(UVM Department of Physical Therapy, 2021)
Happy Green Up Day, UVM! Today, we’re talking about how to help keep our state beautiful. And cleaning up trash doesn’t just help the environment or the state’s aesthetic. It helps us.
We’ve all experienced how being in nature makes us feel better - that relief when we emerge from a dark lecture hall into the sunshine of the Davis Green, the euphoria of reaching the top of Camel’s Hump, or the joy of skiing down Stowe.
There is actually research behind this. Isabel Behnke discovered that bonobo chimpanzees became depressed in captivity but not in the wild. This discovery applies to humans, too. When we are moving around in nature, we feel get out of our heads and into the present. We feel alive.
But Green Up Day isn’t just about getting outside. It’s about cleaning up the state and taking care of the environment. Most UVM students view climate action as incredibly important, and Green Up Day offers the chance to, well, act. And, surprise surprise, there is research that connects acting on our values with happiness. Nathan Dungan found that people who reflect and acted on their intrinsic values - things they enjoyed doing or were important to them - became happier.
So this week, head down to the locations listed at this link (and also listed below) to pick up your trash bags. Whether you bring some friends or spend some time with yourself, you’ll feel better, you’ll have helped the environment, and the city will look beautiful.
As always, we are you, we feel you, and we’re here for you.
~UVM Thrive Guide
Bags will be available from 4/15-5/6 at the following locations
Miller Recreation Center (Gosse Ct)
645 Pine Street (closed weekends)
City Hall (closed weekends)
Old Spokes Home / Full Barrel Coop Brewing
Burlington Subaru
References
Green Up Day events and locations. (2022, April 21). The Other Paper.
and-locations/article_1f456412-c1b1-11ec-8e24-d3f2de84f417.html
Hari, J. (2018). Lost connections: Why you’re depressed and how to find hope. Bloomsbury
Publishing.
Green Up Vermont (2022). https://greenupvermont.org/
UVM Department of Physical Therapy [@uvm_dpt]. (2021, May 2). Yesterday’s Green Up Day
was a huge success! Thank you to everyone that joined us in helping clean up areas
[Post]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/COYKMWVHdqU/
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