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Susceptibility to Stress and Nature Exposure: Unveiling Differential Susceptibility to Physical Environments; A Randomized Controlled Trial
Figure 1. Theoretical framework. Emerging epidemiological evidence indicates that nature exposure could be associated with cardiovascular health among individuals in low socioeconomic positions to a greater degree than among more privileged groups. Continue reading at PLOS ONE. Background Emerging epidemiological evidence indicates nature exposure could be associated with greater health benefits among groups in lower versus higher socioeconomic positions. One possible mechanism underpinning this evidence is described by our framework: (susceptibility) adults in low socioeconomic positions face higher exposure to persistent psychosocial stressors in early life, inducing a pro-inflammatory phenotype as a lifelong susceptibility to stress; (differential susceptibility) susceptible adults are more sensitive to the health risks of adverse (stress-promoting) environments, but also to the health benefits of protective (stress-buffering) environments. Objective Experimental investigation of a pro-inflammatory phenotype as a mechanism facilitating greater stress recovery from nature exposure. Methods We determined differences in stress recovery (via heart rate variability) caused by exposure to a nature or office virtual reality environment (10 min) after an acute stressor among 64 healthy college-age males with varying levels of susceptibility (socioeconomic status, early life stress, and a pro-inflammatory state [inflammatory reactivity and glucocorticoid resistance to an in vitro bacterial challenge]). Results Findings for inflammatory reactivity and glucocorticoid resistance were modest but consistently trended towards better recovery in the nature condition. Differences in recovery were not observed for socioeconomic status or early life stress. Discussion Among healthy college-age males, we observed expected trends according to their differential susceptibility when assessed as inflammatory reactivity and glucocorticoid resistance, suggesting these biological correlates of susceptibility could be more proximal indicators than self-reported assessments of socioeconomic status and early life stress. If future research in more diverse populations aligns with these trends, this could support an alternative conceptualization of susceptibility as increased environmental sensitivity, reflecting heightened responses to adverse, but also protective environments. With this knowledge, future investigators could examine how individual differences in environmental sensitivity could provide an opportunity for those who are the most susceptible to experience the greatest health benefits from nature exposure.
Read moreThe Fundamentals of Environmental Neuroscience
In this chapter, we explore the fundamentals of the field of environmental neuroscience. We start by defining the field of environmental neuroscience and then proceed to describing its roots and outlining some of its distinguishing features. We define what we mean by an environment, including those factors that are considered in this work, focus on the effects of natural environments, and note why many researchers do the same. We then discuss some of the mechanisms through which natural environments may affect brain processing through the perception of different visual and acoustic features and the centrality of attentional processes. We close by discussing some of the pitfalls and challenges that environmental neuroscientists face and how those challenges may be overcome in the future.
Read moreThe Influence of Wildfire Risk Reduction Programs and Practices on Recreation Visitation
Figure 1. Area within the Deschutes Skyline Collaborative ForestLandscape Restoration Project (in blue) compared with the area of the remainder of the Deschutes National Forest (in green). Map made in QGIS v 3.30. Background The increasing extent and severity of uncharacteristic wildfire has prompted numerous policies and programs promoting landscape-scale fuels reduction. Aims We used novel data sources to measure how recreation was influenced by fuels reduction efforts under the US Forest Service Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration (CFLR) Program. Methods We used posts to four social media platforms to estimate the number of social media user-days within CFLR landscapes and asked: (1) did visitation within CFLR Program landscapes between 2012 and 2020 change in a manner consistent with the pattern on nearby lands, and (2) was there a relationship between the magnitudes of specific fuel treatment activities within CFLR landscapes and visitation to that landscape? Key results In aggregate, visitation to the CFLR landscapes changed at a rate mirroring the trend observed elsewhere. Within CFLR landscapes, pre-commercial thinning and pruning had slight positive influences on visitation whereas prescribed burning and managed wildfire had slight negative influences. Conclusions Fuel treatments can have a modest influence on visitation, but we didnot find any wholesale changes in visitation within CFLR landscapes. Implications Social media and other novel data sources offer an opportunity to fill in gaps in empirical data on recreation to better understand social-ecological system linkages.
Read moreWhat Types of Nature Exposure Are Associated With Hedonic, Eudaimonic and Evaluative Wellbeing? An 18-Country Study
Figure 2. Summary of fully adjusted models of all dimensions of SWB and residential availability and visits to green space, coastal blue space and freshwater blue space. Although spending time in nature can improve subjective wellbeing (SWB), little is known about how different types of nature exposure are associated with different dimensions of SWB or the consistency of associations across national/cultural contexts. Using data from 18 countries, associations between green, coastal and freshwater blue space exposures (including residential availability, visits ‘yesterday’ and visits in the previous four weeks) and hedonic, eudaimonic, and evaluative wellbeing were estimated. Overall, residential nature availability showed little association with any wellbeing outcome, whereas visiting green and coastal locations ‘yesterday’ was associated with better hedonic wellbeing. Although frequently visiting green, coastal and freshwater spaces were all associated with greater evaluative wellbeing, greater eudaimonic wellbeing was only associated with frequent visits to green and freshwater spaces. Variations existed across countries. Results suggest that different types of nature exposure vary in their association with different dimensions of SWB. Understanding these differences may help us maximise the potential of natural environments as SWB-promoting resources.
