Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Children and Nature: Can We Reconnect?

September 5th, 2006

Shepherdstown, WV

Last night when I was at the grocery store there was a child around the age of ten in front of me. I could see that he had a deer in the headlights look so I asked him if anything was wrong. He looked at me and in a sullen tone said "School starts tommorow". Ahh, the summer is over and children head back to the books tommorow. I asked the young man what he would miss most about summer being over and if he had any fun experiences outside. He said he would most miss playing on his Xbox most of the day and his only memory of the outside was the 4th of July fireworks. This is another perfect example of young people being disconnected from nature. I remember my summe s running around outside and riding my bike through the hills of Seattle as well as countless excursions camping with my family. Will the next generation have these memories?

This weekend I will be in Sherpherdstwon, West Virgiania at the first annual Children and Nature Conference hosted by The Conservation Fund www.conservationfund.org . The conference will feature keynote speakers ranging from Rich Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods to Secretary of the Interior, Dick Kempthorne. All of these distinguished professionals are gathered together to focus on how we can do a better job of giving our children an opportunity to have the direct natural experiences we hold so dear in our memories. I will give an update on the conference next week when I return.

A quick update from last month's Justice for All Communities Training. The Los Angeles students who attended have already started a new Sierra Student Coalition chapter in Los Angeles, the first in California in ten years. A new generation of diverse activists is coming!

Cheers-Martin