Ji-Young Jung, Sun-hwa Park & Sojung Yoon | Kim Je Won | ‘Spring Picnic’ | Singles Korea May 2011

If future generations spend no time enjoying nature, how can this be good for conservation?

Serious hikers and backpackers tend to become members and financial supporters of environmental and conservation groups, unlike casual garden picnic makers or woodland tourists, according to a study by researchers Oliver Pergams and Patricia Zaradic, who documented in 2008 a steady decline in nature recreation since the late 1980s.

Their study showed a steady decline in nature recreation since the late 1980s, a pattern that correlated strongly with a rise in playing video games, surfing the Internet and watching movies — an unhealthy trend they called ‘videophilia’.

Working with Peter Kareiva, chief scientist at the Nature Conservancy, Pergams and Zaradic released an October 2009 study confirming that the amount of time one spent hiking or backpacking in nature correlated with a willingness, 11 to 12 years later, to financially support any of four representative conservation organizations: the Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife Fund, the Sierra Club or Environmental Defense. The typical backpacker gave $200 to $300 per year, after the dozen-year lag.

Much to my surprise, the more time one spent fishing or sightseeing in natural areas, the less likely that person was to support these four conservation causes.