Newsletter from Thursday, June 25, 2020
Dear NCH2 Community,
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This newsletter highlights an important upcoming event as well as some research of interest.
Upcoming Events: Virtual Coffee & Discussion Thursday, July 23rd 9:30 A.M. - 11:00 A.M. CDT Topic: Creative Programming in the Midst of the Pandemic; Virtual and Beyond |
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Every organization has had to rethink their programs and how they can be delivered when there are stringent limits on face-to-face gatherings.
During this NCH2 Coffee and Discussion, three innovative programs will be introduced followed by breakout discussions.
Program 1: Mighty Acorns: Bringing Nature into the Classroom – Carolyn Wagner, Mighty Acorns Program Coordinator at the Conservation Foundation. Mighty Acorns puts into practice what students in grades 3-5 learn in the classroom to the outdoors; however, this year the students were not able to meet in the parks and preserves. Carolyn and her staff brought the outdoors inside through virtual educational programs. Carolyn will provide an overview of the program and how they made a virtual educational video for teachers.
Program 2: Farm Camp Shifts from Children to Family Focus – Amy Phillips, Youth Program Manager at the Conservation Foundation. Like most organizations this spring, children’s outdoor educational program had to be retooled in order to continue this summer. Even though we can’t hold our June summer camps as planned, getting kids outside and connected to nature is a core part of our mission, and something we strongly believe will help ground our young ones during this unsettling time. In an effort to provide families with a little Nature Rx, we’re offering Family Adventures. Amy will talk about how they provided timed programs for families to visit and do programs at the farm together.
Program 3: Stepping Away from the Screen or Beyond Virtual – Adam Kessel, Program Coordinator, Forest Preserve District of Cook County. The Forest Preserves of Cook County has successfully used typical virtual programs mostly through FaceBook Live and FaceBook posts to connect our guests with nature or nature activities during the pandemic. We’ve also tried or will be trying some different models that use low tech or no tech tools/resources to provide “programs” for a variety of audiences. Adam Kessel, Program Coordinator for our South Zone team will talk about several of these projects that include “I Have Nature Kits”; Beaubien Celebration@Home and our focus for our Youth Outdoor Ambassadors to complete Nature@Home projects or exploring nature spaces in their communities as part of their summer work.
C&D Hopeful Take-aways:
• What is needed (infrastructure, technology, logistics) to reinvent programs for current parameters?
• Can new program delivery models increase equitable access?
• What is an organization’s role/goal in getting people outside?
During this NCH2 Coffee and Discussion, three innovative programs will be introduced followed by breakout discussions.
Program 1: Mighty Acorns: Bringing Nature into the Classroom – Carolyn Wagner, Mighty Acorns Program Coordinator at the Conservation Foundation. Mighty Acorns puts into practice what students in grades 3-5 learn in the classroom to the outdoors; however, this year the students were not able to meet in the parks and preserves. Carolyn and her staff brought the outdoors inside through virtual educational programs. Carolyn will provide an overview of the program and how they made a virtual educational video for teachers.
Program 2: Farm Camp Shifts from Children to Family Focus – Amy Phillips, Youth Program Manager at the Conservation Foundation. Like most organizations this spring, children’s outdoor educational program had to be retooled in order to continue this summer. Even though we can’t hold our June summer camps as planned, getting kids outside and connected to nature is a core part of our mission, and something we strongly believe will help ground our young ones during this unsettling time. In an effort to provide families with a little Nature Rx, we’re offering Family Adventures. Amy will talk about how they provided timed programs for families to visit and do programs at the farm together.
Program 3: Stepping Away from the Screen or Beyond Virtual – Adam Kessel, Program Coordinator, Forest Preserve District of Cook County. The Forest Preserves of Cook County has successfully used typical virtual programs mostly through FaceBook Live and FaceBook posts to connect our guests with nature or nature activities during the pandemic. We’ve also tried or will be trying some different models that use low tech or no tech tools/resources to provide “programs” for a variety of audiences. Adam Kessel, Program Coordinator for our South Zone team will talk about several of these projects that include “I Have Nature Kits”; Beaubien Celebration@Home and our focus for our Youth Outdoor Ambassadors to complete Nature@Home projects or exploring nature spaces in their communities as part of their summer work.
