Does COP 15 affect physical activity?

Get active for nature, so you can be active in nature!

Physical activity has basic requirements. Ultimately you need a reason to do it, a nourished and hydrated body, and finally a space to get er’ done.

When I ponder sports and being active, being outside comes to mind. Of course there are rock walls, stadiums, gyms, treadmills and indoor pools, but do they compare to the real thing? Imagine actually climbing a massive gritty mountain. Or an outdoor stadium where the elements tend to make the game interesting. The “gym” may have every gadget, but kettle balls & resistance in the park or on the beach is prettier and smells better!

I’m a fan of being outside, and think that protecting the environment is pretty much the bomb! So here’s where I make some linkages.

This week world leaders are meeting in Copenhagen to (hopefully) come to a global agreement to save the environment.

You’ve no doubt heard something about the trouble earth’s atmosphere, oceans, fresh water, jungles, farmland, animals, and we in turn, face. People try to separate territory, food, resources, responsibility, and even the global ecosystem – the key word being system.

Is climate change/global warming real?

Ya! It is.

How do I know?

There’s so much info out there. How do you know what to take seriously? I trust science and things that make sense to me.

Warning – warning, a bit of a personal rant here, but stay with me…

 Science tells me the ice caps, major glaciers, eternal Himalayan snow fall, and even permafrost is melting. Those same glaciers are historic records of our atmosphere; they tell us human life has never seen the carbon dioxide levels in the air we currently have. Average temps are up, centuries old weather patterns are altered, and the oceans are acidifying. The number of species at risk of extinction is accelerating. Access to drinking water dwindles, fisheries are at dangerously low levels worldwide. Coral reefs that supply the earth with a huge amount of oxygen are dying. Deforestation for paper pulp, lumber and to make way for industrial farming threatens species, soil erosion and traditional settlements.  And let’s not forget about our reliance on fossil fuels.

Why are we responsible?

Before, life on earth the planet was toxic and unlivable because the atmosphere was full of CO2. Eventually the successive generations of plants purified the atmosphere sucking the carbon, allowing life to exist. The carbon was stored underground as coal, gas and oil. Since the industrial revolution humanity has been burning/releasing CO2 back into the atmosphere at an alarming rate. 

The best way I’ve ever had the situations explained to me was in the documentary HOME.

“It’s all about carbon. In a few decades the carbon that made our atmosphere a furnace and that nature captured over millions of years, allowing life to develop, will have largely been pumped back out. The atmosphere is heating up.”

How much sense does that make! It was a total light bulb moment for me.

Why do I/should you care?

• This is the one and only (that we know of) planet that can support life!
• In one generation we (humanity) have upset the balance that’s been a constant for all of humanity’s existence!
• Everything on earth is connected, nothing is futile, every plant, animal, bacteria, person impacts something else.
• The earth is not ours to upset; we depend on it, not the other way around.

My climate change poem (it’s ok to giggle.. I know there is a cheese factor)

Because it’s too late to Deny
It’s not a Lie
We all truly know Why
It’s the elements we released into the Sky.

We need to be careful what we Buy
So that species don’t Die
So forests that are left don’t have to Cry.

It’s time to really Try
Or it’s evident we’ll have to say Goodbye.

A depressing thought?.. maybe. The truth?..yup. Is there Hope?.. Definitely!

There are so many things left and so much we can do. Things like active transportation are good for the environment and your body.

Mostly I want to help the environment because I want my chance to explore! Exploration is best done outside in nature. There are seemingly endless expanses to trek.  Snow or sand, there are so many different things to do that by the nature of nature encourage you to be active! Many sports and activities require the natural world – think of mountain, lake, ocean, trail and sky sports!

What is your favorite thing to do outside? What’s the connection between physical activity and the environment for you? Let me know in the comments below or share what you think about protecting the environment so we can be active in it!

Kenji