Outdoor Recreation Is Our Best Hope to Curb Climate Change

It might sound crazy, but the data doesn’t lie.

Source: Canva

Pro-Environmental Behavior (PEB) has been shown to be influenced by outdoor recreation opportunities. In a , data was collected in three State Parks to examine potential predictors of PEB. Through interviewing 319 people (N = 319), Larson found, “Outdoor recreation participation in adulthood was the strongest direct predictor of PEB (β = 0.54, t = 5.70)”. The t-value (“t”) measures the size of the difference relative the the variation in the sample (“N”). A higher t-value indicates larger differences between the sample set.

To better understand the quantitative measurements by Larson, I looked at two States to try and find correlation between participation in outdoor recreation and rankings. I’ve chosen Vermont and Mississippi in this example because they are at the extreme ends of the SDG scale (Vermont highest; Mississippi lowest) and the extreme ends of the scale for participation in outdoor recreation (Vermont high % of outdoor rec; Mississippi low % of outdoor rec).

Vermont = High Outdoor Recreation + High SDG

Over 72% of Vermont Residents participate in outdoor recreation each year (…