Health issues
and disc golf
Nature and healthFor so many neighbors and visitors, McLaren Park is a big wondrous back yard, where they can wander and explore whenever they can, enjoying the natural beauty of their surroundings. Common sense as well as recent science suggests that time spent in nature leads to lower blood pressure and stress hormone levels, improved moods, and generally improved health. McLaren Park has many long-established and compatible passive recreational uses in most of the areas proposed for the disc golf course. "Passive recreation area" is a legal term defined as follows:
On the other hand, disc golf is ACTIVE recreation - it is group-oriented, competitive, requires infrastructure and by it's very nature encourages trampling and other destruction of the natural landscape. Thus, the imposition of a disc golf course would diminish the serenity and beauty that makes McLaren such a great location for “forest bathing”, hiking, photography, bird watching, meditation, and contemplation. This is a major reason that we claim disc golf is fundamentally incompatible with established uses of the park.
I am a cancer and heart attack survivor in my early
fifties. I don't like the gym environment to keep fit
but walking amongst nature gives me the motivation to get up
every morning and take my hour and a half walk before beginning
my working day.
--Lucia Fontana June 18, 2010 from letter to RPC and other city officials Nature and Health Podcasts from KQED
More Nature and Health Research
If my dog could talk, she would tell you how much she loves
being able to run in the grass, play in the creek and under the
canopy of trees. It's one of the times she gets to be a dog and
forget about concrete and leashes. For me, it is also a time to
forget about the urban environment, hike in the grassy hills,
hear the sounds of birds and walk amongst the trees. I do not
want to see this lovely park and wildlife damaged by a disc golf
course.
--Larisa Pedroncelli August 20, 2010 from letter to RPC and other city officials
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