Outdoor recreation and environmentally responsible behavior

Outdoor recreation is widely believed to promote environmentally responsible behavior. However, based on qualitative interviews with trekkers in Jotunheimen National Park, a mountainous area in Norway, this study questions that notion. The study finds that environmentally responsible behavior is preconditioned by reflection on the relationship between people and nature, and that outdoor recreation alone does not necessarily promote reflection. The results suggest that it is important to distinguish between outdoor recreation and reflection on the human-nature relationship, where only the latter is related to environmentally responsible behavior.