At a time of environmental crisis, how can we make sure the next generation cares about nature?

You know that feeling you experience when you’re outdoors, connecting to nature and breathing in the beauty of your surroundings? That fundamental experience is increasingly rare for millions of people. 

According to The Trust for Public Land — whose mission is to create close-to-home parks, especially in cities where 80 percent of Americans live — 100 million people do not have a park within a 10-minute walk of their home.

But here’s the good news: more neighborhoods across the U.S. will see greener spaces in 2020, says TPL’s press secretary Joanna Fisher.

“Everyone deserves access to the benefits of nature,” she says. “Over the next five years, we will work in 300 communities and improve the well-being of 85 million people, including 35 new parks, new green school yards in 20 school districts, new connections to 1,000 miles of trails, and 500 places protected for the public.”

Besides having access to open natural spaces for exercise and recreation, she adds, “Parks are also valuable for bringing neighbors together and providing that important social connection. In the face of a changing climate, parks can cool neighborhoods and provide trees that absorb carbon, [thus] cleaning the air.”

The TPL has created an interesting tool for exploring data about your city and its parks by collecting comprehensive data on the availability of green space for cities and towns across the country, with specifics that include income, age and ethnicity. This information is used to pinpoint where more parks are needed. You can read details here about your area and how it compares to other places across the country: tpl.org/parkscore.

A profound example of the positive impact of accessibility to outdoor green space is taking place in Richmond, Va.

Young elementary students in one disadvantaged city neighborhood were asked to describe their environment, and words such as “dirty,” “trash” and “buildings” were used. After participating in the nature-based, outdoor programs with Blue Sky Fund — a nonprofit that provides “transformational experiences for urban youth through outdoor education” — those same elementary students were asked again, a year later, to describe their world. Now their answers included “trees,” “flower” and “wildlife.”

“It’s important to get students outside in general. Studies show that kids are more likely to care for the environment as they grow up if they’ve had a deep, emotional connection with the outdoors as children,” says Blue Sky Fund Development Director Colvin Hedgepeth. “Also, studies have shown that just being outside is important for a child’s development.”

However, compared to 20 years ago the amount students that are getting outside has drastically decreased, Hedgepeth notes. Many of the students she works with come from high-poverty areas, so the likelihood that they have access to nature is even less than the average child. That can be a result of lack of transportation — not being able to get to green spaces — but also it could be unsafe for them on the playground or even in their own backyard if they’re living in areas with a high crime rate.

The Blue Sky Fund team aims to change that.

On a recent December morning, two school buses filled with excited third-graders were met by outdoor educators with Blue Sky Fund’s Explorers program. The winter air was invigorating, and the students were clearly delighted to be there. Those who did not have coats were provided with one by the Blue Sky Fund team. The destination was leafy Bryan Park, in Richmond, Va.

“This year, 2,600 students in the third, fourth and fifth grades will participate in 210 Blue Sky Fund field investigations at natural spaces throughout our region,” says Executive Director Eleanor Kootsey, about the program that began 12 years ago. “In middle school, Explorers can move into after-school Outdoor Adventure Clubs in which they learn adventure skills such as rock climbing, kayaking and camping that build confidence, courage and environmental awareness,” Kootsey says.

Forty high schoolers from diverse cultural and socio-economic backgrounds are also chosen for a yearlong Outdoor Leadership Institute, which launches with a five-day backpacking trip in the wilderness and continues throughout the year with the students engaging in monthly community service projects.

As the third-graders from Chimborazo Elementary hike and explore Bryan Park, they’re also engaging in hands-on science lessons along the way, which will help them prepare for the Virginia Standards of Learning tests.

Outdoor Educator Jacob Minnick says, “We’re out here to teach them about science, and we’re also here to teach them about being good people. This is our planet, and we have to live here. If we’re all not doing our part, it’s not going to last as long as we need it to. We’re teaching kids how to maintain the environment and how to appreciate it.”

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