Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Back to my Roots

Kahu'i, Hawaii

My first experience working with children in the outdoors was as an Americorps Volunteer outside of Seattle, Washington. The children I worked with were teenagers attending an alternative high school. Leading week long backpack trips I would see numerous students evolve from a sullen and silent kid to one who was leading our afternoon field activity by the end of the week. Last week I attended the National Military Family Association's www.nmfa.org Western Leadership Training in Lilihue, Kahu'i. The students I worked with in helping lead a hike along the Napoli Coast and around a campfire showed so much courage dealing with deployment of a military parent while dealing with the normal pressures of adolesence. None of the children felt sorry for themselves and enjoyed being among peers who are in similer situations. The smiles and laughter that I witnessed on the hike were a stark reminder of the theraputic benefits of nature. We must all work together to make sure that every child can have the 'right' to experice nature. This is a good piece on NMFA's Operation Purple Camp in Washington state earlier this summer. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/322330_camp04.html


A couple of updates from the Leave No Child Inside Movement:

• The Children and Nature Network is hosting a national gathering in Minnesota in early August to work with regional leaders in creating an action guide to help build a network of leaders to help empower local communities to get children outside. www.cnaturenet.org
• A coalition of national groups are supporting an effort to include funding for environmental education in the 2008 Federal budget. You can learn more about these efforts at the Chesepeake Bay Foundation's website http://www.cbf.org/site/News2abbr=SB_News_&page=NewsArticle&id=27213

Hope everyone is enjoying the summer and getting outside!