Read moreA Text-Messaging Chatbot to Support Outdoor Recreation Monitoring Through Community Science
Figure 1. Volunteer participation rates at sites grouped by parking lot size (small, medium, and large). Participation rates were statistically significantly higher at sites with small parking lots (a) compared to medium and large lots (b). There was no significant difference in participation rates between sites with large- and medium-sized parking lots (b). Public land managers depend on reliable and readily available data about outdoor recreation in parks and greenspaces. However, traditional recreation monitoring techniques including visitor surveying and counting cannot be implemented over large spatial and temporal scales, especially in remote and undeveloped settings where monitoring is costly. To fill these data gaps, and thereby inform decision-making, this study develops and tests the efficacy of a novel recreation monitoring technique that engages visitors in data collection using a chatbot and text-messages. Drawing on knowledge and methods from community science and crowdsourcing, we present a relatively low-cost and low-barrier approach to counting and characterizing recreational visits on public lands. In an 18-month pilot implementation on a national forest in Washington, USA, we found that crowdsourced data collected using the chatbot were consistent with results of controlled counts and in-person surveys. Furthermore, some sites received relatively high participation rates, up to 12% of recreating parties, regardless of cellular connectivity at the site. This study, which is the first to engage public land usersin community science using a text-messaging chatbot for the purposes of studying outdoor recreation, demonstrates the potential for technology to support new community science approaches that involve visitors in land stewardship and the development of recreation monitoring systems.
Read moreAll Systems are Interrelated: Multilevel Interventions with Indigenous Communities
Figure 1. Indigenous Holistic Health and Wellness Multilevel Framework. Colonial historical trauma and ongoing structural racism have impacted Indigenous peoples for generations and explain the ongoing health disparities. However, Indigenous peoples have been engaging in multilevel, clinical trial interventions with Indigenous and allied research scientists resulting in promising success. In this paper, National Institutes of Health funded scientists in the field of Indigenous health have sought to describe the utility and need for multilevel interventions across Indigenous communities (Jernigan et al., 2020). We posit limitations to the existing socioecological, multilevel frameworks and propose a dynamic, interrelated heuristic framework, which focuses on the inter-relationships of the collective within the environment and de-centers the individual. We conclude with identified calls for action within multilevel clinical trial research.
Read moreApplying an Ecosystem Services Framework on Nature and Mental Health to Recreational Blue Space Visits Across 18 Countries
The effects of nature on mental health and subjective well-being have yet to be consistently integrated into ecosystem service models and frameworks. To address this gap, we used data on subjective mental well-being from an 18-country survey to test a conceptual model integrating mental health with ecosystem services, initially proposed by Bratman et al. We analysed a range of individual and contextual factors in the context of 14,998 recreational visits to blue spaces, outdoor environments which prominently feature water. Consistent with the conceptual model, subjective mental well-being outcomes were dependent upon on a complex interplay of environmental type and quality, visit characteristics, and individual factors. These results have implications for public health and environmental management, as they may help identify the bluespace locations, environmental features, and key activities, that are most likely to impact well-being, but also potentially affect recreational demand on fragile aquatic ecosystems.
Read moreBeyond “Bluespace” and “Greenspace”: A Narrative Review of Possible Health Benefits from Exposure to Other Natural Landscapes
Graphical abstract: Does exposure to natural landscapes not dominated by plants or liquid-water influence human health? Numerous studies have highlighted the physical and mental health benefits of contact with nature, typically in landscapes characterized by plants (i.e., “greenspace”) and water (i.e., “bluespace”). However, natural landscapes are not always green or blue, and the effects of other landscapes are worth attention. This narrative review attempts to overcome this limitation of past research. Rather than focusing on colors, we propose that natural landscapes are composed of at least one of three components: (1) plants (e.g., trees, flowering plants, grasses, sedges, mosses, ferns, and algae), (2) water (e.g., rivers, canals, lakes, and oceans), and/or (3) rocks and minerals, including soil. Landscapes not dominated by plants or liquid-state water include those with abundant solid-state water (e.g., polar spaces) and rocks or minerals (e.g., deserts and caves). Possible health benefits of solid-state water or rock/mineral dominated landscapes include both shorter-term (e.g., viewing images) and longer-term (e.g., living in these landscapes) exposure durations. Reported benefits span improved emotional and mental states and medical treatment resources for respiratory conditions and allergies. Mechanisms underlying the health benefits of exposure consist of commonly discussed theories in the “greenspace” and “bluespace” literature (i.e., instoration and restoration) as well as less discussed pathways in that literature (i.e., post-traumatic growth, self-determination, supportive environment theory, and place attachment). This is the first review to draw attention to the potential salutogenic value of natural landscapes beyond “greenspace” and “bluespace.” It is also among the first to highlight the limitations and confusion that result from classifying natural landscapes using color. Since the extant literature on natural landscapes – beyond those with abundant plants or liquid-state water – is limited in regard to quantity and quality, additional research is needed to understand their restorative potential and therapeutic possibilities.
Read moreBlack Bodies and Green Spaces: Remembering the Eminence of Nature During a Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed not only the true value of nature and open public spaces, but it reified the presence and persistence of racism in and throughout American institutions. As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other public health officials encouraged people to visit parks and green spaces as a way to be safe against COVID-19 transmission, the toxic presence and persistence of racism experienced by Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) was fully exposed. Through an examination of built, social and natural environments, this chapter will delve into historical and contemporary inequities stemming from structural racism. The toxic interrelationship between race-/class-based privilege and place, as well as its impact on nature and green space access and connection, particularly throughout the pandemic will be critically assessed.
