Childhood health and obesity has increasingly become a problem. More than one-third of American children and adolescents are now either obese or overweight, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Rather than playing outside and being active, kids now spend five to seven hours a day watching TV, on the computer or playing video games. In many areas of New Jersey there simply are not enough open spaces for kids to get outside for healthy recreation.
The Land and Water Conservation Fund has helped fund places ranging from nationally significant landscapes to city ballfields and swimming pools. From the Edison National Historic Park to the Cape May National Wildlife Refuge to Jersey City's Pershing Field Park, LWCF has invested in places across New Jersey and the rest of the country for more than fifty years.
Sadly, fringe Republicans in Congress are blocking the bipartisan efforts to reauthorize the program ahead of its September 30 expiration. I applaud New Jersey's Congressmen and Senators who are supporting efforts to renew LWCF and hope our other state representatives will join the effort to continue this program so New Jersey kids today and tomorrow can have more parks to play in.
Ed Potosnak is executive director of the New Jersey League of Conservation Voters.