Giving Compass' Take:

· Writing for the Children & Nature Network, Michelle Lawton shares the importance of getting children involved with nature and creating a nature-connected future for everyone. 

· Why is it not only important for children to learn about nature but also connect with their environment? How can schools be a gateway to help children with this? 

· Here's more on connecting children to nature. 

Is there a special place in nature that you remember and can be transported back to in a split second?

Somewhere filled with vivid memories of unsupervised time in the natural world, alone or with a band of children, connecting with animals, and the master of your own adventures?

If so, can you comprehend that this is an experience that is quickly becoming more and more elusive for the youth of our world? This was the challenge presented to us all by Richard Louv as he concluded the 2018 Children & Nature Network Leadership Summit in Oakland, California.

Never before has it seemed so essential to take action in ensuring that future generations have this ability to transport themselves back to a special place in nature from their childhood.

My connection with nature has ebbed and flowed over time as I moved to different cities and navigated different stages. It was acutely reignited in the spring of 2011 when I read Louv’s Last Child in the Woods.

My heart was transported back to the white sandy beaches of my South Carolina childhood. With one long breath, I could close my eyes and overlook the large oyster beds that jutted out from the pungent and thick grey mud that one can only know as a Low Country slack tide. Imagining the sand sifting between my toes, this special place is the landscape of my childhood. It’s hard to believe, but in the early ‘80s, the northern beaches of Hilton Head Island were mostly undeveloped. Untouched and undiscovered, they were the stomping grounds where our adventures unfolded, unaccompanied and set free for hours.

Read the full article about creating a nature-connected future by Michelle Lawton at Children & Nature Network.