This week’s guest lecture by Dr. Michael Jerrett of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) described his research into the role parks and other forms of urban greenspace can play in increasing rates of physical activity, reducing levels of overweight and obesity, and preventing the adverse health outcomes associated with both of these risk factors.
In lieu of seminar, Thursday will be spent completing an in-class midterm, worth 15% of the total course grade. The midterm will cover all content presented through Week Six, with a focus on lecture and seminar presentations. Students will have the entire class to write the exam, which will consist primarily of short-answer questions along with one page-length essay question.
As always, we encourage you to continue posting comments on any of the course presentations, as well as questions related to the required and optional readings. If there are specific topics that you would like clarified in advance of the midterm, feel free to post them below or on the relevant weekly post.
Since Assignment 2 is due in a couple weeks, will the outline/assignment be posted on here sometime?
We’ve decided to extend the due date for Assignment 2 by one week to Thursday, March 9, so you all can devote reading week to reading, rather than working on this assignment as well. Sara will be sending out the requirements for Assignment 2 via e-mail by the end of this week; once that’s done, I will also be sure to post it on the Assessment section of the site.
I enjoyed the guest lecture that we had today. The implications he spoke about regarding Physical activity and obesity are huge issues in our world today. The fact that obesity and lack of physical activity play a huge role in the worlds mortality rate is very upsetting, as I feel they are such simple things that we can do and install in our communities to prevent such deaths. The addition of green spaces is a simple solution and it is backed with evidence of a direct effect on this issue.
For assignment 2, can we have a more specific description on the “pathway” part? Can we have an example of a pathway? Are these pathways mentioned in lectures and readings, or we describe them in our own words?
There are multiple pathways linking nature to health that have been discussed during class (including increased rates and impacts of physical activity and facilitated social interaction, to name just two) and these have also been referenced with the assigned readings. As with any component of your assignments, you should describe information in your own words and include citations to the relevant source as appropriate.
Ive been thinking about the Dr. Jerrett’s lecture a lot. We know that we are facing a crisis with obesity in North America and its taboo to talk about it outside of the scientific community. In that community we can see it as the problem that it is, but if you mention it outside in the regular social world, you are labeled a “body-shamer” and are condemned. How can we communicate the weightloss benefits of parks to the public without ruffling feathers? Not to quote Field of Dreams, but how do we know that, “If we build it, they will come”? There is all this evidence that obesity is a problem and detrimental to health but that doesnt stop people.
I think the “safest” way to communicate information about the physical benefits of green space in terms of weight loss in the world outside of the scientific community should be simply framed as overall fitness. This way, it may be even more beneficial as it can marketed to people who may not be obese, but can still benefit greatly from physical benefits of green space. Widening the target audience as well as not pointing the finger at anyone in particular.