By Sheila Kinkade
As environmental activists, among them dozens of YouthActionNet Fellows, acknowledge Earth Day 2013 and its focus on climate change, the question remains: how do you fundamentally transform human attitudes and behaviors toward the natural world on which we depend for survival and, many would argue, the sustenance of the human spirit? While scientific data related to climate change abounds, research demonstrates that it’s emotions that prompt us to take action, and that appeals to both head and heart are apt to be most effective.
As environmental activists, among them dozens of YouthActionNet Fellows, acknowledge Earth Day 2013 and its focus on climate change, the question remains: how do you fundamentally transform human attitudes and behaviors toward the natural world on which we depend for survival and, many would argue, the sustenance of the human spirit? While scientific data related to climate change abounds, research demonstrates that it’s emotions that prompt us to take action, and that appeals to both head and heart are apt to be most effective.
A spate of recent books underscores the profound
connection between humans and nature; a connection that’s under threat
by growing urbanization, time spent indoors, and the overwhelming
influence of technology on our lives. In
Birthright: People, Nature, and the Modern World,
Dr. Stephen Kellert cites data showing just how far away from nature
the current generation of
American children has become. In 2010, children spent an average of 52
hours per week engaged with electronic media as contrasted to the 40
minutes they spend weekly in nature today. Just when we need to be
preparing children for their roles as stewards of
an endangered environment, the opposite may hold true. Kellert
elaborates on humans’ inherent connection to nature and its contribution
to our “capacities to feel, reason, think, master complexity, discover,
create, heal, and be healthy.”
If time spent in nature contributes to greater empathy
for the environment, lack of exposure may contribute to apathy when it
comes to altering lifestyles. Eva Selhub, MD and Alan Logan, authors of
Your Brain on Nature,
point to the challenge of mobilizing people to take environmental
action when ties to the natural world are tenuous. “Our turn
away from nature is associated with less empathy and attraction to
nature, and in turn, less interest in environmental efforts,” they
write.
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| An EduCREA participant feeds a manatee |
How do you foster that emotional connection? For Laureate Global Fellow Cristian Vélez Ramirez, founder of
EduCREA
in Peru, it begins with introducing children to the wonders of nature
in the Amazon and, in particular, to the plight of the endangered
manatee.
EduCREA has developed a variety of interactive, educational games that
immerse children in nature. The children laugh, play, and explore their
natural surroundings. In one exercise, they’re encouraged to spend time
listening to the sounds of nature and then
report back what they heard.
Says Cristian, “We don’t want to be alarmist. We don't
want children to be so scared they don’t feel they can make change. We
want them to understand that each of us can make a change in our
environment.”
In 2012, EduCREA reached more than 15,000 people with
its conservation message, creating what Cristian and his colleagues hope
will be a lifelong connection between children and nature.
Watch a video interview with Cristian.
Similarly in India, Fellow Arun Krishnamurthy, founder of the
Environmentalist Foundation of India
(EFI), mobilizes young people, ages 11 to 17, to play an active role in
wildlife conservation and habitat restoration.
Its activities include lake restoration efforts in urban areas,
biodiversity parks in schools, and camps that empower youth with
environmental leadership skills. Through documentary films, street
theater, dance, and music, EFI makes learning about the environment
both educational and fun. It also leverages the power of social media
to engage a network of hundreds of committed volunteers in weekly
activities. As clearly articulated in its mission statement, EFI
“strives to create a planet where the environment is not
only taken care of, but loved.” Could love be a missing ingredient in
today’s environmental advocacy efforts?
View a video of Arun.
In their newly-published book,
The Rediscovery of the Wild, editors Peter Kahn and Patricia Hasbach call for the “re-wilding” of the human species. With technology consuming increasing
amounts of our time, it’s more important than ever to reconnect to our primal selves as expressed in wild nature, they write.
With this in mind, on Earth Day 2013 perhaps the best
medicine we can take is a walk on the wild side, reaffirming our
commitment to nature – not just for one day but every day – and sharing
that commitment with others.
To learn more about other YouthActionNet Fellows around the globe and their environmental innovations, visit
www.youthactionnet.org.
