Richard Louv on the Necessity of a Nature-Child Reunion
MP3 RadioIn response to the question of “how do we better engage children with nature,” workshop participants came up with the following ideas for discussion:
- Families are the unit of change; the focus is not solely children;
- Making it ‘cool’ to be green;
- Connecting children with nature in cities;
- Using environmental education centres as ‘the base’ for regional programming;
- Convening a national/international conference on nature/children/health in 2008;
- Increasing interpretation in provincial parks; and
- Merging nature education and human development.
Some of the points that emerged from the discussion include:
- In order to engage children, we must include the family. Family means the extended family, and grandparents need to increase their involvement. ‘Intergenerational environmental amnesia’ is a term to describe the fact that each successive generation has a different baseline as to what is normal or natural in their environment. Grandparents can help avoid this creeping amnesia. The family unit is critical for reaching other cultures and aboriginal people.
- Urban/regional parks are critical to addressing the child-nature issue. How can we use Official Community Plans to institute a culture of nature and wild spaces? There needs to be each of access.
- The coordination between schools and community must be developed, nurtured and sustained. Beyond funding and capacity, the difficulty is that there are so few opportunities for teachers to become experienced about outdoor teaching. Many teachers want to pursue this but are isolated and need support.
- Our environmental education programs must convey a positive sense of the future and provide hope - not despair. Caring for nature needs to become the norm. Learning about natural systems is more than just play but survival and adaptability to change. Some evidence that children who aren’t connected with nature aren’t as fully grounded once older.
All of these points and many others generated a discussion that shows no sign of dying down. In fact, participants readily endorsed the idea of a nature child reunion initiative to carry on the discussion and to address Louv’s challenge.
At present, the Nature Child Reunion initiatve consists of a website (www.naturechildreunion.ca), an online forum (members only) and an electronic newsletter. The general public can read the forum dialogue but can not post comments. To do so, individuals must be invited to join by members.
To find out more about this exciting and urgently-needed initiative, please visit its website.
For the latest news and developments with Richard Louv, visit his website: www.thefuturesedge.com