Beth Pratt, leader of the Save LA Cougars campaign, explains how wildlife crossings work and the unique engineering behind the Liberty Canyon Wildlife Crossing. Plus: learn how doing one creative thing every day can boost your happiness.
Beth Pratt, leader of the Save LA Cougars campaign, explains how wildlife crossings work and the unique engineering behind the Liberty Canyon Wildlife Crossing. Plus: learn how doing one creative thing every day can boost your happiness.
Additional resources from Beth Pratt, California Regional Executive Director for the National Wildlife Federation and leader of the #SaveLACougars Campaign:
Do One Creative Thing Every Day to Increase Your Overall Happiness by Rachel Bertsche Levine
https://curiosity.com/topics/want-to-be-happier-do-one-creative-thing-a-day-curiosity
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Find episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/how-wildlife-crossings-work-w-beth-pratt-of-savelacougars-and-get-happy-by-doing-one-creative-thing-a-day
CODY: Hi! You’re about to get smarter in just a few minutes with Curiosity Daily from curiosity-dot-com. I’m Cody Gough.
ASHLEY: And I’m Ashley Hamer. Today, you’ll learn about how wildlife crossings work, with help from Beth Pratt, leader of the Save LA Cougars Campaign. You’ll also learn about how a little creative activity can make you happier.
CODY: Let’s satisfy some curiosity.
The “Save L.A. Cougars” campaign is working on saving animals from extinction — by building the largest wildlife crossing in the world. And the Liberty Canyon wildlife crossing could help do a lot more than just save some mountain lions. Today with the scoop is Beth Pratt, the California Regional Executive Director for the National Wildlife Federation, and leader of the #SaveLACougars Campaign.
Yesterday Beth told us the story of P-22, the mountain lion that’s pretty much the “poster boy” of the whole project. Highways and urban development have created these sort of “genetic islands” that make it hard for wildlife like P-22 to procreate (with non-family members) and prosper. And the thing is, when you cut off an ecosystem with a huge highway like the 101 in Los Angeles, you can end up risking a LOT of genetic collapse — we’re talking frogs, lizards, birds, and even plants. That’s why this wildlife crossing is so great: it’s reconnecting an entire ecosystem. Which leads to a pretty obvious question: what does a wildlife crossing look like?
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Again, Beth Pratt is the California Regional Executive Director for the National Wildlife Federation, and leader of the #SaveLACougars Campaign. The Liberty Canyon wildlife crossing is in its final design and engineering stages, and you can learn more about its progress at save-l-a-cougars-dot-org. You can find a link to that and lots more in today’s show notes.
It's hard enough to finish your to-do list every day, much less find time to express yourself artistically. But according to research, finding that time is worth the effort. Doing one creative thing each day may increase your overall happiness.
So, what if you don’t consider yourself to be a creative person? Does that mean you’re doomed to an unhappy life? Well, slow your roll for a second. The definition of creativity is much broader than you imagine.
A 2016 study published in the Journal of Positive Psychology defined creativity as coming up with a novel or original idea, expressing oneself in an original and useful way, or spending time doing artistic activities. That can apply to a lot of things. The most common examples reported in the study were songwriting; creative writing; knitting and crochet; making new recipes; painting, drawing, and sketching; graphic and digital design; and musical performance. But I’ve seen some people do creative things with a spreadsheet. Creativity is more of a mindset than an activity, if you think about it.
And according to this study, engaging in just one creative activity each day can increase your overall well-being, making you more likely to feel energetic, enthusiastic, excited. Study participants who engaged in these activities didn’t just feel better in the moment; they felt better the next day too. Ultimately, the researchers found that being creative launches a kind of upward spiral: being creative makes you feel good, which makes you more creative, which makes you feel even better.
So, now we know why karaoke, BYOB painting classes, and adult coloring books are so popular. But you don't even need to spend money to get your creative juices flowing. Snap a beautiful photograph, sew a pillow, sing along with the radio, cook without a recipe, or try something different with your hair. Have fun with it! It’ll make you happier.
Let’s recap the main things we learned today
[ad lib optional]
CODY: Today’s last story was written by Rachel Bertsche Levine, and edited by Ashley Hamer, who’s the managing editor for Curiosity Daily.
ASHLEY: Scriptwriting was by Cody Gough and Sonja Hodgen. Curiosity Daily is produced and edited by Cody Gough.
CODY: Join us again tomorrow to learn something new in just a few minutes.
ASHLEY: And until then, stay curious!