Those are very good points. I certainly couldn't agree more that the issue is incredibly complex, and perhaps nothing could be more complex. It's not discrete, like wearing a seat belt or even smoking, and so on, because it's fundamental to all parts of lives. So the intervention needs to be at the individual level, the family level, the community level, the school level, and all levels of government.
Maybe we spin our wheels a little bit because it's overwhelming to people. We're often asked, “What's the one thing we need to do next?” I always answer that by saying that approach won't work. Don't bother, if it's the one thing you're going to do. It's bigger than that and we need to go at it more.
At a community level I think there are things we can do. I firmly believe that the migration into the home and away from kids being actively transported to school was a mass action thing. People started to withdraw, there were fewer bikes on the road, it became more dangerous, cars started driving faster, more bikes were withdrawn, cars drove faster, and so forth.
I think the momentum can go the other way as well. If there are bikes and kids all over the place, cars will drive slower. People will demand that the speed limits be reduced, and more kids will walk. When more kids walk or bike to school, it is safer. The freaks of the world who are going to abduct the kids, harm people, beat them up, or steal their lunches won't be there because there will be kids everywhere.
I think it's the same with parks. There are different approaches we can take to attract people back there. We can have park supervisors. They weren't in my town when I grew up, but my wife said she spent whole summers and all of her spare time at the park. Park supervisors, paid through the municipality, provided supervision there. I think there are approaches, and doing nothing is an unacceptable response.