The news is indeed good today for children. The United States House of Representatives has passed H.R. 3036 (the No Child Left Inside Act of 2008) that “amends the National Environmental Education Act to add to the minimum functions and activities required of grantees under the Environmental Education and Training program, which trains educational professionals in the development and delivery of environmental education and training,” by a vote of 293-109 with 31 members not registering a vote. It is important to note that 68 Republican Party members “crossed the aisle” to join with 225 members of the Democratic Party to pass the bill.
The gist of this bill is that it will put additional emphasis and strength behind the education of K-12 students in ways that work to overcome the increasing problem of “nature deficit disorder” by reconnecting children with the great outdoors. It also serves to overcome some of the problems caused by the No Child Left Behind act in that act’s de-emphasis of environmental education, particularly that which is experiential, in favor of more rigid, test-based education. The passage of this bill in the House is to the great credit of its sponsor, Representative John Sarbanes (D-MD), its 64 co-sponsors, and the tireless efforts of the No Child Left Inside Coalition, of which I am very proud to count myself as a member.
However, everything is not yet complete. The Unites States Senate still must pass a related bill, S. 1981, for all to be complete and the National Environmental Education Act to be fully amended and strengthened. All those who agree with the notion that our nation’s children spend too much time indoors and too rigidly scheduled into structured activities, depriving them of the opportunity to gain an appreciation of the natural world, are encouraged to contact their state’s respective senators and encourage them to pass S. 1981.
Speaking for myself as a father, a naturalist, and one who first learned to appreciate nature through the opportunities I had as a child to be out in and explore the natural world, I can think of few greater gifts to give our children than the opportunity to develop a deep and abiding connection to the wonders of nature. To deprive them of this is nothing short of detrimental to their own physical and emotional well-being, as well as precarious to our own future when we finally hand authority for the administration of our society to a generation estranged from the natural world we ourselves have spent so much time enjoying and seeking to understand.
Peace and good bird watching.
