September 2011 - Parks & Recreation - 27

I N TE R V I E W

Rephrase the Question

Gary Green challenges the notion of a generation stuck indoors.

e were asking kids the
wrong questions, " says
Dr. Gary T.
Green, referring to research efforts over the past decade attempting to quantify the amount of time
kids spend outdoors. " We were
asking, 'Did you go out and play
ball?' 'Did you go running?' " In our
national anxiety over a generation
of children being more connected to media than to nature, says
Green, associate professor at University of Georgia's Warnell School
of Forestry and Natural Resources,
we've made the faulty assumption
that being outdoors is equivalent to
being physically active.
Once the questions change,
says Green, a more accurate picture of kids' habits emerges. Did
you text outside? Did you watch
movies or play some Nintendo DS
games outside? Did you hang out
with your friends outside? The research that Green and colleague
Dr. Ken Cordell of the USDA Forest Service have conducted in
their work with the National Survey on Recreation and the Environment (a collaborative effort
between the USDA Forest Service, the University of Georgia,

and the University of Tennessee)
has led them to the conclusion that
children and youth spend much
more time outside than we give
them credit for. When more than
1,200 American households were
randomly surveyed about their
kids' time spent outdoors, the results were encouraging.
As the research report summarizes, " A total of 61 percent of
kids 6 to 19 reported spending
two or more hours outdoors on
a typical weekday the week preceding the household interview.
Over three-fourths (approximately 77 percent) spent two or more
hours outdoors on a typical weekend day the preceding week. One
half of kids spent four or more
hours outdoors on a typical weekend day. Less than 5 percent spent
no time outdoors on either weekdays or weekend days. "
Green knows there are those
who might dismiss the importance of these statistics-given
that youth are not necessarily engaging in vigorous physical activity while outdoors. But, he cautions,
we must recognize that, when it
comes to this generation of youth,
" the world has always come to
them....We should try and bridge
the gap between under-activity

and being outdoors, but that begins with simply being outside in
the first place. "
Green poi nts to other research being done in Georgia
state parks examining place attachment, bonding with the outdoors in general, and developing
environmental sensitivity. Getting kids outdoors, he explains,
is impor ta nt to their g row th
and development in ways much
deeper and subtler than just expanding fitness opportunities.
We should ack nowledge that
connections with nature are happening at some level whenever
one spends time outside-and
use those connections to expand
kids' opportunities to enjoy and
appreciate nature.
Green's message is not about
discounting the importance of
physical activity or equating time
spent texting with time spent jogging. Instead, he says, we must
try to understand accurately what
kids are doing and what they
want-and then meet them where
they are. And more often than we
may realize, Green insists, where
they are is outside.

Getting kids
outdoors is
important to their
growth and
development in
ways much deeper
and subtler than
just expanding
fitness
opportunities,
says University of
Georgia professor
Gary Green.

-Interview by Maureen
Hannan, Senior Editor,
Parks & Recreation

www.NRPA .ORG

SEPTEMBER 2011

Parks & Recreation 25

September 2011 - Parks & Recreation

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