The National Forum On Children And Nature

Welcome to the National Forum on Children and Nature’s website. Read this site to learn more about how the National Forum on Children and Nature works, what types of projects we endorse, and how you can get involved.

At the National Forum on Children and Nature, we believe that children have the right to a thriving and complete childhood. Unfortunately, despite the astounding advances in modern public health and medicine, kids are developing many health conditions, several of which are chronic. These include obesity, diabetes, and even depression. These illnesses are happening earlier in life, and more rapidly than ever before, or ever expected.

Many scientists are beginning to suggest that this decline in the health and wellbeing of children is linked, partly, to a burgeoning gap between children and the natural world, in particular with outdoor activities.

 

Many things have lead to the decline in outdoor activities. In today’s modern world, schools are growing in size, meaning that children are increasingly being driven or taking the bus to school instead of walking. There has also been a decrease in the amount of time children spend outdoors at school. Also, after school activities are becoming more geared towards indoor play, with more kids spending more time playing video games, watching television or surfing the web after-school. It all comes down to the simple fact that today’s children are spending much less time playing outdoors and enjoying all the wonders of nature. Today’s children are paying a price for this decrease in outdoor play with their health.

This is why citizens, government employees, researchers, conservations, teachers, and many other professionals are coming together to create the National Forum on Children and Nature.

NFCN is hosted by the Conversation Fund, a non-governmental organization. The NFCN is been dedicating itself to re-introduce children to nature. In doing this, we hope that we can make a lasting impact on children’s health and wellbeing, while also imparting a message of healthy environmental living. After all, the children are our future, and the future of the planet lies with them. If children do not have the opportunity to appreciate nature, they are missing out on one of the best things this Earth has to offer: the natural world.

Our beliefs center around the fact that, as children disconnect form the natural world, this not only ruins their health and happiness in the here and now, but it will also create a future of adults that are sick, unproductive, and unable to both value and protect the world’s natural resources.
In short, our mission is as follows:

• To Upraise the pressing issue that is reconnecting kids with the natural world to the highest level possible
• To Join Together the rapidly growing citizen-led side of this burgeoning movement with some of the strongest initiators of American society.
• To Impart the truth to every American, by nationally beneficial demonstrations, methods that each and every one of us can, and will, help re-connect kids with nature.

In 2008, the NFCN gave an endorsement to thirty projects. Some of these are featured here on this website. Read through these projects to get a sense of what kinds of projects we endorse, and to inspire you to think of ways to re-connect children with nature in your own community.

Cornell Lab of Ornithology

From Ithaca, NY, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology (CLO) has joined up with the NFCN. The CLO is one of the thirty proposals we chose to endorse. Over five hundred were considered.

The project from the CLO includes 4 environmental challenges. One of these asks attendees to use the CLO’s Urban Birds lab to observe and count birds in their communities and report their findings on the web. The goal of this children is to get kids and their families excited about the natural world, and to remind them that the natural world does not have to be the middle of the forest, but that there are natural wonders to observe right in your backyard – even if you live in an urban environment.

The Conservation Fund

 

Another project endorsed by the NFCN was the Conservation Fund’s project (CF). The CF’s project mission was to protect the America’s landscapes. This includes protecting national parks, trails, and recreational areas sch as campgrounds and playgrounds where families and children go to enjoy the outdoors.

As you can see, we endorse many different types of projects. We believe that re-connecting children with nature is not a “one size fits all” solution, but rather more of a coming together of communities and individuals to problem solve solutions, and to support each other. We hope you will help us to re-connect our nation’s children with the natural world, because every child deserves to be healthy and happy.

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