Razani said.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all the more reason why we should hope those fourth-graders grab their new parks passes and head out, inspiring as many of their aunties, uncles, siblings and the rest of us to explore our precious and wild public lands.<\/p>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  With\u00a0ever-increasing evidence that time outdoors is a panacea for common ailments, protecting\u2014and visiting\u2014our shared open spaces is more important than ever. This September,\u00a0some 4 million fourth-graders will be eligible to receive free passes to America\u2019s national parks.\u00a0Through this annual effort, Federal Land Management agencies strive to help create the next generation of park visitors […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":20639,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[637],"tags":[727,656,2217,480,722],"internal-tag":[],"class_list":["post-20572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stewardship","tag-latest-posts","tag-public-lands","tag-rei-cooperative-action-fund","tag-stewardship","tag-the-nature-fix"],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/rei.com\/blog\/stewardship\/the-nature-fix-our-public-lands","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"The Nature Fix: Our Public Lands","url":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/stewardship\/the-nature-fix-our-public-lands","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/stewardship\/the-nature-fix-our-public-lands"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/09\/Nature-Fix_Public-Lands_Resize.jpg?resize=150%2C150","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/09\/Nature-Fix_Public-Lands_Resize.jpg?fit=1500%2C1000"},"articleSection":"Stewardship","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Michelle Flandreau"}],"creator":["Michelle Flandreau"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Uncommon Path \u2013 An REI Co-op Publication","logo":""},"keywords":["latest posts","public lands","rei cooperative action fund","stewardship","the nature fix"],"dateCreated":"2017-09-21T19:05:13Z","datePublished":"2017-09-21T19:05:13Z","dateModified":"2024-09-21T20:40:00Z"},"rendered":"