the email newsletter of the Nature Child Reunion Initiative

Get Outside! It’s In Our Nature - March 5 to 8, 2009

Our second major international event is shaping up to be one that should not be missed. Richard Louv will be back along with other distinguished keynote and plenary speakers including Robert Bateman, David Orr, and Louise Chawla. For a general description of the event and more details on the program, visit our website.  International Conference 2009

The Kesho Trust is pleased with the partnership of University of Victoria, The Children and Nature Network, and Royal Roads University in sponsoring this event. It will take place primarily at the Royal Roads campus in Victoria, BC and you can register through the Continuing Studies Department of Royal Roads University at: Register

If you have any difficulties or want to contact us directly concerning the event please do so at:  info@thekeshotrust.org

Natural Connections: Tipping Points to Change

As a Senior Associate to the Children and Nature Network Bob Peart was recently invited to a grassroots gathering of academics, practioners and youth in Nebraska. At this meeting Richard Louv updated everyone on the positive growth of the Children and Nature Network and the growing influence it has in leading to positive social change in the United States. There were a number of presentations on the growing youth movement, naturally built play spaces, nature clubs for families and connecting with health professionals. For a report on this gathering please go to the Children and Nature Website website or contact Bob directly:  info@thekeshotrust.org

The Children and Nature Netwrok website is an excellent resource.  If you are intetested in research, media reports, short clips of Richard Louv, community action guides, and much more, we recommend that you visit this website. And now you can join the website and get regular updates sent to you.
 

Further Reading

We appreciate getting feedback from many of you in our network of committed advocates for children and nature. Your interest and ideas are great. We sometimes get valuable sources for information on the issues involved with our initiative and although we haven't always been able to promote them as we would like, we do try and get the word out.

A recent example of such interesting research into aspects of the importance of natural landscapes comes from Sue Hemphill in Williams Lake, BC. She writes: "I just read an interesting study by Peter Kahn and others about the importance of interaction with real (not tv or dvd) nature. It is more ammunition for our encouraging people to go out into nature." Read the article

Here are a couple of other references you mihgt want to follow up on that focus on creating and building natural play areas that came from Bob's meeting in Nebraska.

Learning with Nature Idea Book: Creating Nurturing Outdoor Spaces for Children (Field-tested principles for effective outdoor learning environments) 2007 Arbor Day Foundation ISBN: 978-0-9634657-0-2

Biophilic Design: The Theory, Science and Practice of Bringing Buildings to Life. Stephen Kellert et al. 2008 John Wiley and Sons, Ltd. ISBN 978-0-470-16334-4
 

Catching On!

Since our gathering in February 2007 a great deal of effort has been put toward developing a broad constituency of interest throughout the province, particularly with the BC provincial government (Ministry of Health, ActNowBC, Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Environment)/. A number of major NGO's are also expressing increasing interest in figuring out how they can be supportive. We are also encouraged by conversations about the provincial government making an announcement at our March 2009 Forum about increased programming for the nature-child-connection.

As well, a number of groups/individuals are discussing the pros-cons of forming an Alliance to direct and be the champion for this cause. To this end Bob Peart has been a speaker at a number of engagements where he is updating people on the urgency of the situation, why children need to have unstructured time outside playing and the importance of having a focused movement in British Columbia and across Canada. For more information please contact Bob through the Kesho Trust:  info@thekeshotrust.org

Kesho Trust Director, Bob Peart Honoured for Lifetime of Conservation Contributions

One of the Kesho Trust’s founding directors and leader of our Nature Child Reunion Initiative, Bob Peart, has been awarded the J. B. Harkin Conservation Award for his lifetime of extraordinary commitment to parks, nature conservation and environmental education in Canada. Read about Bob’s award.

The Harkin Medal is an award given by the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society [CPAWS]. From the first recipient, Honourable Jean Chretien, in 1972 there is an impressive list of contributors to conservation that have been recognized through this award and it is an honour and a fitting recognition of Bob’s tireless commitment to conservation that he joins such a group. Read more about the Harkin Medal .

A special fund raising dinner is being planned in Victoria on October 23, 2008 that will bring together recipients of the Harkin Medal from British Columbia. Please join in the event and support the work of conservation in Canada while meeting past award recipients. Get all the details.

Photo: Harvey Locke (left) presenting the Harkin Medal to Bob Peart (right) on behalf of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society.