Read moreChildren in Hong Kong Interacting with Relatively Wild Nature (vs. Domestic Nature) Engage in Less Dominating and More Relational Behaviors
Figure 1. Examples of relatively wild areas and relatively domestic areas. Might interacting with relatively wild forms of nature help move our world away from its largely domination-oriented and destructive sensibilities? Toward broaching this question, this study used an Interaction Pattern Approach to model child-nature interaction in a Hong Kong nature program. Observational video data were collected of 54 children (mean age 4.8 years) while they were playing in relatively wild or domestic landscapes. In total, 708 interactions were coded and categorized based on 37 distinct interaction patterns. Based on this modeling, we then tested two hypotheses: (1) that in the more domesticated nature areas, children would engage in more domination interaction patterns (e.g., catching wild animals), and (2) in the more wild nature areas, children would engage in more relational interaction patterns (e.g., cohabitating with wild animals). Both hypotheses were supported statistically. Discussion focuses on the importance of interacting with relatively wild aspects of nature, even in urban areas.
Read moreChildren’s Interactions with Relatively Wild Nature Associated with More Relational Behavior: A Model of Child-Nature Interaction in a Forest Preschool
Figure 1. Annotated maps of the Magnolia and Trillium outdoor nature classroom sites at Fiddleheads Forest Preschool in Seattle, WA. Interaction with nature is vital for children’s physical and psychological development. Nature preschools provide the means for such interaction, but little is known about the significance of child-nature interactions in these settings. Using a randomized time-sampling methodology, we conducted an observational study of 49 children in a forest preschool. Video data was collected over 35 weeks. Based on second-by-second coding, and drawing on Interaction Pattern theory, we developed a model of child-nature interaction in this setting. We then tested our hypothesis that relatively wild areas of this environment would be positively associated with child-nature behaviors that were more relational – that is, behaviors demonstrating a bond with nature or respect, including the ability to cohabitate with other lifeforms, and to promote the well-being of nature. Results confirmed this hypothesis. Discussion focuses on the phylogenetic and ontogenetic significance of the 26 modeled child-nature interactions, and the importance of more wild natural environments for human development and flourishing.
Read moreDaily Exposure to Virtual Nature Reduces Symptoms of Anxiety in College Students
Figure 3. 360-degree videos shown in the virtual nature intervention (Courtesy of INVIROVR). Exposure to natural environments offers an array of mental health benefits. Virtual reality provides simulated experiences of being in nature when outdoor access is limited. Previous studies on virtual nature have focused mainly on single “doses” of virtual nature. The effects of repeated exposure remain poorly understood. Motivated by this gap, we studied the influence of a daily virtual nature intervention on symptoms of anxiety, depression, and an underlying cause of poor mental health: rumination. Forty college students (58% non-Hispanic White, median age = 19) were recruited from two U.S. universities and randomly assigned to the intervention or control group. Over several weeks, anxious arousal (panic) and anxious apprehension (worry) decreased with virtual nature exposure. Participants identifying as women, past VR users, experienced with the outdoors, and engaged with the beauty in nature benefited particularly strongly from virtual nature. Virtual nature did not help symptoms of anhedonic depression or rumination. Further research is necessary to distinguish when and for whom virtual nature interventions impact mental health outcomes.
Read moreDifferent Types of Virtual Natural Environments Enhance Subjective Vitality Through Restorativeness
Figure 1. Graphical representation of the experimental procedure. The body of evidence supporting the psychological benefits of exposure to virtual nature, such as increased mood and decreased stress, is rapidly growing. However, few studies have explored the potential of virtual nature to boost subjective vitality, defined as a positive feeling of aliveness and energy. In this contribution, we investigate the role of virtual nature in enhancing subjective vitality through restorativeness. In particular, we expand the existing literature by considering different types of natural environments (i.e., a national park, a lacustrine environment, and an arctic environment vs. an urban environment). We designed a randomized between-subject design with a sample of 113 university students (Mage = 21.99, SD = 1.82). Participants were exposed to four 360-degree panoramic photos with a virtual reality (VR) head-mounted display. We collected measures of the variables of interest immediately before and after exposure, and a series of control variables (i.e., sociodemographics, individual differences and personal conditions, previous VR experience, frequency of contact with nature, and variables related to participants’ experience during VR). We performed a mediation analysis with a multicategorical independent variable (i.e., the experimental condition). Results confirmed our hypotheses, with three significant indirect effects of virtual nature exposure on subjective vitality through restorativeness, one for each natural environment as compared to the urban environment. The wide range of practical implications for different types of psychological interventions as well as future research directions are discussed.
Read moreEmotion Regulation and Virtual Nature: Cognitive Reappraisal as an Individual-Level Moderator for Impacts on Subjective Vitality
Figure 1. Graphical representation of the simple slope analysis. CR cognitive reappraisal. People who make habitual use of an emotion regulation strategy such as cognitive reappraisal may be more sensitive to the emotion cues coming from a surrounding natural environment and, thus, get more benefits from virtual nature exposure such as enhanced subjective vitality. However, no previous study investigated the moderating role of cognitive reappraisal in the relationship between exposure to different types of natural environments (a national park, a lacustrine environment, and an arctic environment vs. an urban environment) and subjective vitality. We designed a between-subject design (four conditions, one per type of environment) with a sample of 187 university students (Mage = 21.17, SD = 2.55). Participants were exposed to four 360° panoramic photos of the environment for one minute each with a virtual reality head-mounted display. The results of a multicategorical moderation analysis attested that there were two significant interactions, respectively between lacustrine and arctic environments and cognitive reappraisal. More specifically, for participants with low levels of habitual use of cognitive reappraisal, the effects of virtual nature (vs. urban) exposure on subjective vitality were not significant, while for participants with high levels, the effects were significant and positive. Findings show how the potential of virtual nature may be boosted with training aimed at increasing the general use of cognitive reappraisal, supports enhancing the applications of virtual nature, and demonstrates the need to take individual differences into account when determining the benefits of these applications.
