Affective Outcomes of Group versus Lone Green Exercise Participation.

'Green exercise' (being physically active within a natural environment) research has examined the influence of environmental setting on health and wellbeing-related exercise outcomes. However, it is not known whether social exercise settings influence green exercise-associated changes in mood, self-esteem, and connection to nature. This study directly compared outcomes of participating in green exercise alone compared to in a group. Using repeated measures, counterbalanced and randomized-crossover design, participants (n = 40) completed two 3 km runs around sports fields. These fields had a relatively flat grass terrain, predominant view of trees, and open grassland. On one occasion participants ran alone and on the other they ran in a group of 4-5 participants. Questionnaire measures of mood, self-esteem, and connection to nature were completed immediately pre- and post-run. Across all of the measures, two-way mixed ANOVAs found that there were statistically significant effects for time but not for time-by-condition interactions. The simplest interpretation of this finding is that social setting does not influence individuals' attainment of the psychological outcomes of green exercise participation. However, we discuss the possibility that more complex processes might underpin this finding.

Greenhouse gas emissions as a result of spectators travelling to football in England.

Transport remains a critical avenue in the attempt to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and any significant effort to reduce travel GHG emissions will need to encourage a movement towards more fuel-efficient, less polluting behaviours. The aim of this paper is to calculate GHG emissions arising from the travel of spectators to and from football games within eight football tiers (3 to 10) in England, and to extrapolate this to a national level. The study comprised of 1649 participants with an average age of 42 years (M = 42.63, SD = 17.10). Participants travelled to and from games by walking, cycling, car, bus, train or taxi. The average distance travelled to and from games was 41.5 km. A Kruskal-Wallis test was conducted to evaluate differences in travel related GHG emissions between the eight football tiers during the 2012/13 season. The results indicate significant differences between football tiers' GHG emissions, H(7) = 46.474, p < 0.001. The annual GHG emission of spectators from the 8 tiers for the 2012/13 season was estimated at 56,237 tonnes of CO2e, accounting for less than 0.05% of transport emissions in England. Football authorities should have robust travel plans and educate spectators to employ more sustainable travel plans to games.