Field Notes From the Future

Things tend to get a little slow around the blogosphere in summer, and that’s generally a good thing. It means many people are taking breaks from their desks and computers, their work and school, and are hopefully enjoying some time outside in nature. If you’re seeking more resources for summer activities, here are some ideas. Download the [...]

This is an exciting summer for those who want to make their voices heard about President Obama’s America’s Great Outdoors Initiative. The America’s Great Outdoors Initiative was signed at a White House Conference on April 16. You can read the remarks and see video of President Obama, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, and others. At the April [...]

Boredom has its benefits. So does solitude, that lost art in the age of wall-to-wall media. To occasionally be alone – not lonely, but alone – is an important part of parenting and of marriage. One time, my wife Kathy rented a room at the beach, and spent a weekend with no electronic interruptions, no [...]

The Safe Routes to School National Partnership, to which C&NN belongs, has issued two new resource guides:  Getting Students Active through Safe Routes to School: Policies and Action Steps for Education Policymakers and Professionals and Implementing Safe Routes to School in Low-Income Schools and Communities: A Resource Guide for Volunteers and Professionals. Getting Students Active provides [...]

Summer is upon us and, for many families, that means a traditional camp experience for their children. But even the camp experience has changed over the years to reflect what Richard Louv noted in 2005’s Last Child in the Woods as a “shift in our relationship to the natural world … even in settings that [...]

Press Release June 1, 2010 Washington, DC—As First Lady Michelle Obama unveiled the Let’s Move OUTSIDE initiative today in Las Vegas, expanding her campaign to solve childhood obesity, a broad coalition representing the business and non-profit communities announced a national strategic partnership called the Outdoors Alliance for Kids (OAK). OAK brings together the YMCA of the USA, [...]

Updated June 1: As First Lady Michelle Obama unveiled the Let’s Move Outside initiative, expanding her campaign to solve childhood obesity, a broad coalition representing the business and non-profit communities announced a national strategic partnership called the Outdoors Alliance for Kids (OAK). OAK brings together the YMCA of the USA, REI, Sierra Club, National Wildlife [...]

Many people believe that technology is the antithesis of nature. Here’s an alternate view. A fishing rod is technology. So is that fancy backpack. Or a compass. Or a tent. When boomers my age ran through the woods with play guns (as distasteful as that might be to some people), they were using technology as [...]

An important new paper has just been released that further links children’s time in nature to their overall health. The paper, Using Nature and Outdoor Activity to Improve Children’s Health, was written by Leyla E. McCurdy, MPhil, Kate E. Winterbottom, MPH, Suril S. Mehta, MPH, and James R. Roberts, MD, MPH, and published in the [...]

There is a wealth of research to bolster the need for children to spend time in nature. Now visitors to the C&NN web site can access a round-up of selected research and studies that focus on nature in education and educational settings. These studies, along with others, were originally published by C&NN in four volumes, [...]

One of the admirable characteristics of modern Australia – one that the U.S. should emulate – is a relatively new custom. As I learned on a recent visit to four cities, at the opening of most major conferences indigenous people are asked to give an invocation; and the first person to speak offers a [...]

In addition to having 72 grassroots campaigns and hundreds of members in many parts of North America, the Children & Nature Movement includes clubs, groups, programs, and events around the globe, with ever-increasing numbers of people joining in. NatureWize in Guiyang,Guizhou, China, just hosted a brunch and litter-pick up event for April Awareness Month. A program [...]

The 40th Earth Day day is upon us April 22, and many are celebrating the entire Earth Week, not to mention April’s Children & Nature Awareness Month. Earth Day’s legacy, from that first one in 1970, heralded a new era of conserving our land, air, water and other resources. At the government level, it sparked [...]

The Conference has ended. It was exciting to follow along and provide updates. A complete transcript of President Obama’s opening remarks can be seen here. C&NN Vice President and co-founder Martin LeBlanc, who is at the conference, wrote, “My main observation is that connecting children to the outdoors is fundamental to every Conservation priority the [...]

Last week, First Lady Michelle Obama hosted the White House Childhood Obesity Summit as part of her work with the newly formed Childhood Obesity Task Force and its accompanying Let’s Move campaign. The Summit was attended by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, Surgeon General Regina Benjamin, and Martin LeBlanc, [...]

The Obama Administration is recognizing the importance of the outdoors to people’s health and well-being, with two important new programs: The White House Conference on America’s Great Outdoors and First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move campaign to eradicate childhood obesity. The White House Conference on America’s Great Outdoors will be held Friday, April 16. C&NN President [...]

“We gain life by looking at life.” Those are the words of Dr. Mardie Townsend, a researcher and associate professor in the School of Health and Social Development at Deakin University in Victoria, Australia, and an important thinker about the importance of the natural world to human development. She added, in an interview with the [...]

Note: The following is in response to the call for public comments from First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign. C&NN urges the newly created task force to consider active time outdoors in nature as a key tool in addressing obesity. Dear Members of the Task Force on Childhood Obesity: On behalf of the Children & Nature [...]

Hundreds of young people around the U.S. are preparing for Get Outside Day! 2010. On April 3rd and throughout the week, these “Natural Leaders” will engage in a variety of events to have fun, get out in nature, and encourage others to put down their electronic media and do the same. C&NN’s Natural Leaders Network is [...]