Read moreForest Therapy as a Trauma-Informed Approach to Disaster Recovery: Insights from a Wildfire-Affected Community
Figure 1. The Association of Nature and Forest Therapy standard sequence of events used to guide a forest therapy experience. Clifford and Page, 2020. A trauma-informed approach to disaster recovery recognizes the potential impacts of trauma, promotes resilience to protect against retraumatization, and can support catering the needs of disaster survivors in affected communities. A growing body of evidence demonstrates that interaction with nature is associated with a number of physical and mental health benefits, though literature surrounding nature-based therapy and disaster survivors is limited. Through key informant interviews with forest therapy guides from a program in wildfire affected Butte County, CA, this exploratory study investigates if and how “Forest Therapy ’’ can serve as a trauma-informed approach to promote wellbeing in the face of climate change and associated disasters. We find that community-based forest therapy programs offer a promising, flexible approach to community-based trauma-informed mental health services in disaster-affected communities. Findings also identify opportunities to tailor implementation of future programs to better reach populations most impacted by disasters, including through targeted outreach and diverse guide recruitment. Future research should investigate the impacts of forest therapy on the mental health and wellbeing of participants, as well as the scalability of forest therapy programs in disaster-affected communities.
Read moreHealthy by Nature: Policy Practices Aimed at Maximizing the Human Behavioral Health Benefits of Nature Contact
Research suggests that spending time in nature is associated with numerous human behavioral health benefits, including improved executive functioning abilities, enhanced recovery from stressful situations, better mental health, and better educational outcomes. Greener neighborhoods also tend to have positive population-level health outcomes. Although promising, much of this research has focused primarily on selective populations and fails to account for cultural differences in how “nature” is conceptualized. Therefore, challenges may arise as policymakers aim to implement nature-based policies in their communities, given the immense cultural diversity of the United States alone. Given this ever-present challenge in behavioral sciences, policy recommendations aim both to maximize benefits of nature contact and to employ a flexible equity lens that allow for differences according to community need.
Read moreLand as a Process of Reconciliation: Transforming Health Narratives Among Land-Based Healing Camp Facilitators
Colonialism has resulted in isolation, lack of services, and health disparities experienced by Indigenous peoples (IPs)1 which increased risk for COVID-19. Despite this, IPs have found ways to thrive. For example, they have implemented land-based healing (LBH) interventions2, 3, 4. Increasing cultural continuity through reconnecting to the land has broad implications for the health and wellbeing of IPs. As such, CIEDAR (CoVaRR-Net’s Indigenous Engagement, Development, and Research Pillar 7) partnered with Taché Waters Healing Society (TWHS) to achieve the following objectives. To co-develop a LBH camp grounded in culture to facilitate healing from the ongoing impacts of settler-colonialism, exacerbated by the pandemic. To evaluate the LBH camp pilot by asking the following question: How does being guided upon the land influence facilitators perspectives of health and wellbeing?
Read moreLeveraging Neuroscience for Climate Change Research
Figure 1: Reciprocal relationships between the brain and a changing environment. Anthropogenic climate change poses a substantial threat to societal living conditions. Here, we argue that neuroscience can substantially contribute to the fight against climate change and provide a framework and a roadmap to organize and prioritize neuroscience research in this domain. We outline how neuroscience can be used to: (1) investigate the negative impact of climate change on the human brain; (2) identify ways to adapt; (3) understand the neural substrates of decisions with pro-environmental and harmful outcomes; and (4) create neuroscience-based insights into communication and intervention strategies that aim to promote climate action. The paper is also a call to action for neuroscientists to join broader scientific efforts to tackle the existential environmental threats Earth is currently facing. Related Media Call for Action: The Power of Neuroscience to fight against Climate Change (November 13, 2023)
Read moreMeasuring Population Mental Health
Good mental health is a vital part of people’s well-being, and the COVID-19 pandemic brought renewed attention to its importance. However, discussions so far have not focused sufficiently on how governments should best monitor it at the broader population level, and on how to consider both mental ill-health and positive mental states. This report supports national statistical offices and other data producers in collecting high-quality measures of population mental health outcomes in a more frequent, consistent and internationally harmonised manner. It documents existing measurement practice across OECD countries, discusses the advantages and limitations of available measurement tools, and recommends priority measures to adopt in household, social and health surveys. Measuring Population Mental Health is the first of two reports as part of an assessment of mental health and well-being in the context of the OECD’s work on measuring well-being.
Read moreModeling and Forecasting Percent Changes in National Park Visitation Using Social Media
Figure 1. Yellowstone National Park time series decomposition of National Park Service (NPS) counts. National parks have tremendous cultural, ecological, and economic value to societies. In order to manage and maintain these public spaces, decision-makers rely on detailed information about park use and park condition. Many parks, however, lack precise visitor counts because of challenges associated with monitoring large and inaccessible areas with porous boundaries. To facilitate better management, we propose a method to estimate percentage changes in park visitation without using any on-site visitor counts. Specifically, using 20 national parks in the United States, we develop a time series model for forecasting future monthly changes in visitation based on the volume of social media images shared by visitors to parks. Forecasts are generated from historic park-level and national-level photo-user-days (PUD) of images posted to Flickr, using singular spectrum analysis (SSA). We further propose an approach for augmenting existing on-site visitation data collected by the US National Park Service. Our model evaluations indicate that the proposed model that only uses social media data achieves competitive performance to the models which partially or fully utilizes on-site visitor counts.
