Get Out and Play! The Importance of Environmental Education

[aak618]

Think back to your childhood, sitting outside under the warm beams of the sun, enjoying the birds cheerful songs, playing make believe, tag, pogo stick, building fairy houses, finding dogs, monkeys, and turtles in the puffy white clouds. Now imagine today’s children, who don’t go outside and get lost in their imagination, rather they get lost in a beeping flashing electronic box that dictate their thoughts and actions.

In today’s culture, where the brightest, shiniest, and fastest technology is ever present, it is easy to forget our roots. That why I’m here. Don’t get me wrong, in no way am I saying that you aren’t doing a great job of raising your children. I am only asking you to go for a walk in your neighborhood instead of watching TV, play in the park instead of on a phone. I am asking you to have your children take their imagination outside the house, climb a tree, flip over a rock and look at the bugs.

In a recently published book “Last Child in the Woods”, author Richard Louv coined the term, nature deficit disorder which he defines as:

“The human cost of alienation from nature, among them: diminished use of the senses, attention difficulties, and high rates of physical and emotional illnesses. The disorder can be detected in individuals, families, and communities. Nature deficit can even change human behavior in cities, which could ultimately affect their design, since long-standing studies show a relationship between the absence, or inaccessibility, of parks and open space with high crime rates, depression, and other urban maladies [ADD, ADHD, & Asthma, for example].”

Or more simply, a disorder which results in unhealthy habits due to a disconnect with nature.

Within the last few years, global climate change has come to the forefront of the scientific world, as well as slowly seeping into the media. Per the National Geographic, currently in the world, and especially in America, there is a huge imbalance of consumption of resources: we are putting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere faster than plants and oceans can absorb. According to Laura Edwins, the average US family of four produces over 33 pounds of wasted food a month; pouring it directly into landfills all over the country. The National Geographic also reports that polar bears and indigenous cultures are already suffering from the sea-ice loss; arctic ice is rapidly disappearing- the world may have its first completely ice-free summer by 2040. A report by The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, based on findings from over 2,500 scientists in over 130 countries, clearly showed that most, if not all, of the current global warming is human-caused. Based on this information, it is in our power, and it is our responsibility, to change our ways. We can fix these problems.

And so this raises a question: how do we make the change we so clearly need? The answer is easy. Environmental Education. Environmental Education is an interdisciplinary based, hands-on, student-centered, inquiry-driven style of teaching that includes outdoor, experiential, and location-based education. It puts the child in charge of what they want to learn and how they want to learn it. You don’t even have to leave West Seattle – it can be as simple as walking along the Longfellow Creek Trail, keeping an eye out for the beavers; as simple as watching the salmon swim up the Duwamish River and then talking about the life cycle of a salmon; or as complex as you wish, grabbing a plant identification book and walking through Camp Long, maybe even leaving West Seattle to camp on the peninsula.

You may now be asking, “Isn’t that what schools are for?” and to that I say yes. However, in the current age of standardized testing and teachers jobs depending on said scores, it’s hard to blame teachers for not providing enough time – although they’re still trying! I personally made phone calls to over eighteen schools around the Seattle Public School district that all had similar responses: ‘I really wish I could teach more environmental education, but there just isn’t enough time’.

It now falls on you – and I have no doubt that you’re up for the job! It is so much easier to read about a glacier then visit it. It is so much easier to call your friend then go for a walk together. It is so much easier to order your food online then buy it at the farmers market. It is so much easier to forget that these changes need to happen then dedicate time to make them happen. The strong current of our technological society is turning us all into individual islands, unless we start with a solid educational foundation that embraces all the reasons our beautiful planet is important to our mental, physical, spiritual, and practical selves. We all must turn off the computer, put down the cell phone, turn off the television, pull on our shoes, grab a companion, go outside, experience the world, and take a deep breath. The future of our planet, and of generations to come depend on individuals who are willing to invest in positive change. Don’t be a passive world citizen, that’s too easy – be extraordinary.

Get out and play!

Written by: Alyssa Kaplan, West Seattle Resident and Senior at The Center School

Works Cited

Edwins, Laura. “How Much Food Does One Family Waste?” The Christian Science Monitor. The Christian Science Monitor, 27 Aug. 2012. Web. 12 Dec. 2012.

“Global Warming Fast Facts.” National Geographic. National Geographic Society, 14

June 2007. Web. 30 Nov. 2012.

Louv, Richard. Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-deficit

Disorder. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin of Chapel Hill, 2005. Print.

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[amalia]

Thank you for sharing your thoughtful essay.

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[KK50]

So well written and communicated. I am here in blog land because my 9 yr old is on a 2 night camping trip with his 3rd grade class. For some of the students this is their only opportunity to get into the great outdoors. Thank you for your care and concern and for this very articulate essay. Happy Graduation, I sense you will continue to make a great contribution to our community and world’

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[add]

Nicely done, Alyssa! You definitely reminded me of the Longfellow Creek Trail, which is literally in West Seattle’s backyard. I took my kids for a little hike there, on a whim, about 7-8 years ago, and they still remember it because we ended up at Dragonfly Park and they thought that was a cool place. I do, too! Get outside and enjoy!!

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[JoB]

The great outdoors is as close as our public transportation system and is full of infinite options…

if you get bored with those.. take the Southworth Ferry and explore the state parks on the peninsula… well worth the time and effort as they are seldom crowded.

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[anonyme]

You don’t see kids playing on the street any more, or even in their own back yards. They’re inside, glued to one device or another. This has become a generational divide. I remember being outside, playing in the neighborhood, from dawn until dusk as a kid. Even a small back yard can be a rich source of opportunity for environmental education and nature studies; bugs, birds, plants. I’ve also noticed a disturbing trend among modern parents: the cutting down of trees in yards in order to create “play space” for kids. Apparently “play” has become something sterile, dictated by electronics and plastic toys – not imagination.

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[KK50]

Our neighborhoods have changed.The long timers on my block tell me there were 40 kids on our 2 blocks in the 60’s and 70’s. Now, I think there are 4 school age kids. 3 out of 4 go to different schools. So playing in the neighborhood from dawn to dusk isn’t so much the option any more. I grew up in the 1970’s outdoors essentially. Families had 3-4 kids then and my back yard lead into 250 acres of forest, creeks etc. We are a family now of campers, hikers, backpackers and park users. Everyone in my circle is raising there kids simularly but I know that doesn’t extend to the greater circle.

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