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30 GREAT OUTDOORS AMERICA “A healthy mind in a healthy body.” The ancient Roman motto holds relevance and urgency today for America’s young people. Obesity rates have doubled and tripled in the past 20 years, with a dangerous rise in diabetes and heart disease. Rich Reid / National Geographic Stock
Childhood obesity has reached alarming levels, calling for preventive strategies to improve children’s health, including spending more time outdoors. Promoting outdoor activities among children also means reconnecting them to nature. An alarming rise in obesity in children has triggered a spike in weight-related disorders such as diabetes, high-blood pressure, and heart disease among young Americans. It has fueled new attention to the importance of outdoor activities in individual well-being, especially children’s health. About eight million children are overweight, and obesity rates compared to two decades ago are double in children and triple in adolescents. According to the Surgeon General, only a quarter of American adults report that they participate in physical activity at levels recommended by health experts. Nearly 30 percent report no regular physical activity at all during leisure hours. Children are spending less time outside, more indoors. About half the people 12 to 21 years of age regularly participate in vigorous physical activity, while a quarter report none at all. Contributing to this situation are hectic lifestyles, shorter vacations, changing family structures, changing activity preferences, the lack of readily accessible playgrounds for many children, parental fears about safety Chapter 5 Our Children’s Future: Combating Obesity and Encouraging Environmental Education and crime, as well as competition for time from other pursuits. A 2005 Kaiser Family Foundation study found, for example, that the average American child spends 44 hours per week in front of some kind of electronic screen. School policies that undervalue recess, physical education, and outdoor activities also have taken a toll. The most important forms of participation in outdoor recreation are those that become routine and regular, part of one’s lifestyle. The greatest health benefits are associated with close-to-home outdoor recreation. Proximity, in other words, is a critical variable determining rates of participation, and this should serve as a wake-up call for public officials and urban planners to ensure that parks and open space are woven into a community’s fabric, an essential ingredient in community livability. Until recently, there was not a recognized base of rigorous scientific research linking parks, outdoor activities, and recreation to better health outcomes. Consequently, the words “recreation” and “outdoor resources” provided little traction or political salience in setting priorities for improving health. The link between lack of physical activity and obesity has now been documented and provides a compelling case, during the ongoing national debate on health care reform, for promoting greater outdoor activity as a cost-effective, preventive approach to better health. OUR CHILDREN’S FUTURE 31
Page 1 and 2: Great Outdoors America THE REPORT O
Page 3 and 4: Foreword The Outdoor Resources Revi
Page 5 and 6: John Burcham / National Geographic
Page 7 and 8: Families that play together stay to
Page 9 and 10: network of Blueways along rivers an
Page 11 and 12: • Using the Migratory Bird Conser
Page 13 and 14: What ORRG Found Keeping outdoor res
Page 15 and 16: increases are boating, kayaking, dr
Page 17 and 18: Disparate Federal Funding Sources O
Page 19 and 20: Among them: Department of Transport
Page 21 and 22: The Gap in State and Local Funding
Page 23 and 24: State Programs Use a Variety of Fun
Page 25 and 26: Maryland Open Space Program The Out
Page 27 and 28: Overcoming Roadblocks to Effectiven
Page 29 and 30: Carr Clifton / National Geographic
Page 31: GIS Technology Can Further Conserva
Page 35 and 36: outdoor learning. Cell phones progr
Page 37 and 38: The Growing Role of Private Steward
Page 39 and 40: The private, for-profit recreation
Page 41 and 42: Landscape Conservation: An Effectiv
Page 43 and 44: The U.S. Forest Service Embraces La
Page 45 and 46: as an initiative to protect wetland
Page 47 and 48: Threats from Climate Change Climate
Page 49 and 50: Conflicts over Public Land Use Conf
Page 51 and 52: Recommendations: A Policy Agenda fo
Page 53 and 54: An increment of the Land and Water
Page 55 and 56: Interagency Cooperation across the
Page 57 and 58: • new excise taxes for conservati
Page 59 and 60: MEMBER REPRESENTATIVES Bob Dulli De

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