Read moreNature Contact and General Health: Testing Multiple Serial Mediation Pathways with Data from Adults in 18 Countries
Figure 1. A diagram of the proposed modelling approach. Direct effects from neighbourhood nature and nature visit frequency variables to general health are not shown for clarity. Solid lines represent direct, indirect, or potential confounding effects. Dotted lines represent residual covariances. The role of neighbourhood nature in promoting good health is increasingly recognised in policy and practice, but consistent evidence for the underlying mechanisms is lacking. Heterogeneity in exposure methods, outcome measures, and population characteristics, little exploration of recreational use or the role of different types of green or blue space, and multiple separate mediation models in previous studies have limited our ability to synthesise findings and draw clear conclusions. We examined multiple pathways linking different types of neighbourhood nature with general health using a harmonised international sample of adults. Using cross-sectional survey data from 18 countries (n = 15,917), we developed a multigroup path model to test theorised pathways, controlling for sociodemographic variables. We tested the possibility that neighbourhood nature (e.g. greenspace, inland bluespace, and coastal bluespace) would be associated with general health through lower air pollution exposure, greater physical activity attainment, more social contact, and higher subjective well-being. However, our central prediction was that associations between different types of neighbourhood nature and general health would largely be serially mediated by recent visit frequency to corresponding environment types, and, subsequently, physical activity, social contact, and subjective well-being associated with these frequencies. Several subsidiary analyses assessed the robustness of the results to alternative model specifications as well as effect modification by sociodemographics. Consistent with this prediction, there was statistical support for eight of nine potential serial mediation pathways via visit frequency which held for a range of alternative model specifications. Effect modification by financial strain, sex, age, and urbanicity altered some associations but did not necessarily support the idea that nature reduced health inequalities. The results demonstrate that across countries, theorised nature-health linkages operate primarily through recreational contact with natural environments. This provides arguments for greater efforts to support use of local green/blue spaces for health promotion and disease prevention.
Read moreNature-Based Solutions and Mental Health
Nature-Based Solutions for Cities This chapter demonstrates the mental health benefits of nature-based solutions in cities. First, factors that determine urban mental health and adverse health effects of environmental stressors in cities are explained. Second, it is demonstrated that green spaces as nature-based solutions for many societal challenges provide co-benefits for mental health by reducing these stressors. It is further discussed how nature-based solutions may target supporting mental health by providing resources for human–nature interaction, enhancing social interaction and strengthening mental resilience. Nature-based interventions that are originally intended to support persons with psychiatric illness are introduced as models for the design of mentally supportive cities. And third, two case studies illustrate the mental health benefits of urban parks with the example of Leipzig, Germany and of street trees by the example of Hyderabad, India. The two case studies were used as application cases for a recent conceptual framework as a guide for putting science into practice.
Read morePhysical Activity and Social Interaction Assessments in Schoolyard Settings Using the System for Observing Outdoor Play Environments in Neighborhood Schools (SOOPEN)
Figure 1. (a) Schoolyard 1, (b) schoolyard 2, and (c) schoolyard 3 target areas for SOOPEN observations. Black outlines indicate the boundaries of each target area and white dots indicate the location where observers stood to conduct scans. For example, at School 3 (panel C), zone 1 is a paved surface, zone 2 is a covered basketball court (paved surface), zone 3 is a paved surface, zone 4 is a set of swings, zone 5 is a play structure, and zone 6 is a grass field bordered by a paved walking path Background The schoolyard environment provides key opportunities to promote physical activity and socioemotional development for children. Schoolyards can also serve as a community park resource outside of school hours. We aimed to: (i) implement and evaluate reliability of the System for Observing Outdoor Play Environments in Neighborhood Schools (SOOPEN), (ii) assess schoolyard use by children during recess and community members of all ages outside of school hours, and (iii) investigate relationships of schoolyard and children´s group characteristics with physical activity levels and prosocial interactions. Methods In this cross-sectional study, we observed student and community visitor behavior using SOOPEN at three urban elementary schoolyards in Tacoma, Washington, USA, prior to renovations intended to expand each facility’s use as a community park in neighborhoods with poor park access. We assessed interrater reliability using intraclass correlation coefficients and described current levels of schoolyard use (at the group level), physical activity, and prosocial behavior. Physical activity was assessed on a five-point scale and dichotomized to indicate moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). Social interactions were coded as prosocial, antisocial, or neutral. We examined associations of selected schoolyard features and group characteristics with group MVPA and prosocial behavior during recess using modified Poisson regression to estimate prevalence ratios (PR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results We observed a total of 981 activity-defined, informal groups in the schoolyards, and achieved good to excellent interrater reliability using SOOPEN. Community use of the schoolyards during evenings and weekends was limited (n = 56 groups). During 26, 25–50 min recess periods (n = 833 groups), 19% of groups were engaged in MVPA. Schoolyard areas with paved surfaces were associated with more MVPA (PR = 1.52, 95% CI: 1.04, 2.23) compared to field/grass areas; supervised groups were associated with less MVPA than groups not directly supervised by an adult (PR = 0.59, 95% CI: 0.36, 0.96). Schoolyard characteristics were not associated with prosocial behavior. Mixed-gender groups were associated with more MVPA and more prosocial behavior. Conclusions Our study using SOOPEN, a reliable new activity observation tool, highlights the multi-dimensional dynamics of physical activity and social interactions in schoolyards, which could be leveraged to promote healthy behaviors during and outside of school hours.
Read moreSocial Media Data for Environmental Sustainability: A Critical Review of Opportunities, Threats, and Ethical Use
Figure 1. A virtuous cycle for social media (SM) data andsustainability through transparency, inclusivity, and responsibledata use Social media data are transforming sustainability science. However, challenges from restrictions in data accessibility and ethical concerns regarding potential data misuse have threatened this nascent field. Here, we review the literature on the use of social media data in environmental and sustainability research. We find that they can play a novel and irreplaceable role in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals by allowing a nuanced understanding of human-nature interactions at scale, observing the dynamics of social-ecological change, and investigating the co-construction of nature values. We reveal threats to data access and highlight scientific responsibility to address trade-offs between research transparency and privacy protection, while promoting inclusivity. This contributes to a wider societal debate of social media data for sustainability science and for the common good.
