Daniel makes stuff, and, in his spare time, writes about things like movies, kid culture, and geek stuff.
Techno-Naturalists

With uncannily perfect timing to serve as a follow-up to my rant from earlier today about other people’s ranting, Richard Louv shares the right way to view technology and nature:

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 entry tool to nature.

Today, the family that together goes geo-caching or wildlife photographing with their digital cameras, or collecting pond samples, is doing something as legitimate as going fishing; both involve gadgets that offer an excuse to get outside. Young citizen naturalists are bound to have a different attitude about technology from many older people — and that could be an advantage.

May 21, 2010 :: Tagged under: , , , :: #

How to Lick a Slug

New York Times columnist Nick Kristof, about a recent backpacking trip he took with his young daughter to Mount Hood, Oregon:

We debated whether to put up our light tarp to protect us from rain. “No need,” I advised my daughter patronizingly. “There’s zero chance it’ll rain. And it’ll be more fun to be able to look up at shooting stars.”

It was, until we awoke at 4 a.m. to a freezing drizzle.

The rain not only punctured the doctrine of Paternal Infallibility but also offered one of nature’s dazzlingly important lessons in perspective, reminding us that we’re just tenants — and ones without much sway.

We’re just tenants.

We need to remember that. We need to give our kids the opportunities to be outside – by sharing with them our own joys of being outside, and by giving them permission to roam freely – so that they remember that, too.

Kristof echos the sentiments Richard Louv expressed in his book, “Last Child in the Woods”, and ends with a poignant message: “Let’s protect nature, yes, but let’s also maintain trails, restore the Forest Service and support programs that get young people rained on in the woods. Let’s acknowledge that getting kids awed by nature is as important as getting them reading.”

Not only do our forests and societies depend on it, but our kids’ lives do too. If nothing else, how would they ever know how to lick a banana slug?

(Via Free Range Kids.)

Aug 02, 2009 :: Tagged under: , , , :: #