The Children & Nature Network (Lecture Tuesday 2/24)

For any of you interested in learning about the modern movement to reconnect children with nature, check out this lecture!

Child Advocacy expert Richard Louv, who wrote for the Union Tribune and tours widely promoting getting children connected to nature will be speaking Tuesday, Feb. 24 at Point Loma Nazarene University at 7:00 pm.

Louv wrote the book, Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder, and it has spurred a National Dialogue among educators, health professionals, parents, developers and conservationists.

In the book, Louv describes the staggering divide between children and the outdoors, and he directly links the lack of nature in the lives of today’s wired generation—he calls it nature-deficit—to some of the most disturbing childhood trends, such as the rises in obesity, attention disorders, and depression.

Tickets are $5 and may be purchased online or by phone before Friday, February 13: 619-849-2297 or at http://www.pointloma.edu/LJML/LJML_Events.htm. Otherwise $10 at the door.
Louv is also Chairman of the Children and Nature Network (http://www.childrenandnature.org/)

I've been checking out the Children and Nature Network (C&NN) website and it's a great source for articles that promote getting kids Outside. And the C&NN doesn't just push ideas and philosophies, their articles provide documented evidence supporting the positive impact Nature has on Children as well as society as a whole.

Here are links to two of my favorite articles on the site, they're topics that I believe are the most relevant to the generation of kids growing up today in good ole sprawling San Diego:

How Children Lost the Right to Roam in Four Generations

The Powerful Link Between Conserving Land and Preserving Health

This is a link to the C&NN Google Maps Application where you can search for Grassroots Programs and Events involving Children and Nature near you.

Richard Louv's Blog: Field Notes from the Future-The Human Relationship with Nature

Volunteering

The main purpose of me keeping this journal that you enjoy so much is to raise money for Big City Mountaineers, a non-profit that gives at-risk youth life-changing experiences in the wilderness. Here in San Diego, there is another non-profit group called Inner City Outings that works out of the Sierra Club taking different groups of kids on all types of outdoor trips.
I really believe in the impact and importance of giving kids these life-changing experiences that they don't have the chance of having on their own. On top of raising money , I want to be become involved in the same kinds of programs I'm raising money for so tonight I attended my first ICO meeting and have begun the process of becoming a Volunteer Assistant, and eventually after the required training, I will become a Trip Leader. I'll be volunteering on my first trip this February 7th to Mountain Palm Canyon, on a desert hike through palm oasises.
Some of the stories I heard at the volunteer meeting, about kids who've lived their entire lives in San Diego and've never been to the beach going into the ocean for the first time and yelling in surprise, "Its salty!", about kids who started out on a hike too cool to smile or look like they were having a good time and by the end of the trip laughing and interested in everything on the trail and asking "What kind of a job can I do where I ge to be outside all day?", these are the kinds of stories that prove I'm raising money for something that really works, and that motivate me to train and fundraise as hard as I can.