Take a Child Outside Week

Just do it.

Sierra Club Leadership

The Sierra Club has been a leader for some time now in connecting kids and the outdoors.

Check out their website here.

Pluggin in to the Outdoors

Good post from a young leader of the Movement.

Today, Louv and others, including The Conservation Fund, are leaning heavily on a budding network of individuals and corporations aiming to get kids back outside. Dubbed the “National Forum on Children and Nature,” this motley crew of governors, CEOs, real estate and technology developers have rallied to reposition the issue of children’s health as front and center in the environmental movement.

Action Plan from NWF

The National Wildlife Federation has a new publication out entitled Connecting Today's Kids with Nature: A Policy Action Plan.

Read it here.

Louv is Blogging

Rich Louv has a new blog called Field Notes From the Future. Read it here.

Schools Can Make A Difference

The NY Times had a column a couple of weeks ago that looked at the state of school environments in the US and in other countries. The problem is what the author calls cubicle culture.

School design, particularly public school design, is often lumped in with the design of other institutional structures like jails, civic centers and hospitals, to detrimental effect. My high school, for example, had the dubious distinction of having been designed by the architect responsible for San Quentin. (The convicts got the better building.) Schools fulfill a practical function, to be sure, but shouldn’t they be designed to inspire?

This problem is also described in a couple of documentary films that have come out recently, including Radiant City: A Documentary About Suburban Sprawl, and Where Do the Children Play (we're considering both films for this year's American Conservation Film Festival).

But there are some good examples of schools out there that get kids connected with the outdoors, to their great benefit. We met with a group of fourth graders on Friday from one such school in Virginia. We asked them a series of questions about what they do after school and what they though nature did for them, and the answers were surprisingly hopeful. These kids talked to us about roaming the fields and woods around their homes, and only 10% of the group even mentioned video games. Many saw nature as an important place in their lives.

This movement really can make a difference.

NDD News

First, the BBC reports on the benefits to your health when you get outside. Read it here.

There's nothing new about doctors recommending their patients take more exercise. But what kind?

You could pay a fortune for gym membership, or you could trudge down to your local swimming pool and spend the rest of the day smelling faintly of chlorine.

But the best exercise of all might be the easiest and the cheapest: a stroll in the park, or a country ramble.

The secret ingredient? Greenery. Those of us who live in towns and cities, and even some who live in the countryside, don't get enough of it.

Here's more from the Charlotte Observer.

Why should we be concerned about these trends?

First, how can we expect children to help protect nature when they don't appreciate it? Conservation efforts will be even more daunting when future generations have not had experiences in nature.

What is more important, research shows that being close to nature may increase people's ability to concentrate, improve the behavior of children with attention disorders and boost science test scores. Taking a walk in the woods, stopping to smell the roses and digging in dirt are good for mental health, learning and brain development.

Louv

Leave No Child INSIDE Central Ohio Collaborative posts a new article by Rich Louv.

Got dirt? “In South Carolina, a truckload of dirt is the same price as a video game!” reports Norman McGee, a father in that state who bought a small pickup-load of dirt for his daughter and friends.

Check it out.

Bass Pro Gets Active

I've been hearing a Bass Pro Shop advertisement on the radio the past few days where folks are encouraged to get their kids outdoors. They spice up this request by giving a 15% discount on outdoor gear if you bring in a video game to trade in for the discount.

Kudos to Bass Pro for this program. Here's more from a Bass Pro press release from a couple of weeks back:

One incentive to get more kids to turn off computers and go outdoors is the Video Game Trade-In. For each video game kids and adults bring in Wednesday through Monday, May 21st through 26th, they will receive a 15% discount off the regular price of Bass Pro Shops branded items in fishing, water sports, tents, sleeping bags and footwear.

Update: You really need to hear these ads, they are a direct attack against the temporary nature of video games, suggesting that going fishing is indeed a lifelong sport. Great job.

News Roundup

Our house fire has left half the house without electricity, including my office, so internet access is possible only with a long extension cord.

Here's some recent news:

Endangered hunters in Florida.

“You think kids today want to get up at 4 a.m. to sit around and swat away mosquitoes and wait for something they’re not even guaranteed to catch?” he asked. “Nope, not when there’s a TV right at home.”

The Movement is covered in Iran!

Rich Louv blogs on Huffington Post.

1. Go for a family walk when the moon is full. There's a whole new set of animals, sights and sounds out there. Listen to animals calling. Owls and bats are looking for prey. Watch for things glowing, like worms and fungus on trees. And look up at the stars.

Junior Rangers in Hawaii.

The Haleakala park announcement said eligible children can apply to be Jr. Rangers if they enter the park on Saturday before 1 p.m. The program for children takes about two hours to complete. Children who are already members and their families can enter free by displaying their Jr. Ranger badges.

Where Do Children Play ?

If you're around Detroit, check out this documentary on April 15 on Detroit Public TV.

The hourlong Michigan Television production, airing at 9 p.m. Tuesday, April 15 (repeated at 2:30 a.m. Wednesday, April 16), on WTVS/Channel 56 is a must-see for parents or anyone who cares about kids, a compelling, serious look at a normally carefree subject. Interspersing lovingly photographed footage of youngsters exploring their natural surroundings of woods and waters with opinions of experts from as far away as Great Britain (all seemingly shot outside; nice touch), Where Do the Children Play? makes a convincing case that free play in the outdoors, a function essential for normal childhood development and taken for granted by the postwar generation, has given way to video games, Facebook pages and fear of the world beyond the front gate.

From the West Coast

The Oregonian talks vision.

