conundrum

[phinnia]

we talk about environmental awareness but most of our kids' interaction with nature is through man-made manicured spaces. we're expecting our children to eventually inherit and care for national parks and wildlife reserves, but the unspoken message is that nature is Not Safe and that manmade areas are superior. how will kids really have an idea

Comments

[erkunden]

I think you're missing the distinction here -- wouldn't it be more correct to say that while we tend to give kids the impression that wilderness is "Not Safe," the national parks themselves are manicured and maintained just like any other park? Think about how prevention of forest fires and extermination of wolves in Yellowstone have wrecked the natural ecosystem. It's not just uprooting the brambles or nettles, it's pretending they never existed. And while some good efforts are being made to restore balance by reintroducing wolves and wildfires, we've gotten used to having our wilderness tamed for us.

Perhaps I just look at things from a different angle because I was not a city kid. I had the chance to grow up surrounded by fields, creeks, and woods - and if anything, my parents thought it was less safe for me to wander around the neighbourhood alone than along the creek. In the city, I suppose, it must be paranoia all around: can't go to the Unsafe wilderness, but can't roam the Unsafe streets alone either. The only place left for

[maladaptive]

So much this. Here in Florida people don't "get" why the Everglades are important (gosh, maybe because they're a totally unique ecosystem unlike any other on earth?) or that, hey, the Everglades are big, they'll never miss X many acres that we convert into housing! And then you realize that all they've done is taken an airboat ride, once, as a kid. And the fishermen! Don't start me on those asswipes. From an aerial view you can see criss-crossing trails through the water where their motors have destroyed everything while they zip around looking for the perfect fishing hole.

At the same time, do we really want to encourage people going into the woods? Look at what they do to our national preserves, at least-- do we really want or need a wilderness full of used condoms and bottles of soda? Yellowstone much prefers people to stay on the paths so they're not damaging everything. And that's assuming they walk and don't do the crap the fishermen above do....

[zagzagael]

Sigh. I was so deeply concerned about this when mine were young, especially having an autistic child....but I think I've come to grips with it now from an evolutionary standpoint. Yes, yes, we live deep in the woods, nearly off the grid, no tv for the past twenty years, no cells....we ARE nature....and yet the teenagers don't want it. They want CITYSCAPE....and that's okay, too.

You know, as with anything similar to this - the concern is not for us and ours...but for those children of those parents who have neither the means nor the interest to address it...those inner city children who don't even know where a hamburger comes from....

I could go on, I could switch the focus to daycare children who don't understand supermarkets or boredom or baking cookies....our civilization is SO fast-paced today and we are losing....but I'm of the mind now that perhaps we're just evolving....and that it will be okay?

What can we do?