Read moreThe Health and Wellbeing Effects of Forests, Trees and Green Space
This chapter provides an overview of the empirical evidence regarding the association between green space in general, and forests and trees in particular, and health outcomes. The evidence is organised by life stage, and within the three life stages – early life (Section 3.2.), adulthood (Section 3.3.) and the elderly (Section 3.4.) – by type of health outcome. At the end of each of these three sections, the strength of the evidence for the presence (or absence) of a beneficial or detrimental association for a particular health outcome, as assessed by the authors, is summarised. Section 3.6. is devoted to modifiers of the aforementioned associations, such as gender, ethnicity and socio-economic status. In the next section (3.7.), the evidence is placed in the context of global health challenges through elaborating on the potential of green space, and forests and trees in particular, in tackling major contributors to the global burden of disease. The final section concludes that the available evidence already strongly supports a wide range of beneficial associations including neurodevelopment in children, mental health and wellbeing, spiritual wellbeing and cardiometabolic health in adults, and mental health and wellbeing, cognitive ageing and longevity in the elderly. However, this evidence is predominantly based on studies on the health and wellbeing effects of green space, and the available evidence for such effects for forests and trees is still limited for most health outcomes. Moreover, these studies have been mainly conducted in high-income countries, with their generalisability to low- and middle-income countries not being self-evident. Furthermore, the causality of the observed associations is not always clear. Nevertheless, given that many of the involved health outcomes are among the major contributors of the global burden of disease, forests, trees and green spaces have a great potential for improving health and wellbeing of humans across all life stages in our rapidly urbanising world
Read moreThe Psychological Impact of the COVID-19 Lockdown in Italy: The Moderating Role of Gender and Emotion Regulation
Figure 1. Simple slope analysis of the interaction between gender and cognitive reappraisal (outcome: Covid-19 related stress, model 1). Many researchers suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic may have more negative effects on women than men. Accordingly, we hypothesized that women would experience greater COVID-19 related distress and more psychopathological symptoms than men during the first COVID-19 lockdown in Italy. Moreover, we expected emotion regulation strategies (cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression, as protective and risk factors respectively) to interact with gender in shaping psychological health. We administered an online questionnaire to 1519 participants during the first national COVID-19 lockdown in Italy. As predicted, women reported greater COVID-19 related distress and more psychopathological symptoms than men. Furthermore, women who made greater use of reappraisal reported lower levels of distress and fewer psychopathological symptoms. Suppression was associated with more psychopathological symptoms, but there were no interaction effects with gender. Our findings have implications for policymakers wishing to sustain women’s health during stressful situations such as the COVID-19 outbreak and beyond.
Read moreTime Spent Interacting with Nature Is Associated with Greater Well-Being for Girl Scouts Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic
The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic rendered daily life overwhelmingly difficult for many children. Given the compelling evidence for the physical and mental health benefits of interaction with nature, might it be the case that time spent interacting with nature buffered the negative effects of the pandemic for children? To address this question, we conducted a longitudinal investigation with a cohort of 137 Girl Scouts across two time periods: right before the onset of the pandemic (December 2019–February 2020) and one year later (December 2020–February 2021). We found that during the pandemic (compared to pre-pandemic), Girl Scouts fared worse on measures of physical activity, positive emotions, negative emotions, anxiety, behavioral difficulties, and problematic media use. However, by using mixed models, we also found that, on average, Girl Scouts who spent more time interacting with nature fared less poorly (in this sense, “did better”) on measures of physical activity, positive emotions, anxiety, and behavioral difficulties, irrespective of the pandemic. Further analysis revealed that these advantageous associations were present even when accounting for the amount of nature near each child’s home (as measured by the normalized difference vegetation index, percent of natural land cover, and self-reported access to nature). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study investigating nature interaction and children’s well-being to use data collected from the same cohort prior to and during the pandemic. In addition, we discuss the importance of opportunities to interact with nature for children’s well-being during future periods of social upheaval.
Read moreUnsheltered Homelessness in Public Natural Areas Across an Urban-to-Wildland System: Institutional Perspectives
Figure 1. Conceptual relationships and interactions among social and ecological subsystems related to unsheltered homelessness in public natural areas. This article conceptualizes homelessness on public lands within a social-ecological systems framework, exploring dynamics in public natural areas in the Seattle metropolitan area (USA), a system with a compact urban-to-wildland gradient. While prior research has studied the dynamics of unsheltered homelessness within particular parks or cities—often in areas where camping is prohibited—our interview-based study makes integrated considerations of these dynamics across a range of jurisdictions. We present a thematic analysis that examines professionally diverse perspectives on the dynamics, stressors, and outcomes of public natural area usage by unsheltered individuals. We found a generally uncoordinated system in continual motion, in which considerable resources were expended for short-term, site-specific solutions that yielded system-wide detrimental outcomes perceived for unsheltered individuals, social service and environmental institutions, and ecosystem health. We discuss how improved institutional coordination and mutual understanding about intersecting governance systems could sustain better public land, public health, and social outcomes.
