One day, while driving down a freeway, I looked up to see an empty sky where there had been mountaintops. Dust was rising as massive earth graders rumbled across a now-blank plain. Seemingly overnight, they had sliced away the horizon. Later came rows of mini-mansions devoid of color or individuality or visual meaning, and shopping malls, [...]
I love my work. I am afforded the opportunity to promote the value of connecting people with nature. Working with so many great people to help empower a new generation to be connected with nature is a blessing and a responsibility that I take seriously. One of the things I find to be a constant [...]
It does not matter if you choose to take to the streets, the Occupy Movement has captured the imagination of everyone, and is not going away any time soon. The Occupy prompt has become a symbolic directive to give voice to a wide range of concerns – from corporate bastions, to conceptual ideals, to icons of popular culture. [...]
Summer has always traditionally been a time when people come together to get outside and go camping. America has been the leader in establishing the “great idea’ of National Parks, as Ken Burns showcased so well in his documentary last year, and in having generations of families head out on the road to camp every [...]
In 2009, Janet Ady of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service stood before a crowd of grassroots leaders gathered by the Children & Nature Network. She held up an outsized pharmacy bottle. Within the bottle was a physician’s prescription – one that would be as appropriate for adults as it would be for children. The [...]
“I recall my father’s dark tanned neck, creased with lines of dust, as he tilled our garden. I ran ahead of him, pulling rocks and bones and toys from his path.” — The Nature Principle In “Last Child in the Woods,” I focused on why children need nature. In my new book, “The Nature Principle,” [...]
Martin Luther King Jr. taught us, by word and example, that any movement — any culture —will fail if it cannot paint a picture of a world that people will want to go to. As others have said, his speech was not called “I Have a Nightmare.” For decades, our culture has struggled with two [...]
I love the outdoors because I believe that I am myself the most when I’m outdoors; no stress from work, paying bills, family issues, etc. The leadership roles I’ve gotten into since my love for the outdoors was revealed to me have changed my life for the better. Volunteering with Sierra Club’s Inner City Outings [...]
On the Children & Nature Network home page, there is an icon (right hand column toward the bottom) called Family Activities, Family Stories: Where Nature Meets Story. It will take you to a diverse list of activities in nature for children of all ages (and adults), but more importantly, it also offers a list of [...]
Note: This piece coincides with the April 12 announcement of First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden’s Veterans and Military Families Initiative, in partnership with the Sierra Club, YMCA, and National Military Family Association. The positive effects that nature can have on our military community can help give them strength and relief in a [...]
Children playing outdoors often invent their own games. Time in nature just seems to expand the imagination, as well as the freedom to make up the rules of ones choosing. Now kids 6-12 are encouraged to use their imaginations and reconnect with outdoor playtime — right in their own backyards — by creating an original [...]
Several years ago, Sally Jewell, president and CEO of REI, asked me to come to Seattle to speak at the annual gathering of the nationwide REI community. Sally and I sat on stage and talked for an hour about the importance of connecting children to nature. I already admired Sally, but as she wrapped up the [...]
There is nothing like a 100 foot Douglas Fir tree to put everything in perspective. When you look up through the canopy, the world you are in becomes so small. Growing up in Seattle with my Dad in graduate school at the University of Washington our family spent time outdoors because it was economically feasible [...]
In an exciting development for the Children and Nature Movement, at least eight states, and some cities and parks, have passed Children’s Outdoor Bills of Rights or Environmental Literacy Plans. There are Children’s Outdoor Bills of Rights working their way through legislatures in at least three additional states. Many of these initiatives resulted from enthusiastic [...]
For the past couple of days, my younger son and I have been trying to cure our nature-deficit disorder. Right now, I’m sitting in bed in a Bishop, California motel that, well, isn’t the Ritz. Matthew, who is 23, is still asleep, and deeply. A few hours ago we staggered across the clumped grass and [...]
