For many, it’s been easy to be active and social while physically distancing during summer and fall. As we move into colder months, local governments can take action to make it easier for folks to continue to get outside and be active despite the colder and shorter days ahead.
Healthy Natural Environments have become some of our most coveted spaces during the COVID pandemic. However, the inequities that COVID have highlighted and exacerbated across society extend to these natural environments.
In the face of COVID, local governments are dismantling many chronic inequities present in our systems—but we may not have had time to consider the connection between active communities and social justice or equity work.
When talking engagement, we often discuss designing processes to ensure less-heard-from voices are heard. This is incredibly important, but it only addresses the fair distribution of one element of equity—opportunity—among community members.
In both community planning and public health, equity is rooted in social justice and the desire for fairness and equal opportunities for all community members. Read on to learn more about the different understandings of equity in these fields.
By promoting self-care as a primary means of maintaining health and well-being, we forget that not everyone in our community has access to the time, space and sometimes money that are required to perform self-care.