The importance of learning to connect with nature

‘More children are admitted to hospital with injuries resulting from falling out of beds than falling out of trees’ (https://twitter.com/#!/NTPressOffice).  The importance of learning to love nature

Firts of all let me start by stating that I agree with the sentiment that the world will be a better place if more children are exposed to, and emersed in, nature.  Let me also say that I would rather we did not all get hung up on the above statistic for two reasons: 1) statistics can be misleading and manipulated, it’s better to concentrate on the underlying message, 2) complaining that not enough children are admitted to hospital as a result of injuries sustained whilst enjoying wild nature is not the greatest piece of PR for the argument promoting a greater exposure to nature.

So what does it matter if kids don’t spend any time in trees anymore?

The future of biodiversity, of nature, depends largely upon how we value nature.  If the general public don’t enjoy trees, birds and bees then these species are less likely to be saved and are more likely to go extinct.  Moreover, developing an appreciation of nature helps us develop as people.  In a world of information overload, a world in which many kids are exposed to high levels of stimulation (e.g. television, facebook and twitter) children struggle to catch onto one idea and run with it before the next is presented to them.  Nature gives us an opportunity to slow down, to explore a whole idea and reflect upon it.  

Taking an analogy from my previous essay, I believe that we all have an innate ability, a predisposition, to enjoy nature (the Biophilia hypothesis).  But we cannot enjoy nature without practice (think of your own analogy).  So, if we are to value nature then we must be exposed to it, immersed in it.  If we are not, we will not learn to enjoy it, will miss out on the spiritual fulfilment it can offer us and miss out on opportunities to slow down and reflect.  Moreover, from the conservation perspective, if the children of today do not learn to value nature then the adults of today will not bother to conserve it. 

For the above reasons I believe that organisations such as zoos and the national trust have a hugely important role to play in the education and development of the next generation, especially as more and more people live in cities.  Also, taking this approach it is important not that those who enjoy nature encourage other likeminded people to get into nature.  Instead, efforts to engage people with nature should be prioritised, should be aimed at inner city children.  I acknowledge that it is difficult to create a tick list for the personal development of children, I appreciate that it is hard to quantify the extent to which children engage with nature.  More importantly though, I believe that the personal development of children and an appreciation of nature, upon which everyone one of us relies, deserves a proportion of education resources.  For this reason also, I would like to acknowledge the purposeful work of zoos and organisations working towards this end.

If you are interested in the Biophilia hypothesis then recommend W. O. Wilson’s ‘Biophilia, or some of the work of Andrew Balmford (which is more accessible) such as ‘http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1389192/Is-that-a-bee-a-bird-or-Pikachu.html’