C&D Hopeful Take-aways:
• What is needed (infrastructure, technology, logistics) to reinvent programs for current parameters?
• Can new program delivery models increase equitable access?
• What is an organization’s role/goal in getting people outside?
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Events Happening Now:
A new virtual art exhibition titled Fresh Air, developed in partnership with Project Onward, the Forest Preserves of Cook County, and Brushwood Center at Ryerson Woods, features artists from Project Onward, a studio space and program for artists with disabilities. Artists created pieces for the exhibition inspired by their experiences with nature which included field trips to the Forest Preserves' Trailside Museum of Natural History and Brushwood Center at Ryerson Woods. Fresh Air captures the human yearning for connection to the outside, after months of shelter-in-place in Illinois and around the country. The exhibition was originally intended to travel between gallery space at Brushwood Center, Trailside and other Forest Preserves sites, but the current pandemic has moved the exhibition to a virtual platform. This virtual format will still showcase the creations of these talented artists and make their work accessible to a larger audience. Please consider sharing this exhibition with your networks to help promote this wonderful collaboration and communicate the value of nature as both artistic inspiration and essential for restoring our spirits. Please find a press release attached and social media graphics above, visit the exhibition online at https://www.brushwoodcenter.org/events/art-exhibition/fresh-air. |
A painting from the exhibition Fresh Air, titled "Owl in Flight," by David Hence.
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Papers of the Month:
Dumitru, A., N. Frantzeskaki and M. Collier (2020). "Identifying principles for the design of robust impact evaluation frameworks for nature-based solutions in cities." Environmental Science & Policy 112: 107-116.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1462901119303314
Abstract: Cities all over the world are confronting intertwined environmental, social and economic problems and aim to become resilient to climate change and promote wellbeing for all their citizens. Nature-based solutions have been proposed as a promising policy approach to addressing urban problems for the potential they have to deliver multiple benefits and foster wellbeing for individuals and communities. However, the evidence for their multiple benefits is rather scarce and highly fragmented, and more robust frameworks for the monitoring and assessment of their impacts are needed to guide urban policy-making. This paper focuses on the current state of impact assessment of nature-based solutions in Europe and through a systematic review of the literature identifies four conceptual problems and three empirical gaps that impede the accumulation of solid evidence regarding of the impacts of different types of nature-based solutions for different social groups; as well as of the contextual conditions that contribute to their performance and delivery of multiple outcomes. Based on the identified mis-conceptualizations and gaps, we derive a series of principles that should guide the development of robust impact assessment frameworks for nature-based solutions. We discuss the policy implications of these gaps and principles. We conclude by making a series of recommendations that should inform the design of impact monitoring and evaluation frameworks in cities, in order to develop the comparative evidence base on the effectiveness of nature-based solutions. This, in turn, can inform urban decision-making on the appropriate design, implementation, and long-term regeneration of nature-based solutions, to ensure long-term delivery of important ecosystem services for different social groups.
Vert, C., M. Gascon, O. Ranzani, S. Márquez, M. Triguero-Mas, G. Carrasco-Turigas, L. Arjona, S. Koch, M. Llopis, D. Donaire-Gonzalez, L. R. Elliott and M. Nieuwenhuijsen (2020). "Physical and mental health effects of repeated short walks in a blue space environment: A randomised crossover study." Environmental Research 188: 109812.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0013935120307076
Overview: Blue spaces may benefit mental health and promote physical activity, although the evidence is still scarce. And benefits on physical health are less consistent. The objective of this randomized crossover study was to assess psychological and cardiovascular responses to blue spaces’ exposure. A sample of 59 healthy adult office workers was randomly assigned to a different environment (i.e. blue space, urban space, and control site) on 4 days each week, for 3 weeks. For 20 min per day, they either walked along a blue or an urban space or rested at a control site. Before, during and/or after the exposure, we measured self-reported well-being and mood, blood pressure, and heart rate variability parameters. For well-being, we also assessed the duration of these potential effects over time (at least 4 h after exposure). We found significantly improved well-being and mood responses immediately after walking in the blue space compared with walking in the urban space or when resting in the control site. Cardiovascular responses showed increased activity of the sympathetic nervous system, both during and after walking along the blue and urban spaces. However, cardiovascular responses measured after the walks, showed no statistically significant differences between the blue and the urban space environments. Short walks in blue spaces can benefit both well-being and mood. However, we did not observe a positive effect of blue spaces for any of the cardiovascular outcomes assessed in this study.
