Get Outside!

**Sanitized Transcript:**

**Emily:** Today’s episode was made with the help of the Field Museum’s Keller Science Action Center in the Youth Conservation Action Program, who are working together to get people outside.

**Emily:** Humans today spend historically record-setting amounts of time indoors, staring at screens like you right now. According to the Nature Conservancy, 88% of American youth say they spend time online every day, and other studies estimate that this amount of time is up to seven and a half hours a day—about as much time as anyone spends at work. This incredible amount of indoor screen time can have devastating impacts on our overall mental and physical well-being, whereas spending time outside every day can really boost your mood, energy, and health.

Although understandably, there often exist obstacles preventing people from accessing the great outdoors. So for today’s video, we recruited our producer Sheheryar, who has never been outside, and Field Museum volunteers, Bukola and Anthony, to help tackle some of these hurdles so we can all get outside.

We’re here today on the south side of Chicago, at Beaubien Woods, which is part of the Forest Preserves of Cook County. It’s surrounded by a major highway, a sewage treatment plant, a semi-polluted river, and a landfill, and yet here, life and nature are found in abundance. In the next thirty years or so, it’s estimated that 66% of the world’s population will live in an urban environment, so it’s important for us to rethink what it means to be a part of nature today.

One misconception many people have is that we think about nature only as being a big, glamorous, Instagram-worthy destination, like a national park with sprawling forests, grand canyons, and glorious mountain ranges. But it’s important to think about nature as something you can interact with every day because we’re literally surrounded by it—whether it’s the plants in the cracks on the sidewalk, observing the pigeons on your daily commute, or just enjoying a city park. To feel the positive health benefits from being in nature, it should be practiced as a daily exercise.

For most, that just means defining what being in nature means. If you want more information on this, check out the book *Rambunctious Garden* by Emma Marris or her TED talk (we put links in the description). Also, to find a walking trail near you, check out the app AllTrails.

Here in Chicago, the weather can be relentlessly hot or cold throughout the year. But if there’s one thing that I learned when I moved here, it’s that there’s no bad weather, just poor clothing choices and bad attitudes. It helps to think about the plants and animals that have adapted to your area; a polar bear wouldn’t be at home in the desert, any more than a kangaroo in the Arctic.

Keeping cool in the heat comes down to staying hydrated and wearing loose, breathable clothing. If you’re sensitive to the sun, bring a hat and load up on sunscreen. I also like to hang out in the shade; otherwise, I can get sunburned. Heat is a big challenge for most, so make sure you know your own limits and take it easy. Layers are your friend in the wind and snow. If you don’t have snow pants, you can always layer a pair of leggings underneath a looser pair of pants.

No snow boots? No problem. Alternate two layers of socks with plastic bags and your gym sneakers. The sneakers might get wet, but this offers an added layer of moisture protection to keep your feet warm. Rain is worse than snow because it’s harder to keep dry, so pull out those umbrellas and ponchos and focus on keeping your feet warm.

Ticks and other biting insects like mosquitoes can cause serious problems when you’re trying to enjoy the great outdoors. Luckily, there are effective solutions to keeping them away. You can wear long pants tucked into your socks to keep ticks out and wear long sleeves in light colors so you can see if you have an insect on you. To avoid getting covered in ticks, try to walk in the center of a trail and avoid brushing up against plants because Lyme disease isn’t fun for anyone. If you have some, use insect repellent. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, popular repellents like DEET are effective for keeping mosquitoes and ticks away and pose no greater impact on the environment or human health.

If you’re in North America, plants like poison ivy and poison oak can be problematic. The easiest way to avoid getting rashes from these plants is to avoid all contact with them, but that’s difficult if you don’t know what to look out for. The rule of thumb is “leaves of three, let them be.” Wear long pants and gloves if you’re working outside, and if you suspect you’ve made contact, wash thoroughly with soap and water—this goes for your pets too.

