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1) To evaluate the impact of participant-dominated sport (running) on the environment through the calculation of GHG emissions from travel

5.4.5 Implications of the importance scales

This study examined the importance of being outside in nature among participant-dominated sport (runners in England). The findings suggest that the importance of being outside in nature was generally very important to participants. This study therefore confirms the findings of other studies on green exercise on the importance of being outside in nature and exercise and the beneficial

Chapter 5. Participant-dominated sport: Runners GHG emissions from travel, nature relatedness and mental wellbeing

157 effects (Krenichyn, 2006; Peacock et al., 2007; Thompson Coon et al., 2011). Moreover, it was more important to the middle aged than the younger and older age groups; in particular, being outside in nature was more important to ages 31-50 years than those younger (18-30 years) or older (51+years). Participants outdoor felt it was more important to be outside in nature than those indoor. The findings from this study also found that it was more important to people in rural environments to be outside in nature than those in suburban or urban environments. However, the findings from this study did not show any gender difference in the importance of being outside in nature and there was no difference between individual and groups.

This study shows that the importance of being with other people was very high in participants.

Female participants found it more important than their male counterparts. The findings from this study also found that, as people get older, their importance of being with other people reduces.

Participants who are 18-30 years found it more important than 31-50 years, and 31-50 years found it more important than 51+years. Moreover, participants indoors found it was more important than those outdoors. However, contrary to one of the initial hypotheses of this research, there was no difference between participants in rural, suburban and urban environments and also no difference between individual and group participants.

The findings from this study found the importance of being alone to be above average among the participants. This importance was higher among females than males and higher among participants in rural environments than suburban or urban environments. Longitudinal survey should be carried out to further examine these findings, because this finding is contrary to literature (Cohen et al., 2007; Jordan, 2013). However, this study found no difference in the importance of being alone among the other independent variables: age groups 18-30, 31-50 and 51+), running location (indoor or outdoor) and running condition (alone or group).

Chapter 5. Participant-dominated sport: Runners GHG emissions from travel, nature relatedness and mental wellbeing

Findings from this study found that the importance of the feeling of release and freedom was very high among the participants. It was higher in the participants in the rural environment than the urban, a finding similar to other studies (Thompson et al., 2007; Swanwick, 2009; Henderson, 2013); but there were no differences between the three age groups (18-30, 31-50 and 51+), running location (indoor or outdoor) and running condition (lone or group). Physical activities have many benefits on both physical and mental health, particularly when undertaken outdoors. When participants start their running session from home or travel in an environmentally friendly way to their running location, it results in less environmental impact through their GHG emissions from travel.

5.4.6 Limitations

In interpreting findings from this study regarding levels of GHG emissions, mental wellbeing, nature relatedness, the importance of being outside in nature, being with other people, being on one’s own and the feeling of release and freedom among runners in England, it is important to bear in mind this study’s limitations.

 Although GHG emissions from participants’ travel was measured using their travel details and applying Defra’s GHG emission conversion factors, examining participants’ levels of contact with nature, social aspects of importance and feelings after participation in running sessions used scales on the importance of these measures instead of standardised instruments (such as connectedness to nature scale and profile of mood state) due to time constraints.

 With the calculation of GHG emissions, particularly from participants that travelled by car, GHG conversion factors for average engine size with unknown fuel was applied; there may have been greater accuracy if the participants’ actual car engine size had been used.

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 Some of the participants engage in running as events or training or for fitness purpose and this

might affect the research outcome because they may concentrate on the event or their fitness than enjoying the benefits of running.

 Although the study was successful in examining if sporting location and type affects mental

wellbeing and nature relatedness, the changes could be better measured using standardised questionnaires that measure state versions of mental wellbeing (using RSES and POMS) and connection to nature scale (using CNS) over time and comparing the differences with running condition (alone and group).

 The response rate from the online questionnaire was very low (33 participants) and the

responses from online could be questionable due to the fact that the actual time in which the questionnaire was completed could not be confirmed and this could have impacted on the data collected. Although the online response rate was low and this may not have had any significant effect on the results and the study altogether, these participants were excluded from some statistical analysis when comparing outcome with various running environment.

5.4.7 Conclusions and rationale for next study

For the first time, this study has examined the impact of participant-dominated sport (running) on the environment through the calculation of GHG emissions from travel to running location in England and assessed mental wellbeing, connection with nature of runners in England. The analysis of a sample of 673 adults across England confirms that travelling to running locations resulted in GHG emissions depending on travel behaviour. The findings from this study show that nearly half of the participants used cars to their running location, implying that the largest GHG emissions was as a result of car use and the other emissions were attributed to public transport such as taxis, buses and trains. GHG emission was positively correlated to distance travelled to running location.

Chapter 5. Participant-dominated sport: Runners GHG emissions from travel, nature relatedness and mental wellbeing

The average GHG emissions of participants as a result of their travel to and from running location was 0.62 kgCO2 and when extrapolated to a national level with approximately 2 million participants who run for about 30 minutes per week, resulted in approximately 64,480 tCO2e.

Travelling distance to running location was related to higher GHG emissions and running in an urban environment was importantly related to higher GHG emissions. Participant-dominated sport (running) travel behaviour remains car-dependent and resulted in high GHG emissions. Thus, national behavioural change encouraging the use of active transport or the use of other environmentally friendly modes of travel apart from cars could have a considerable reduction on GHG emissions and ultimately on climate change.

The study showed that older participants (31 years and above) had significantly higher nature relatedness scores than the younger participants (18-30 years). This suggests that increase in age results in increased levels of connectedness with the natural environment. Overall, nature relatedness was higher in participants outdoors than indoors. Participants in rural environments had higher levels of connectedness to nature compared to suburban and urban environments; this suggests that increase in connection to nature could be linked to the environment. There was also a significant positive correlation between nature relatedness and all subfactors.

Findings from this study found that the importance of being outside in nature, being with other people, and the feeling of release and freedom was very high among the participants, while the importance of being on one’s own was of average importance to participants. Further research will benefit from using standardised instruments to measure connection with nature, plus the mental and emotional benefits of engaging in participant-dominated sport such as running to show the benefits of green exercise.

6. Participant dominated sport-Effects of running on mental wellbeing