‘It should be common sense’
CBU professor secured grants from abroad to study how time spent outdoors interacts with nature and our community
A Cape Breton academic is looking to Scandinavia as he researches how leisure-time activities connect with nature and the community.
Dr. Pat Maher, an associate professor of community studies at Cape Breton University, has secured approximately $350,000 in funding from a number of sources, including grants from Denmark and Norway, to further his studies into the role that outdoor time has on our lives.
“Our leisure time represents a significant portion of our awake time, so it is important to study what we do, how we do things and it’s important to study how we engage with the natural world and using our natural world and our community connections on an everyday microlevel is exactly what they’re doing in the Nordic countries,” explained Maher, who is also a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society.
“That sort of connection happens at the societal level, so some of my work, and why it is funded by various Nordic sources, is because I see a lot of lessons to be learned about how we integrate things, about how we connect the dots, about how we do what ought to be common sense.”
Indeed, one would think that spending time outside and connecting with nature would be naturally embraced by society, but Maher said that doesn’t necessarily hold true.
“It should be common sense — I’m in my 40s and when I was young it was common sense, but I just don’t know if it is common sense anymore,” he said.
“We have a lot more devices, a lot more social media, even in our school systems when budgets are tight we hear about cuts to outdoor activities — I’ve heard it said that for every dollar we spend on technology, we ought to spend a dollar on outdoors stuff, getting your hands dirty, hands-on learning, but we seem to have swung the pendulum to the online and digital world.”
Maher said his research is comprised of a series of separate, but inter-connected pieces, ranging from sustainable tourism to outdoor play and early childhood education.
His funding comes from a number of sources, including $65,000 from the Kingdom of Denmark’s UArctic program, $60,000 from the Danish Ministry of Higher Education and Science International Network Programme, $50,000 from the Nordic Council of Ministers’ Arctic Cooperation Programme, and $50,000 from the Norwegian Centre for International Cooperation in Education.
“The important part is to make connections and to have this network of scholars and students and communities and industries that are all thinking through these tough questions — what practical things can I bring out of this that will make a difference on the ground versus just being a report on somebody’s bookshelf,” said Maher, who added the funding means he can hire between six to eight students to help out with the research.
“It’s not about preaching to the converted, it’s about giving the community the capacity to get ahead in the long run,” opined Maher.
“Nature is the great equalizer because it really doesn’t take a lot to get kids and adults outside, you don’t need the flashiest new gear, you don’t need to go on a 10-day nature trek, there are ways to do it simply and cheaply, it’s just having the will to do that.”
As for his own personal outdoor activities, Maher said they mostly revolve around two young children.
“It usually seems to be a short hike on a Saturday afternoon that takes longer to organize that to complete the hike,” he laughed.
“But, do what you love — embrace your leisure time outside.”