Read moreUrban Green Space and Mental Health Among People Living Alone: The Mediating Roles of Relational and Collective Restoration in an 18-Country Sample
Figure 1. Theoretical model linking exposure to green space to mental health via social restoration processes. Rates of living alone, especially in more urbanised areas, are increasing across many industrialised countries, with associated increases in feelings of loneliness and poorer mental health. Recent studies have suggested that access to nature (e.g. parks and green spaces) can reduce the stressors associated with loneliness, partly through providing opportunities to nurture personal relationships (relational restoration) and engage in normative community activities (collective restoration). Such associations might vary across different household compositions and socio-demographic or geographical characteristics, but these have not been thoroughly tested. Using data collected across 18 countries/territories in 2017–2018, we grouped urban respondents into those living alone (n = 2062) and those living with a partner (n = 6218). Using multigroup path modelling, we tested whether the associations between neighbourhood greenspace coverage (1-km-buffer from home) and mental health are sequentially mediated by: (a) visits to greenspace; and subsequently (b) relationship and/or community satisfaction, as operationalisations of relational and collective restoration, respectively. We also tested whether any indirect associations varied among subgroups of respondents living alone. Analyses showed that visiting green space was associated with greater mental well-being and marginally lower odds of using anxiety/depression medication use indirectly, mediated via both relationship and community satisfaction. These indirect associations were equally strong among respondents living alone and those living with a partner. Neighbourhood green space was, additionally, associated with more visits among respondents living with a partner, whereas among those living alone, this was sensitive to the green space metric. Within subgroups of people living alone, few overall differences were found. Some indirect pathways were, nevertheless, stronger in males, under 60-year-olds, those with no financial strain, and residents in warmer climates. In conclusion, supporting those living alone, as well as those living with a partner, to more frequently access their local greenspaces could help improve mental health via promoting relational and collective restoration.
Read moreWhere Wilderness is Found: Evidence From 70,000 Trip Reports
Figure 1. The study area, showing the boundaries of the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, wilderness areas within it and the trailheads for the 470 hikes in the Washington Trails Association hiking guide that we included in the sample. Map created with the R programming language using the sf, ggspatial and cowplot packages (Dunnington, 2022; Pebesma & Bivand, 2023; R Core Team, 2022; Wilke, 2019). Data from USDA Forest Service, Washington Trails Association, Washington Department of Transportation, Environmental Systems Research Institute map service and Natural Earth, facilitated by the basemaps and rnaturalearth packages for R (ESRI, 2009; Massicotte & South, 2023; Schwalb-Willmann, 2022; USDA Forest Service, 2019; WSDOT, 2023; WTA, 2023c). 1. Outdoor recreation is an essential way many people engage with nature. The provision of public spaces for recreation intersects with conservation practices motivated by intertwined social and ecological values, such as strict practices associated with the concept of ‘wilderness’. Debates persist about how such concepts and management practices influence people’s recreation experiences. 2. Many US public land management agencies facilitate opportunities for outdoor recreation, relying on management frameworks and tools intended to foster specific experiential qualities. But these frameworks and tools assume simplistic relationships between settings and people’s experiences, and managers rarely assess these relationships. 3. This study uses a data set of nearly 70,000 crowdsourced trip reports from a hiking website to understand the qualities of visitors’ experiences on trails. We study the geographic distribution of experiential qualities commonly associated with US wilderness areas: aesthetics, awe, challenge, pristineness, quietness, solitude and timelessness. Using analytical methods that rely on machine learning and natural language processing, we identify these experiential qualities in trip reports from hundreds of routes, and use generalized linear models to analyse relationships between the frequency of each experiential quality and the route’s administrative, built, biophysical, geographic and social settings. 4. We find that four of the seven experiential qualities (aesthetics, awe, challenge and solitude) are commonly described in trip reports, each appearing in 15%–55% of manually coded reports. The extent to which setting characteristics explained variability in experiences differed, ranging from 34% of the variability in the proportion of trip reports describing aesthetics to 55% for awe. The setting characteristics associated with each experiential quality also differed, with characteristics such as trail mileage and summit destinations having stronger influences on experiential qualities than characteristics such as wilderness designation. 5. Synthesis and applications. Our findings suggest the need to consider more diverse variables in experience–setting relationships, develop more robust models to characterize those relationships and create new data sources to represent understudied variables. These advances would help empirically inform and improve frameworks and tools used for recreation and wilderness planning and monitoring, and potentially promote more responsive management to evolving social– ecological values.
Read moreA Framework for Pediatric Health Care Providers to Promote Active Play in Nature for Children
Aim: Time outdoors and contact with nature are positively associated with a broad range of children’s health outcomes. Pediatricians are uniquely positioned to promote active play in nature (APN) but may face challenges to do so during well child visits. The objective of this study was to understand barriers to children’s APN, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, and how health care providers could promote APN. Methods: Focus groups were conducted with 14 pediatric providers and interviews with 14 parents (7 in English, 7 in Spanish) of children ages 3 to 10 on public insurance. Dedoose was used for coding and content analysis. We contextualized this work within the WHO’s Commission on Social Determinants of Health conceptual framework. Results: Parents mentioned a range of material circumstances (time, finances, family circumstances, access to safe outdoor play spaces and age-appropriate activities) and behavioral/psychosocial factors (previous experiences in nature, safety, and weather concerns), many of which were exacerbated by the pandemic, that serve as barriers to children’s APN. Providers said they were motivated to talk to families about children’s APN but mentioned barriers to this conversation such as time, other pressing priorities for the visit, and lack of resources to give families. Conclusions: Many pre-pandemic barriers to APN were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Well-child visits may be an effective setting to discuss the benefits of APN during and beyond the pandemic, and there is a need for contextually appropriate resources for pediatric providers and families.
