Falling involvement in nature-based activities

Came across this article by Pergams and Zaradic (2008) titled ‘Evidence for a Fundamental and Pervasive Shift Away from Nature-Based Recreation’ and felt that the interesting results warranted sharing. The authors found, based on records in the U.S., Japan and Spain, that the number of visitors to national parks in these studied countries have fallen. They then extrapolated this to conclude that fewer people now participate in nature related activities. In the U.S.’s case, although the number of hikers and trekkers increased, this was offset by a drop in participation in activities such as hunting and fishing. This is contrary to what I believed as I thought such activities would instead become more common as affluence increased.

Fortunately, Singapore has not seen such a decline in visitors to her nature reserves yet (Auger, 2013). However, with Bukit Timah Nature Reserve’s recent closure, it would be interesting to see if people spread out to the other nature reserves or stop going altogether. If the latter occurs, it would be a pity as I feel even the other nature reserves and parks do have a lot to offer to visitors.

Here are some pictures from various nature areas in Singapore:

Collared kingfisher at Clementi Woods.

A spider that mimics bird droppings at Admiralty Park.

A scorpion under UV light at Lower Peirce Reservoir.

Tiger beetle at Dairy Farm.

So why is this a concern? Well, studies have shown that participation in nature-based activities during childhood does have an impact on environmental behaviours when they are older (Nancy M. Wells and Lekies, 2006). They found that consumptive and appreciative nature activities during childhood to be good indicators of environmental attitudes later on. Meanwhile, participation in environmental education programmes did not seem to have an effect. With nature-based activities participation rate currently falling, this might have an impact on the conservation movement in the years to come.

References:

AUGER, T. 2013. Living in a Garden: The Greening of Singapore, Editions Didier Millet.

NANCY M. WELLS & LEKIES, K. S. 2006. Nature and the Life Course: Pathways from Childhood Nature Experiences to Adult Environmentalism. Children Youth and Environments, 16, 1-24.

PERGAMS, O. R. W. & ZARADIC, P. A. 2008. Evidence for a Fundamental and Pervasive Shift Away from Nature-Based Recreation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 105, 2295-2300.

How should we portray animals?

I came across this article titled The Meaning of Animal Portraiture in a Museum Setting: Implications for Conservation and it stood out as an interesting article to discuss. Basically, it is about the impacts that an animal portrait photo exhibition can have on the visitors.

The article starts by looking at the effectiveness of zoos and aquariums and concludes that people tend to be more interested in the animal itself than conservation efforts or the welfare of the animals. Conservation information came behind these two points (Kalof, Zammit-Lucia, & Kelly, 2011). Thus, such animal attraction organisations face an uphill task in encouraging conservation to the public. However, its popularity means that it remains an important way for conservationists to influence the public’s attitudes.

Are zoos really effective in encouraging conservation? Or are they just another attraction?

The article then moves on to the portrayal of animals in other media such as television and film, before moving on to the main focus: how does the way an animal is portrayed in a photograph in a museum affect the viewer’s opinion of animals? The photos from this exhibit were by the photographer Joe Zammit-Lucia and were done in a studio portrait style.

By exploring how the visitors felt about the word “Animal” before and after viewing the exhibit, they arrived at an interesting result. There was a large increase in the number of people who felt that animals, like humans, had unique personalities. Words such as “wild”, “violent” and “nature” associated less to “Animals” after the exhibition.

So what does this mean for conservation efforts?

This study shows that the way we represent animals in photos can have a large impact on the viewer’s attitudes towards animals. Hence, I believe more attention has to be paid to how we want to portray the animals. Usually, most photos try to romanticise nature by showing everything in a wild state. The animals are shown to be in their natural environment, doing natural things such as hunting. However, this raises the possibility that it reinforces the view that animals are violent and humans are now separate from nature. Instead, by showing that each animal is unique and has human-like characteristics, it might help the viewers to forge a bond with the animals. Which method would bring about a better outcome for conservation efforts? While it is not explored in this article, it sounds like a very interesting topic to read about.

One shortcoming of this article was that the sample size of 50 is small. Furthermore it was conducted at a natural history museum which would cater towards people who are already interested in nature. It will be intriguing to see if there would be any difference if the study was conducted at other types of venues such as an arts museum.  

References:

Kalof, L., Zammit-Lucia, J., & Kelly, J. R. (2011). The Meaning of Animal Portraiture in a Museum Setting: Implications for Conservation. Organization & Environment, 1086026611412081.

Project Noah

Some time back I learnt of this website called Project Noah. Basically, users can upload photographs of organisms and people will help to identify them. There are categories for animals, plants and even fungi. One of the aims of the project is to reconnect people with nature and at the same time use this opportunity of citizen science to aid research. To make it even more convenient, it is also available as an app for Android and IOS. Using the app, the location datawill be included to aid in identification. I personally have not tried the app yet as it’s not in the Windows Store but I think this website is a great blend between photography, science and outreach. If it is used well, the public can learn a lot from it and maybe gain an interest in conservation issues.

Book Review: The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert

I just finished reading this book about a week ago and felt that it was quite a good and informative read so I decided to dedicate a post to it.

The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert is a collection of essays with myriad themes. Most of the book is written based on interviews with scientists and their findings. These themes range from the Chytrid fungus affecting frogs to the megafauna extinction to the ammonites and graptolites. However, they all centre on the common topic of conservation and extinctions. She asserts that, based on the estimated current rate of extinction, we are in the midst of a mass extinction event. This is done by looking into the historical extinctions and how extinctions and mass extinctions eventually got accepted into science. Most of the book revolves around the impacts of humans on the environment such as the introduction of rats and the white-nose syndrome causing fungus in bats and hunting of megafauna around the world. While on the whole, the book is rather gloomy, it is also strangely comforting to read about the rather extreme steps some people have taken unto themselves to save the critically endangered species.

Without going too much into the details of the book, I found it really interesting and easy to read. It was clearly written with the general public in mind as the underlying science is explained in layman terms. While I acknowledge that it is a short book, I feel that certain issues were oversimplified. For instance, in the chapters on ocean acidification, she shows the impacts that it can have on the marine ecosystem. What is lacking (to me) is how we can do something to alleviate the problem. Another example would be when she showed the extreme steps humans have taken to save highly endangered species like the California condor. It once again lacks the action that laypeople can take. However, this does not detract from her argument about the current rate of extinction.

Overall, I believe that this book can serve as a gateway for greater environmental/conservation awareness in the general public and encouraging them to play a more active role in conservation.

On a related note: I find it a little funny that the cover of the edition I read has what I believe is a yellow banded poison dart frog which is currently listed as Least Concern under the IUCN Red List.