This blog of Murali's in BCIL blog deserves a good look even outside eco-specialist readership.
It says:
The Best Things in Life are Green -- and Local
* Trust for Public Land
The stock market may be down, but parks and recreation facilities are on a serious upswing. The Trust for Public Land released a new study stating that while the economy is experiencing a slump of pandemic proportions, urban parks across the nation are reporting a significant increase in usage. This may be because fewer Americans can afford to travel, so they're enjoying the great outdoors without even venturing outside city limits.
A third of families and a fifth of individuals have made more frequent visits to local parks in the past year. The TPL hopes that the report will illustrate the importance of protecting and maintaining public playgrounds, gardens, golf courses, swimming pools, and dog parks during these tough times.
Credit: Sierraclub.typepad
* BCIL's blog
*
The comment that the author himself would like to add is this:
1)The typical Indian resident in India does not go out long distances in his car every weekend.
2) Typically he is tied to the idiot box or boxes if the family can afford more than one (all monitors included)
3) But parks or otherwise green places to go and just sit are available to him and his family within a reasonable distance from his house.
4) He has only to stir out and get to where in the neighbourhood he can breathe some purer air, some of the time, every weekend.