COVID-19 and outdoor recreation in the post-anthropause

ABSTRACT

The lockdown measures instituted during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a moment of restricted human activity and mobility that researchers have called the ‘anthropause’. Along with accounts of the widespread suspension or disruption of various industries, including sport, recreation, and tourism, media reported on the anthropause’s positive impact on wildlife and environments, evidenced by accounts of animals returning to their previously displaced habitats and thriving in spaces typically marked by human activity. However, the period following these lockdown measures witnessed the re-opening of disrupted industries, and also a marked increase in outdoor human activity, particularly via engagement with forms of outdoor recreation at national and state parks and other protected areas. This analysis asserts that during this post-anthropause, the renewal and increase in outdoor recreation practices within protected areas re-demonstrated the ecological impacts of human activity within those spaces. Utilising media reports regarding outdoor recreation and US national and state parks during the pandemic, this essay explores the implications of leisure after lockdown, arguing that the post-anthropause represents an important conceptual tool for better understanding the complex relations between physical cultures, environments, and the anthropocentric dictates of contemporary ‘burnout society’.

KEYWORDS:

• Outdoor recreation
• protected areas
• anthropause
• anthropocene

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jacob J. Bustad

Jacob Bustad (Ph.D.) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Kinesiology at Towson University. His primary research and teaching interests are in the fields of sport management, physical cultural studies, the sociology of sport and urban studies. His research has been published in international journals such as Cities, Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, International Journal of Sport Communication, and The International Journal of the History of Sport.

Samuel M. Clevenger

Samuel M. Clevenger is an Assistant Professor in the Sport Management program at Towson University. His current research focuses on the future of sport and physical culture in the age of the Anthropocene, as well as environmental change in sport history. His research has been published in international journals such as Rethinking History, International Journal of Sport Communication, Sport, Education and Society, and The International Journal of the History of Sport.

Oliver J.C. Rick

Oliver Rick is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sport Management and Recreation at Springfield College. He graduated with a PhD in Kinesiology specializing in Physical Cultural Studies. Since graduating from the University of Maryland with his doctoral degree he has developed a research agenda that has three main strands: critical analyses of sports media and communication, globalization processes in sport, and urban physical activity cultures.