I’m convinced that one of the big problems with the environmental movement is that we’re not very good at speaking to those outside of our social circles. That means that we do a lot of preaching to the choir and thinking lofty thoughts with people who agree with us. It also means that we run the risk of becoming exclusionary. Don’t believe me? When was the last time that you thought of a Republican hunter as an environmentalist? Or the guy who runs the local ATV club? We forget that the US National Parks were created by Teddy Roosevelt who, if he lived today, would be both those things – I would bet on it.
We need to understand that we can’t solve all the problems of the world all at once and that getting small results might just be enough. I believe that part of the solution is just getting kids outdoors. If we get them outdoors, then they’ll bring their families outdoors. They’ll learn to love the places that they’re living in. Eventually, they will want to protect them, they’ll connect them to other issues and they’ll want to do something about those issues too. When that happens, they will seek out the groups that are doing that kids of work.
But first, we need to do something and we can’t do that if we only talk to those people who agree with us.
Kids and Nature 