So now you’ve been watching this and thinking, “Gee, we sure are having fun.” But I had to drink a ton of water to stay hydrated, and there’s no public restroom in sight. That’s okay; you can go outside, just make sure you’re about 60 to 75 paces away from trails and water sources to avoid contamination. Want to avoid feeling exposed? Get a pee funnel. There are lots of different kinds, both disposable and reusable; just make sure you practice in the shower first before trying it outside.

If you don’t have a pee funnel and need to squat, here are some best practices: brace yourself with your back against a tree for balance. Make sure you aren’t leaning into any plants to avoid accidents. You can also grab onto a tree or boulder and lean backward or put a hand behind you for balance.

There’s a lot of information out there for dealing with going to the bathroom in the woods if you’re going on a long backpacking hike or cycling adventure. But what if you’re just out on a casual stroll and need to go? We’re not advocating for recreationally going in public, but when you gotta go, you gotta go. Follow the distance rule for peeing above, then dig a hole. Since most people don’t carry a shovel, you’ll likely need to find a rock or stick. If you can’t dig a hole, bring a doggie bag along and pick it up like you would after your pet. Nobody has to know it’s yours.

For cleaning up, some intense hikers recommend using sticks and leaves, but I prefer packing in toilet paper. Remember to leave no trace, which means packing out whatever you brought in with you. In 2015, a cyclist started a forest fire when he tried to light his used toilet paper on fire. Don’t do that. Instead, bring a few ziplock bags with you—label them as used and unused—and put the used items in an opaque sack if you don’t want to advertise your business to the world, then discard it as soon as you find the nearest trash can.

Got more questions about handling menstruation? We made a whole video about that. It’s hard to care about something if you don’t know what it is—that goes for both people and things. Field guides are a great place to start if you want to do something like bird-watching and want to identify a species, but other times it can be difficult to know what you’re looking at. Luckily, there are apps for that. My favorite is iNaturalist. You take a photo of a plant, insect, bird, or mammal, tag the location where you saw it, and an expert can verify its identity.

There are a lot of other apps and digital resources for this sort of thing; we put a bunch of links in the video’s description. So let us know what your favorite is in the comments.

Shinrin-Yoku is a Japanese term that means forest bathing, which first made me think of someone rolling around in a field of wildflowers. Turns out I kind of missed the mark, but forest bathing is an immersion in the environment around you. It’s a very structured way of being unstructured in nature. Leave your phone and camera behind and, without any agenda, allow yourself to become absorbed in your surroundings.

Don’t know what to do? Just go with a friend—friends are made in the outdoors, and the connections you make with others outside are important. If you want more structured activity, look into local organizations, like parks, friends of groups, or other hobby groups for bird-watching, fishing, or even native planting events. And you know what? It doesn’t even really matter what you do when you go outside; it’s just important that you make some kind of meaningful connection with nature.

We are here at Camp Shobana in the Forest Preserves of Cook County in the rain because the weather shouldn’t keep you from enjoying the great outdoors.

**Emily:** So is this your first time camping out here in the Forest Preserves of Cook County?

**Bukola:** Yes, this is my first time.

**Emily:** And overall, how was the experience?

**Bukola:** The experience is adventurous! As you can see, we’re out here in the rain and dealing with a lot of mosquito bites, but overall it was good. We had s’mores, we ate, we had fun. I played my favorite sport, soccer. It was really fun.

**Emily:** Do you have any advice for someone who might be interested in becoming more involved in the outdoors but doesn’t know where to begin?

**Jacqueese:** I would honestly say start with your backyard. You can find a lot of wildlife out there—trees, plants, and animals.

**Emily:** Yeah, so you don’t even have to go that far, and you don’t have to sit at a picnic table in the rain.

**Jacqueese:** Exactly.

**Bukola:** If you’re outdoors, just do the things you love. Come out here with people that you love because if you’re out here alone, it can feel scary. Just come out here, have fun, play sports, enjoy s’mores, and appreciate nature.

**Emily:** Yeah, I’m all for that—even in the rain!

**Emily:** I would be a terrible weather person. I’d be like, “It’s wet! It is raining! The rain is coming from the sky from this direction. It seems to be hydrating the area.”

**Emily:** Back to you!