Evidence is mounting in support of getting kids back outside. Pioneering teachers are now experimenting with outdoor classrooms, where children spend part of their school week interacting directly with the environment. They may tend a garden, investigate soil, or tally wildlife. Louv reported that these children perform better across the board, from math and science to standardized testing, than do the students stuck inside. Nowhere else do we use all five senses together for learning, the way we do in outdoor exploration. Nature also serves as a balm for kids to release the confusion and stress of life, soothing them instead with the healing powers of awe and wonder.

Enough Already

There's a new blog in the county I live in called Greener Loudoun. They have a section on Children and Nature issues, and include a post that Rich Louv will be in Reston Virginia next week.
I had to laugh as the first comment on the post is the ever-appearing Michael Vendeman essay that responds to Rich's book.

Enough already.

I have posted on Mike Vandeman and his arguments in the past. I do not know him, and have never met him. I'm not going to get into the merits or weaknesses of his essay, but will instead say if he continues to spray them all over the internet, as comments to others' posts on or about Rich Louv, it only cheapens his arguments and really seems no different than spam. A quick Google of "Mike Vandeman" and Louv to see how widespread this is.

You made you point, now chill.

Another OpED

from the Brunswick News.

The Staats children took over the playground at Neptune Park on St. Simons Island Monday afternoon. Sisters Anna, 8, and Emme, 5, took turns swinging from a long stretch of monkey bars, as their cousin, Jess, 4, dug in the sand nearby. "Digging, that's my favorite part," Jess said. This type of outdoor romping isn't an uncommon occurrence for the Brunswick family. They revel in spending time together outside, away from television and video games, said Jess' mother, Marilyn Staats. "They specifically ask to go outside, and I am just fine with that," she said. "Playtime outside is a good thing for kids. (We) turn off SpongeBob and they have a ball just running around outside."

More on Let's Go Outside!

An oped on Let's Go Outside!

The service’s slogan is “Let’s Go Outside!”, and the goal is to get urbanites and “non-traditional conservation audiences” to check out some of the 97-million-acres in the National Wildlife Refuge System.

Let's Go Outside

The Fish and Wildlife Service launches its new People and Nature initiative.

Let's Go Outside!

Here's a link to a report on a recent Fish and Wildlife Service sponsored meeting for health care and Conservation professionals that focused on People and Nature.

And more on the FWS "Let's Go Outside!" program.

More Blog Posts

Some words from the Therapeutic Landscapes Database Blog.

According to the Center for Environmental Health, children's contact with nature helps to ease attention-deficit disorder, aids cognitive development, enhances creativity, and reduces stress. And of course, with obesity at a critical level in this country, kids need to be running around outside now more than ever. A new report by the Nature Conservancy states that attendance has been falling at America's national parks since the 1980s. They blame videophilia, but we can also see connections with Louv's findings. Other reports indicate that early positive experience with nature fosters a strong sense of stewardship and environmental responsibility. In other words, if we want the next generation to take care of the planet, we'd better let them play outside on it now.

Media Notes

A planned museum in North Carolina will connect suburban kids and their environment.

Glendening told me that only 6 percent of children ages 6 to 13 spend any time in outdoor unstructured play per week. Most kids are too busy with scheduled activities or "plugged in" to be outside playing.

The Museum of Life and the Environment will connect the next generation with its surroundings.

More on play and ADHD from the UK.

Are children diagnosed with ADHD simply suffering from play starvation? This disturbing possibility emerges from studies carried out in America over the past 10 years.

Hyper parenting in Canada.

Over-the-top child rearing is nothing new, but it's this latest wave -- 10-year-olds scheduling extracurricular activities with BlackBerrys, teenagers suffering from sports injuries previously only witnessed in professional athletes and a stream of Prozac and Ritalin flowing from the drugstore to lunch boxes -- that's earned the title hyper-parenting.

An OpEd from New Hampshire hits the mark.

It is these connections to nature, the sense of wonder in the moment and the memories that last a lifetime, these are what we need to provide to our children and our children's children. Without real experiences in nature ... the dirty fingernail, smell-the-earth kind ... how will they come to care about preserving the natural world? It is up to us to turn off the television, put aside the mouse, and choose nature with our children, for their future and the future of all life on Earth.

From CT

I grew up in Connecticut, and despite what some folks may think of this small state, there are fantastic places all across the state to get outdoors. The section of the Appalachian Trail is beautiful, there is a large and well developed network of state parks and forests, great ponds and lakes, world class paddling and fishing, fine nordic skiing (when there's snow), and finally, for me as a young adult, tons of great places to rock climb, with literally thousands of climbing routes.

Connecticut has an asset today in Gina McCarthy, who has emerged as a leader in the movement to connect kids with nature. The press in Connecticut has written about the topic recently, here's some of those stories:

From the Meriden paper.

This deserves a lot more investigation," said Tom Morrissey, the DEP's bureau chief for outdoor recreation, and a Meriden resident. "Over the last two generations we've seen a real change towards indoor play. When I was a kid, it was punishment to stay inside. Now, they don't know how to camp or hike long distances. They don't really know what to do when they're outside, and you don't see parents teaching their kids."

And some thoughts from the head of the Connecticut Forest & Park Association.

"No Child Left Inside" aims to get families back out into the parks and forests, and through two successful years of programs such as "Great Park Pursuit" — a game based loosely on the TV show "Amazing Race" that sends families to eight state parks following sets of clues — the initiative has been successful. "No Child Left Inside" has earned nationwide recognition and the "Great Park Pursuit" has spread across New England. Until now, though, the initiative had been unaccompanied by increases in funding.