Conservation, A Good Idea

In a recent article entitled The Public Mandate for Conversation published in the January 2012 issue of Parks and Recreation Magazine, author Richard Dolesh noted that parks and recreation agencies, holders of much of our public lands, should re-focus their attention on sustainable practices that conserve our public lands, protects public water, and flora and fauna. This is absolutely true! The National Resources Council of Maine (http://www.nrcm.org/documents/publiclandownership.pdf) noted that the Federal Government as of 1995, held 654,885,389 acres of land in the United States.

With our state and federal governments holding so much of our public land, the land we recreate in, Dolesh argues that green practices create better quality of life and better communities. Research has shown that outdoor activity can decrease childhood obesity and attention deficit issues (see Richard Louv’s Last Child in the Woods) while surgical patients heal faster and office workers report more satisfaction when provided a window to the out-of-doors. Older adults and children (with parental supervision), meanwhile, are more likely to utilize outdoor spaces when the area feels safe (i.e., steady walking trails, good lighting, less traffic noise).

As practitioners and researchers in the field of Leisure and Recreation, it will be our responsibility to provide these well-designed, conservation-focused spaces. This will likely mean re-planning activities, changing materials utilized, and spending more money. Going green is definitely not cheap. In an off-hand example, smart-money.com noted In the Hidden Cost of Going Green that going green in the housing market was a $49 billion dollar industry in 2009.

Becoming concerned with conservation will force practitioners to involve themselves in the community (what resources can you keep within the local economy (e.g., farmer’s markets)), what is important to the natives (any historical landmarks or natural features, a community center), as well as getting political. Our politicians are supposed to listen to their constituents needs and wants. We can do this by deciding who we vote for, writing and calling in, and creating a voice for change.

If we, as a community, want to turn a dilapidated lot into a community garden, we’ll have to band together as a group and let local and state politicians know what is needed to make this change as well as spend our own time and money in renovations. We can do this by involving our local parks and recreation agencies and creating programs that revolve around cleaning this lot, planting the garden, etc. This will ensure that the outcomes of recreation are met, such as physical (doing physical movement), social (meeting others), and emotional benefits (knowing that you are helping your community and world).