Pass
It On - Outdoor Mentors, Inc.
What
is the National Forum on Children and Nature and why was it formed?
-
The Forum is an extraordinary group of national leaders in diverse
areas who have one thing in common: a passionate belief that children
need to be reconnected with nature for their physical, emotional
and spiritual health.
- Formed
in 2007 by The Conservation Fund, a leading environmental nonprofit,
the National Forum on Children and Nature includes some of the
nation’s most dynamic public and private leaders. Chaired
by Governors M. Jodi Rell (CT), Edward Rendell (PA), Mark Sanford
(SC) and Brian Schweitzer (MT) and co-hosted by “Last Child
in the Woods” author Richard Louv, the Forum represents
51 leaders. The mayors of Los Angeles, Houston and Chicago are
Forum members, as are the CEOs of The North Face, REI and the
National Audubon Society, among other organizations.
- The
Forum’s mission is to:
- Elevate
the issue of reconnecting children with nature to the highest
levels of our national consciousness
- Connect
the fast-growing grass-roots side of this movement to some of
the most powerful engines of American society – public,
private and nonprofit
- Make
real for every American—through nationally significant
demonstration projects—ways that each of us can help reconnect
children with nature
Why
is reconnecting children with nature important?
- Kids
have a basic right to a healthy, whole childhood. In fact, with
major advances in medicine, education and other fields, kids today
should enjoy a higher quality of life than ever before. But chronic
health conditions--such as obesity, diabetes and depression--have
reached alarming rates, affecting a growing number of kids.
-
More than a third of American children and adolescents—17
million--are obese or at risk for obesity.
- The
number of kids living with a chronic disease has more than
quadrupled since 1960, from 1.8% to nearly 8%.
- American
children are being prescribed antidepressants at skyrocketing
rates—according to one published survey, the number of kids
being treated for depression recently doubled in a five-year period.
- Kids
are becoming increasingly disconnected from the great outdoors.
Heavily-scheduled kids travel from school to organized activity
and then home. Along the way, the outdoors has become a place
many kids merely visit.
- In
1969, 50% of U.S. children walked or biked to school. In 2004,
less than 13% did.
- The
area in which children are free to roam has shrunk by 89%
in the past 20 years.
-
Nature-based recreation as a whole been declining every year
since the 1980s, for a total decline of roughly 25%.
- A
growing body of evidence suggests that these two trends—the
decline in children’s health and their separation from nature—are
linked. If we fail to realize this link and reconnect kids with
nature, we shortchange their health and happiness now—and
risk creating a generation of adults that is less healthy, productive
and able to value our country’s natural resources.
How would you describe the 30 projects?
- As
a portfolio, these 30 projects are diverse – occurring in
urban neighborhoods and rural communities, reaching preschoolers
and teens, including kids of different races and backgrounds.
Collectively, these compelling projects illustrate what we can
do together to reconnect children with nature.
- Taken
together, the projects incorporate a broad range of themes, including:
- Mentoring
by adults, young adults and grandparents;
- Developing
child- and nature-friendly neighborhoods;
- Making
nature fun with challenges, TV programming and technology;
- Starting
nature activity early at pre-schools and child care centers;
- Engaging
the Hispanic and African-American communities;
- Bringing
nature to children at school, creatively and effectively;
- Revitalizing
park and recreation programming;
- Programming
for kids and young adults living in public housing;
- Restoring
and promoting green stops and green infrastructure;
- Engaging
health providers to prescribe nature;
- Partnering
with public transportation agencies to make outdoor experiences
accessible;
- Providing
kids with pre-paid gift cards for nature-based recreation
outings;
- Reinventing
the American camping experience;
- Engaging
families in the outdoors together; and
- Measuring
and sharing the results.
-
Projects are geographically diverse. Local projects demonstrate
ideas from all over the country: MA, CT, NY and PA in the Northeast;
GA, NC, SC, FL and TX in the South; KS, MN and IL in the Midwest;
CO, WY, CA and WA in the West. Some of these local projects are
regional in nature and/or have aspirations to spread regionally
or nationally. Fourteen projects are national in scope or focus
on multiple sites across the United States.
What
has the Forum done? What is it doing now?
-
Over the past year, the Forum vetted 560 proposed projects for
endorsement, with advisory panels evaluating ideas for their creativity,
impact and ability to replicated, among other characteristics.
The Forum ultimately selected 30 projects for endorsement, committing
a collective effort to help project leaders raise visibility and
financial support.
-
The Forum has endorsed 30 projects that can be used as models
for community leaders, planners, educators and others who want
to reconnect kids and nature locally, tapping new ideas or new
ways to use tools and relationships within their industry or sector.
-
To elevate these projects, the Forum is launching a website, www.forum-on-children-and-nature.org,
to share project ideas and introduce project leaders. In addition,
the Forum has committed to support these projects locally and
to promote the issue of children and nature nationally.
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