Every Child Outdoors

The winter weather we have been experiencing, plus doing my back in, has meant that I have been able to sit watching the birds in my garden more than usual. Despite the back, I have been able to top up the bird feeders and replace the ice in the bird bath with fresh water most days. And the small effort on my part has brought big rewards. Blue, great, coal and long tailed tits, chaffinches, robins, doves, pigeons, sparrows, magpies, a sparrowhawk, the list goes on.

I also had time to catch up on some reading and one particular article in the RSPB magazine struck me. It was called “Every Child Outdoors” – you can read the RSPB report by the same name on their website. In 2005, Richard Louv coined the phrase “nature deficit disorder” – research has shown that increased contact with nature can reduce modern problems such as ADHD, vandalism and obesity – Louv’s phrase describes the human costs of alienation from nature. The RSPB, and other environmental organisations believe it essential that our young people are exposed to nature as much as possible. After all, the future of the planet will be in their hands and if they don’t know about or appreciate nature they aren’t going to do anything about it.

If you want to know more or get involved I have put some useful links on the my environmental links web page. Let me know if you find something useful, are inspired to do something or have other useful links I can add to the web page.

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  1. […] of my first blog posts on this site was about how little contact children have with nature these days and the impact it […]

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