How Are You Enjoying the #OutdoorsatHome?

Our world and ability to be in the outdoors are changing daily now. As April 22^nd, the 50^th anniversary of Earth Day approaches, we invite you to celebrate with us despite widespread alterations of Earth Day clean up and restoration events around the globe. Leave No Trace’s #OutdoorsatHome is an invitation to share your experiences and perceptions of the outdoors at home and to stop to appreciate the little ways we can still find relief in nature.

We’re all interacting with the outdoors differently right now. While some are able to get out to local trails, or neighborhood runs and dog walks, others are becoming better acquainted with their backyards or balconies and some are even further restricted.

Here are some suggestions for how you can get involved in the #OutdoorsatHome:

• Check out this video from Philipp Klein, a skier who took his adventure indoors.
• See how our Subaru/Leave No Trace Teams are making sure to follow Leave No Trace when they go #OutdoorsatHome camping.
• Read The Tonic of Gardening in Quarantine for some inspiration and show us your house plants or new garden.
• See our 3 tips for learning Leave No Trace from home, or these Leave No Trace activities with kids.
• Check out org live nature cams and appreciate wildlife enjoying spring around the globe from your couch.

Did you know that a 2017 study published in Scientific Reports found that just listening to recorded natural sounds (all while indoors) “caused the listeners’ brain connectivity to reflect an outward-directed focus of attention, a process that occurs during wakeful rest periods like daydreaming”? In another study, researcher Roger Ulrich found that “patients with a view of the trees fared far better.”

The power of the outdoors—even experienced through the window of your home—is vast. These significant benefits are what the Leave No Trace community works to protect. While you may be feeling overwhelmed with the prospect of weeks spent largely inside, celebrating the power of nature and celebrating Earth Month with Leave No Trace might be just what the doctor ordered.

However you enjoy the #OutdoorsatHome, take a photo and tag @LeaveNoTraceCenter using the hashtag #OutdoorsatHome to be featured on our page and win some awesome prizes. We will be highlighting the most fun, unusual, mundane and inspirational all month. Show appreciation for the endless benefits nature offers us this Earth Month while we wait until the time we can once get out together.