Monday, May 08, 2006

To Give Every Child a Special Place

May 5th 2006

Seattle WA

Welcome to the new blog that I will be posting on a weekly basis with updates on Sierra Club Youth Programs as well as starting a discusion with readers on issues around getting children in the outdoors. I hope to provide a forum for thoughts on how we can reach more young people and give them a special place to devlop a bond with the natural world.

My first memory of nature was staring at moss covered trees in the Hoh Rainforest in Olympic National Park. These memories have always stayed with me and I still go back to the rainforest every year to find my special place. My background is a mix of political as well as educational as I graduated from American University with a degree in Political Science but spent most of my free time playing in the Blue Ridge Mountains. After graduation I ended up teaching environmental education as an Ameri Corps volunteer in Mount Vernon, Washington to at-risk students. This experience helped me understand that giving children an opportunity to explore nature could help them succeed in school and build confidence in them to become productive mebers of their community. After graduate school in England I worked for Texas Parks and Wildlife in Austin, Texas as an administrator for the Community Outdoor Outreach Program, which gave funds to outdoor education programs serving at-risk kids. My windy path has led the past four years to working for the Sierra Club as the National Youth Director.

The Sierra Club believes every child should have an opportunity to have an outdoor experience. We are working on fufilling this mission by supporting outdoor education programs as well as working with policymakers in California, New Mexico and Washington to find funding both private and public to get more children outdoors. This blog will update readers on this progress and look for advice on how we can give every child a special place in nature.

I would strongly advise anyone interested in this issue to read Rich Louv's book : Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder. Rich puts together a strong argument on how children not getting outdoor opportunities effects our communities.

So please enjoy, explore and protect and I look forward to hearing from you.

Cheers-Martin LeBlanc