{"id":1155,"date":"2026-09-20T16:36:51","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T20:36:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iterudio.com\/?p=1155"},"modified":"2026-09-20T16:39:38","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T20:39:38","slug":"greenspace-cause-and-effect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iterudio.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/20\/greenspace-cause-and-effect\/","title":{"rendered":"Greenspace cause and effect …"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There was a “movement” in the 1990s inspired by Robert Bly’s book Iron John: A Book About Men<\/em> that involved “wilderness retreats.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m not sure about the specifics – drum circles and chanting were involved. To me it sounded a little like “Boy Scouts” for adults – but that isn’t important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For what it is worth – The Boy Scouts of America were founded in 1910 and were much more concerned with “character building” than “connecting with nature.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course most folks still lived in “rural” areas in the United States until around 1920. The 1920 census showed that 51.2% of the U.S. population (~54 million people) lived in urban areas, while 48.8% (~52 million people) lived in rural areas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The industrial revolution had been motivating the shift from rural to urban for 40 years by then. If you live and work on a farm – “nature” is something you deal with on a daily basis. A “break from the ordinary” for those folks would have been a trip to the big city …<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Health Benefits …<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There has (probably) been the perception that “country living” was “healthier” than “city living” for over 1,000 years. World history can be framed as “city” vs “farm” – which is usually a, either\/or logical error. Human history isn’t a story of city OR farm – but city AND farm. Those folks living in the city need the agricultural products those farm produce – and those farmers need the city as a market for their produce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is easy to forget that for MOST of human history the “average person” was a subsistence farmer. Those subsistence farmers would also have been mostly illiterate – so they didn’t leave a lot of manuscripts for historians to examine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reality of subsistence farming is that starvation is just a crop failure away – but again if the crops fail, those city folks are also staring starvation in the face … <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is interesting to point out that Thomas Jefferson’s vision for the future of the United States was a collection of yeoman farmers. His theory was that the “independent landowner who cultivates his own family farm” would be less prone to corruption. BUT his theory revolved around the the yeoman farmer being morally superior to the “city dweller” – i.e. “public health” wasn’t his concern …<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under the category of “just me guessing” – poor sanitation and infectious diseases would explain MOST of the perception of country life being “healthier” than city life . The stereotype of the “well to do” 100+ years ago would include a “country home” where they could escape the heat and stench of the “big city”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BUT is modern city living inherently LESS healthy than “country living?” Well, the answer is “it depends” – i.e. there are a large number of other factors involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Greenspace …<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I’m told that “Forest bathing” has been a thing is Japan since the early 1980s. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Google tells me:
“known as shinrin-yoku in Japanese, is a nature-based wellness practice that involves immersing your senses in the atmosphere of a forest to improve mental and physical health. Literally translating to “absorbing the forest atmosphere,” the practice does not involve physical swimming or bathing; rather, it is about slowly and mindfully connecting with nature.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Now, trying to separate “mental” and “physical” health is impossible – so I won’t try.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What I’m curious about is the cause and effect public health benefits of “greenspace.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The is (probably) a direct correlation between the amount of “greenspace” and and a large number of societal ills. With the obvious “statistics 101” response being that correlation never equals causation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am willing to believe that “a walk in greenspace” or forest bathing has positive mental and physical benefits. Would more “greenspace” improve public health? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, the answer is “it depends.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consider that Andrew Carnegie (once the richest man in the world( helped build 2,509 libraries between 1883 and 1929. Mr Carnegie would pay for construction and the municipality had to commit to “commit public funds (usually 10% of the building’s cost per year) to maintain, operate, and stock the library with books” (thank you Google\/Wikipedia).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same idea would apply to building “greenspace.” Building the park is only half of the problem – the park has to be maintained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

IF the community is willing to invest the resources to maintain the greenspace then that is an investment in the community THAT would be much different than greenspace funded by “not the local community”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just like building a library won’t automatically improve literacy – building greenspace won’t automatically improve public health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, more greenspace would most likely correlate to better public health – but the CAUSE of the improvement would be the shift in community values that prioritized the building and maintenance of that greenspace. Just building a park that goes unused and is abandoned after a few years will do nothing positive for public health.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There was a “movement” in the 1990s inspired by Robert Bly’s book Iron John: A Book About Men that involved “wilderness retreats.” I’m not sure about the specifics – drum circles and chanting were involved. To me it sounded a … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1154,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-philosophy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iterudio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iterudio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iterudio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iterudio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iterudio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1155"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/iterudio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1155\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1162,"href":"https:\/\/iterudio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1155\/revisions\/1162"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iterudio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iterudio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iterudio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iterudio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}