Resources

• Organization: ParticipACTION http://www.participaction.com
• Date Published: January 2, 2014

On June 21st Canadians can take advantage of the most daylight hours of the year and celebrate the annual Longest Day of Play. This site offers Longest Day of Play ideas as well as posters, a logo, social media guide and tip sheets to get you playing!

http://www.participaction.com/get-moving/longest-day-of-play

• Author(s): Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society

• Organization: Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society

• Date Published: July 1, 2014

In this sixth annual review of the state of Canada’s parks, the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) finds that most parks and proposed protected areas are facing greater challenges than they were a year ago. The report describes the challenges and identifies some success stories through case studies.

http://cpaws.org/uploads/CPAWS_Parks_Report_2014.pdf

• Author(s): Sallis, J.F., Spoon, C., Cavill, N., Engelberg, J., Gebel, K., Lou, D., Parker, M., Thornton, C.M., Wilson, A., Cutter, C.L., Ding, D

• Organization: ActiveLiving Research

• Date Published: February 1, 2015

Creating “activity-friendly environments” is recommended to promote physical activity, but potential co-benefits of such environments have not been well described. An extensive but non-systematic review of scientific and “gray” literature was conducted to explore a wide range of literature to understand the co-benefits of activity-friendly environments on physical health, mental health, social benefits, safety/injury prevention, environmental sustainability, and economics. Five physical activity settings were defined: parks/trails, urban design, transportation, schools, and workplaces/buildings.

http://activelivingresearch.org/making-case-designing-active-cities

• Date Published: January 6, 2014

Meetup is an online social networking portal that facilitates offline group meetings in various localities around the world. Meetup allows members to find and join groups unified by a common interest, such as politics, books, games, movies, health, pets, careers or hobbies. Users enter their postal code or their city and the topic they want to meet about, and the website helps them arrange a place and time to meet.

http://outdoor-fitness.meetup.com/cities/ca/bc/vancouver

• Author(s): Public Health Agency of Canada

• Organization: Public Health Agency of Canada

• Date Published: October 1, 2014

This resource, funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada, is intended to help readers understand key active transportation successes and challenges through a panCanadian lens. It offers examples of strategies, policies and programs that have been effective and explores opportunities to engage stakeholders to advance efforts at multiple levels. This resource also identifies a support framework for active transportation based on provincial/territorial experiences that can help all jurisdictions expand their multi-sectoral efforts.

http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/hp-ps/hl-mvs/pa-ap/assets/pdfs/mkat-eng.pdf

• Organization: BCRPA http://www.bcrpa.bc.ca
• Date Published: January 2, 2014

May 10 is Move for Health Day. This site offers tools, resources and grants for community leaders to create activities for the day to get communities active and moving. Communities can register their events and search other events for inspiration.

http://www.bcrpa.bc.ca/mfhd

• Author(s): Health and Environment Program

• Organization: National Environmental Education Foundation http://www.neefusa.org/

• Date Published: December 31, 2011

“The Initiative educates pediatric health care providers about prescribing outdoor activities to children. The program also connects health care providers with local nature sites, so they can refer families to safe and easily accessible outdoor areas.”

https://www.neefusa.org/resource/children-and-nature-initiative-rx-outdoor-activity-training-presentation

• Author(s): William Bird

• Organization: Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (http://www.rspb.org.uk/)

• Date Published: October 1, 2004

This report, commissioned by the RSPB, looks at the evidence to support the theory that the availability of safe, accessible natural green space encourages the uptake and continuation of physical activity. It also looks at the role of biodiversity in enhancing this relationship. It is written for policy makers, those promoting physical activity and those involved with maintaining a wildlife-rich natural environment. But most of all it is written for those who believe that a healthy natural environment is also good for our health, but have needed evidence to substantiate this. Generations have intuitively understood this relationship better than us yet the evidence has been slow to arrive. This is part of a wider debate about the health benefits of a wildlife-rich environment.

http://www.rspb.org.uk/Images/natural_fit_full_version_tcm9-133055.pdf