Read moreAn Open‐Source Image Classifier for Characterizing Recreational Activities Across Landscapes
Environmental management increasingly relies on information about ecosystem services for decision-making. Compared with regulating and provisioning services, cultural ecosystem services (CES) are particularly challenging to characterize and measure at management-relevant spatial scales, which has hindered their consideration in practice. Social media are one source of spatially explicit data on where environments support various types of CES, including physical activity. As tools for automating social media content analysis with artificial intelligence (AI) become more commonplace, studies are promoting the potential for AI and social media to provide new insights into CES. Few studies, however, have evaluated what biases are inherent to this approach and whether it is truly reproducible. This study introduces and applies a novel and open-source convolutional neural network model that uses computer vision to recognize recreational activities in the content of photographs shared as social media. We train a model to recognize 12 common recreational activities to map one aspect of recreation in a national forest in Washington, USA, based on images uploaded to Flickr. The image classifier performs well, overall, but varies by activity type. The model, which is trained with data from one region, performs nearly as well in a novel region of the same national forest, suggesting that it is broadly applicable across similar public lands. By comparing the results from our CNN model with an on-site survey, we find that there are apparent biases in which activities visitors choose to photograph and post to social media. After considering potential issues with underlying data and models, we map activity diversity and find that natural features (such as rivers, lakes and higher elevations) and some built infrastructure (campgrounds, trails, roads) support a greater diversity of activities in this region. We make our model and training weights available in open-source software, to facilitate reproducibility and further model development by researchers who seek to understand recreational values at management-relevant scales—and more broadly provide an example of how to build, test and apply AI to understand recreation and other types of CESs.
Read moreBiodiversity and Infrastructure Interact to Drive Tourism to and Within Costa Rica
Costa Rica. Credit: Domenico Convertini, flickr Nature-based tourism has potential to sustain biodiversity and economic development, yet the degree to which biodiversity drives tourism patterns, especially relative to infrastructure, is poorly understood. Here, we examine relationships between different types of biodiversity and different types of tourism in Costa Rica to address three questions. First, what is the contribution of species richness in explaining patterns of tourism in protected areas and country-wide in Costa Rica? Second, how similar are the patterns for birdwatching tourism compared to those of overall tourism? Third, where in the country is biodiversity contributing more than other factors to birdwatching tourism and to overall tourism? We integrated environmental data and species occurrence records to build species distribution models for 66 species of amphibians, reptiles, and mammals, and for 699 bird species. We used built infrastructure variables (hotel density and distance to roads), protected area size, distance to protected areas, and distance to water as covariates to evaluate the relative importance of biodiversity in predicting birdwatching tourism (via eBird checklists) and overall tourism (via Flickr photographs) within Costa Rica. We found that while the role of infrastructure is larger than any other variable, it alone is not sufficient to explain birdwatching and tourism patterns. Including biodiversity adds predictive power and alters spatial patterns of predicted tourism. Our results suggest that investments in infrastructure must be paired with successful biodiversity conservation for tourism to generate the economic revenue that countries like Costa Rica derive from it, now and into the future.
Read moreCoding Manual for a Study With the Girl Scouts of Western Washington on the Importance of (Not Just Visual) Interaction With Nature
Linked vs. Non-Linked Nature Description: Coding Example #1 This technical report provides our coding manual – our systematic method to code the qualitative narrative data – from a study of Girl Scouts’ meaningful nature experiences. Other authors on this study (but not on this coding manual) include Joshua J. Lawler, Pooja S. Tandon, Gregory N. Bratman, Sara P. Perrins, and Frances Boyens. Our research question was whether children’s nature interactions that are embodied (vs. only visual) would be associated with eudemonic wellbeing. Using the interaction pattern approach detailed in this coding manual, we coded written narratives from 127 Girl Scouts (8-11 years old) about a recent meaningful nature experience, and, through a novel questionnaire, assessed Presence, a eudemonic state of wellbeing. A total of 372 interactions patterns were coded from the Girl Scouts’ written narratives. Participants who enacted embodied interactions with nature (e.g., “making snowman,” “wrapping arms around tree,” “talking to chickens”) experienced a greater sense of Presence than participants whose interactions relied solely on vision (e.g., “seeing snow,” “seeing moss,” “watching pileated woodpecker”). This technical report provides open access to our core intellectual qualitative work on this project, and can be used by others seeking to employ an interaction pattern approach, or more generally seeking to characterize people’s interactions with nature.
Read moreDevelopment and Validation of an Attitudes Towards Spending Time in Nature Scale
Figure 1. Pictorial representation of methodology steps Time spent in nature (TSN) is related to improved health and well-being; however, many adults spend little time in nature. Interventions based on health behavior theories may be effective at increasing TSN. Attitudes toward a behavior have been shown to be a strong predictor of both intention and behaviors, but valid and reliable measures regarding these attitudes are lacking. The study aim was to develop a valid and reliable attitude toward TSN scale. This scale was developed using a sequential procedure: domain identification and item generation, content validity, question pretesting, survey administration, item reduction, factors extraction, dimensionality, reliability, and validity. The investigative team generated 49 unique items. Content validity and pretesting reduced the item set to 21. A countrywide sample of 2109 adults (50.3% male, median age = 58.1; 38.8% non-White) completed an online survey. Using split-half measures, principal components analysis indicated a three-factor solution: positive attitudes, negative attitudes, and concerns about being in nature. The factor structure was upheld in confirmatory factor analyses with strong internal consistency (α = 0.92 positive attitudes; 0.84 negative attitudes; 0.84 concerns). The scales were strongly related to intentions and TSN with large effect sizes. The study resulted in a reliable and valid three-factor attitudes toward spending time in nature scale that could be used to develop interventions to increase TSN.
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