You can also view our papers of the month as well as other peer reviewed papers on our Recent Research page.
Happy Reading!
Dumitru, A., N. Frantzeskaki and M. Collier (2020). "Identifying principles for the design of robust impact evaluation frameworks for nature-based solutions in cities." Environmental Science & Policy 112: 107-116.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1462901119303314
Abstract: Cities all over the world are confronting intertwined environmental, social and economic problems and aim to become resilient to climate change and promote wellbeing for all their citizens. Nature-based solutions have been proposed as a promising policy approach to addressing urban problems for the potential they have to deliver multiple benefits and foster wellbeing for individuals and communities. However, the evidence for their multiple benefits is rather scarce and highly fragmented, and more robust frameworks for the monitoring and assessment of their impacts are needed to guide urban policy-making. This paper focuses on the current state of impact assessment of nature-based solutions in Europe and through a systematic review of the literature identifies four conceptual problems and three empirical gaps that impede the accumulation of solid evidence regarding of the impacts of different types of nature-based solutions for different social groups; as well as of the contextual conditions that contribute to their performance and delivery of multiple outcomes. Based on the identified mis-conceptualizations and gaps, we derive a series of principles that should guide the development of robust impact assessment frameworks for nature-based solutions. We discuss the policy implications of these gaps and principles. We conclude by making a series of recommendations that should inform the design of impact monitoring and evaluation frameworks in cities, in order to develop the comparative evidence base on the effectiveness of nature-based solutions. This, in turn, can inform urban decision-making on the appropriate design, implementation, and long-term regeneration of nature-based solutions, to ensure long-term delivery of important ecosystem services for different social groups.
Vert, C., M. Gascon, O. Ranzani, S. Márquez, M. Triguero-Mas, G. Carrasco-Turigas, L. Arjona, S. Koch, M. Llopis, D. Donaire-Gonzalez, L. R. Elliott and M. Nieuwenhuijsen (2020). "Physical and mental health effects of repeated short walks in a blue space environment: A randomised crossover study." Environmental Research 188: 109812.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0013935120307076
Overview: Blue spaces may benefit mental health and promote physical activity, although the evidence is still scarce. And benefits on physical health are less consistent. The objective of this randomized crossover study was to assess psychological and cardiovascular responses to blue spaces’ exposure. A sample of 59 healthy adult office workers was randomly assigned to a different environment (i.e. blue space, urban space, and control site) on 4 days each week, for 3 weeks. For 20 min per day, they either walked along a blue or an urban space or rested at a control site. Before, during and/or after the exposure, we measured self-reported well-being and mood, blood pressure, and heart rate variability parameters. For well-being, we also assessed the duration of these potential effects over time (at least 4 h after exposure). We found significantly improved well-being and mood responses immediately after walking in the blue space compared with walking in the urban space or when resting in the control site. Cardiovascular responses showed increased activity of the sympathetic nervous system, both during and after walking along the blue and urban spaces. However, cardiovascular responses measured after the walks, showed no statistically significant differences between the blue and the urban space environments. Short walks in blue spaces can benefit both well-being and mood. However, we did not observe a positive effect of blue spaces for any of the cardiovascular outcomes assessed in this study.
You can also view our papers of the month as well as other peer reviewed papers on our Recent Research page.
Happy Reading!