If you’re like me, maybe you’re thinking: ‘Forest bathing? Sounds like a bunch of hippies skinny-dipping in the woods.’
Wrong. Contrary to my own initial reaction, forest bathing has nothing to do with bathing and it doesn’t even have to take place in a forest. Rather, the Japanese practice of Shinrin-Yoku, which translates to "forest bathing" or "taking in the forest atmosphere,” emphasizes the importance of slowing down to connect with nature. It was developed in Japan during the 1980s and has become a cornerstone of preventive health care and healing in modern Japanese medicine.
My first “forest bath” was in Colorado, a much slower (and less exhausting) alternative to the hiking, mountain biking, and skiing the region is best known for. The practice has gotten so popular in the Rocky Mountain state that guides are available in half a dozen cities and a forest therapy guide training program in Colorado this September filled up many months in advance. Forest bathing is growing in popularity around the world and guides can even be found in major metropolitan cities like London and New York City. That said, the blue spruce, Ponderosa pine, white fir, quaking aspen, and other stunning and aromatic trees native to Colorado make it an excellent place to get your nature bath on. According to the
Association of Nature and Forest Therapy
(yes, “forest therapy” is actually a thing), forest therapy is a
“research-based framework for supporting healing and wellness through
immersion in forests and other natural environments.” Studies have
demonstrated a wide array of health benefits associated with spending
time in nature, from
lowering cortisol concentrations and blood pressure to improving mood and cognition. Many doctors are even writing “
nature prescriptions”, instructing patients to begin spending more time outdoors. Last year, the National Park Service launched a five-year
Healthy Parks Healthy People
strategic plan to promote parks as health resources that will
contribute positively to people’s physical, mental, and spiritual
health...
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If you are a government agency or environmentalist and there is insufficient demand for your product, what do you do? Why you turn to a government program to overturn the free market and increase demand. In NM, our legislature has created the Outdoor Equity Fund to do just that:
The Outdoor Equity Fund — the first of its kind in the nation — will
provide microgrants to nonprofit organizations like FYI as well as local
governments and tribes, to purchase fishing poles, tents and other
outdoor equipment and to cover the cost of transportation and entry fees
to recreation areas. A 2018 report from the Outdoor Industry
Association found that a decreasing number of young adults engage in
outdoor recreation, and expensive equipment was the primary reason why.
Cost may also help explain why, here in the Southwest, 60 percent of
people living within 50 miles of a national forest identify as people of
color, but they account for only about 19 percent of National Forest
visitors, according to a 2018 study in the Journal of Forestry.
Not enough demand by the general public for your product? Even lower demand among minorities? Then use the political process to encourage and provide a subsidy for it. The enviros have been struggling for years to increase minorities in their membership and minority utilization of federal lands. For example, the typical wilderness visitor is a white male from the upper income bracket with an advanced degree. Not exactly your average Joe. One might ask, "Why do we keep adding Wilderness areas to benefit this elite group? Why do we tax lower income folks to pay for programs primarily used by the better off in our society"? Having failed to successfully address these issues on there own, they now turn to government for a fix. We'll see how that works out for them.
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