"If you drive a car at rush hour in a city like Phoenix, Arizona, or read the news about the latest antics of the anti-environmentalists and climate change deniers who currently hold substantial power across the country, it is easy to feel as if all is lost. But if you turn off the news and instead use your smartphone to search for someplace nearby to go for a hike, you may be pleasantly surprised."
"After a visit to the awe-inspiring cloud forests of Costa Rica, I wrote an essay about the psychological benefits of birdwatching. Research in social psychology has long shown that when we write out an argument and make it public, we convince ourselves (e.g., Kiesler & Zanna, 1969). So, when I returned to Phoenix, I was committed to making birdwatching a regular part of my life back here."
"Just this morning, I drove to a nearby spot, at the confluence of three desert rivers, where several of the cities in the Phoenix area have re-established a wetland with native trees and bushes, using reclaimed wastewater. Within just a mile of a busy freeway, I was amazed to find beautiful trails, surrounded by cottonwood trees, running alongside a creek and ponds, populated by ospreys, great blue herons, ladder-backed woodpeckers, and yellow-rumped warblers, with cloud-covered mountains visible in the distance (see the pictures below)."
News coverage and urban traffic can foster pessimism about environmental futures, but nearby green spaces and hikes can restore hope. Visits to cloud forests and local wetlands reveal psychological benefits of birdwatching and motivate sustained engagement. Reclaimed wastewater and municipal wetland restoration in Phoenix and Gilbert have created riparian habitats with native plants, attracting hundreds of bird species within miles of freeways. Observed species include ospreys, great blue herons, ladder-backed woodpeckers, and yellow-rumped warblers. Many species that were once near extinction are showing recovery thanks to water treatment, reclamation, and habitat restoration efforts.
Read at Psychology Today
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