UK green space increasingly important part of modern life

[DocMartin Williams]

While HK govt inflicts war on nature, this just in from UK government:

 

The annual report from the Monitor of Engagement with the Natural Environment (MENE) survey, the national survey on people and the natural environment, reveals that the English adult population made approximately 2.93 billion visits to natural environments between March 2013 to February 2014 – the highest number for 5 years.

The report also provides the latest evidence that over the last 5 years our enthusiasm for spending time outdoors relaxing and unwinding, watching wildlife and enjoying the scenery as a way to keep healthy has markedly increased.

…

Since the first MENE annual report was published in 2010, the proportion of people taking at least one visit to the outdoors in the previous week for health and exercise has increased significantly from 34% in 2009 to 2010, to 45% in 2013 to 2014.

…

respondents to the survey consistently agreed that being outdoors made them feel ‘calm and relaxed’ and the proportion agreeing that a visit was ‘refreshing and revitalising’ was at its highest in the most recent survey

people who visited natural environments several times a day, every day, or several times a week rated themselves as having greater life satisfaction, more self-worth, more happiness and less anxiety than less regular visitors

…

three-quarters of visits were less than 2 hours in duration, while two-thirds involved walking to the visit destination and almost four-fifths were taken within 2 miles of the visit start point

96% of people ‘agree’ or ‘strongly agree’ that having green spaces close to where they live is important

factors relating to lack of time were most likely to be cited as reasons for not visiting the natural environment more often or at all

The survey found that 58% of the population make one leisure visit or more to the outdoors every week and the latest survey report suggests that green spaces near home are an increasingly important part of modern life.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/survey-reveals-importance-of-outdoor-visits-in-england

 

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