People and Nature: Toward an Ecological Model of Health Promotion

Striving for a healthier relationship among individuals, families, communities, nations, and the environment is imperative at a time in history when humankind can change the face of the earth in monumental ways. This dynamic health relationship, with an emphasis on the contributions of parks, recreation, and tourism to health promotion, is the subject of this article. A broader conception of health that moves beyond human physical and mental health to include familial, communal, national, international, and global ecological health is called for, and a more comprehensive ecological model of health promotion, including consideration of health from a holistic ecological perspective, is presented. New directions for leisure research based on an ecological orientation to health promotion conclude the article

Place Attachment and Recreational Constraints Relating to Fire Management

This paper presents a study of visitors to the Big Sur region of California during summer 2001. An onsite survey was administered to visitors to USDA Forest Service day-use areas and at developed campgrounds. Place attachment, observations relating to fires and fire management, and perceived recreational constraints owing to wildland fire and fire management are examined. The results indicate that place dependence and place identity influence some perceived constraints and observations of fire conditions. A discussion of the findings is provided, emphasizing the importance of managers’ understanding of visitors’ perceptions relating to fire and fire management

Characterisation of hydraulic head changes and aquifer properties in the London Basin using Persistent Scatterer Interferometry ground motion data

In this paper, Persistent Scatterer Interferometry was applied to ERS-1/2 and ENVISAT satellite data covering 1992–2000 and 2002–2010 respectively, to analyse the relationship between ground motion and hydraulic head changes in the London Basin, United Kingdom. The integration of observed groundwater levels provided by the Environment Agency and satellite-derived displacement time series allowed the estimation of the spatio-temporal variations of the Chalk aquifer storage coefficient and compressibility over an area of ∼1360 km2. The average storage coefficient of the aquifer reaches values of 1 × 10−3 and the estimated average aquifer compressibility is 7.7 × 10−10 Pa−1 and 1.2 × 10−9 Pa−1 for the periods 1992–2000 and 2002–2010, respectively. Derived storage coefficient values appear to be correlated with the hydrogeological setting, where confined by the London Clay the storage coefficient is typically an order of magnitude lower than where the chalk is overlain by the Lambeth Group. PSI-derived storage coefficient estimates agree with the values obtained from pumping tests in the same area. A simplified one-dimensional model is applied to simulate the ground motion response to hydraulic heads changes at nine piezometers. The comparison between simulated and satellite-observed ground motion changes reveals good agreement, with errors ranging between 1.4 and 6.9 mm, and being 3.2 mm on average

Springs, storage and sensitivity to change : groundwater in Nepal's Middle Hills

The valleys in the foothills of the Himalayas may be some of the most sensitive areas to environmental and societal changes in Asia. Changes to the Asian monsoon and increasing temperatures could lead to variations in snow melt and runoff, and forecasts of increasingly inhospitable temperatures for lowland areas of Nepal and northern India (up to 60 oC) are already leading to migration to the cooler middle-hills. The use of groundwater within these catchments (from spring flows, tube wells and indirectly through baseflow) is vital for continued secure water supply for the growing populations and increased agricultural production. However groundwater resources in these valleys are poorly characterised and the resilience of water supplies dependant on these resources largely unknown