Monday, June 6, 2016

THE NATURE-SMART CAREER: 11 New Jobs For a Nature-Rich Future

by Richard Louv | Mar 24, 2014 | Columns by Richard Louv | 22 comments

About the Author

Richard Louv is Co-Founder and Chairman Emeritus of the Children & Nature Network, an organization supporting the international movement to connect children, their families and their communities to the natural world. He is the author of nine books, including "Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder" and "The Nature Principle." His newest book, "Vitamin N," offers 500 ways to build a nature-rich life. In 2008, he was awarded the Audubon Medal.

What if high schools and colleges helped students create a nature-rich future, helped them become outdoor entrepreneurs? By that, I don’t mean careers devoted only to energy efficiency. That’s important, but there’s a whole new category of green jobs coming and some of them are already here — nature-smart jobs.

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These careers and avocations will help children and adults become happier, healthier and smarter, by truly greening where people live, work, learn and play.

Here are some exciting careers that you – and your kids – may never have considered:

1. Nature-smart workplace architect or designer. Studies of workplaces that have been created or retrofitted through biophilic (love of nature) design show improved product quality, customer satisfaction and innovation. Successful models include the Herman Miller headquarters building, designed for abundant natural light, indoor plants, and outdoor views, including views of a restored wetlands and prairie on company grounds. After moving into the building, 75 percent of day-shift office workers said they considered the building healthier and 38 percent said their job satisfaction had improved.
2. Restorative employee health and productivity specialist. To reduce employee stress and boost morale, companies such as Google, Yahoo, and Sunset magazine promote on-site organic vegetable gardens. The company Airbus now uses wilderness retreats as a reflective catalyst for leadership training. At least one company offers weeklong nature camps for adults who need to recharge their physical, emotional and intellectual batteries.
3. Nature-smart residential builder. They’ll specialize in window-appeal (the view of nature from inside the home) — not just curb appeal. They’ll know how to place a new house in sync with the sun’s movements, use local materials to reflect the nature and history of the region, install a super-insulated green roof that can last 80 years, design for natural air-conditioning, and weave nature in homes and offices in even the most crowded urban neighborhoods.
4. Nature-smart yard and garden specialist, who will help homeowners and businesses reduce traditional lawns, and replace them with bird-attracting native vegetation, butterfly gardens, chlorine-free natural swimming ponds, organic vegetable gardens, beehives, places to raise chickens and ducks and gather eggs. As local governments continue to loosen regulations on yard farming, and as nearby production of food becomes more important, this specialty will become more popular.

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5. Urban wildscaper. Urban designers, landscape architects, and other professionals who develop or redevelop neighborhoods that connect people to nature through the creation of biophilically-designed buildings and preservation of natural land will be increasingly in demand. They will design and establish biodiverse parks, urban forests and community gardens, wildlife corridors and other wild lands. Seattle recently announced plans for a massive urban forest that will produce free food. Wildscapers will also manage wildlife populations.
6. Outside-In decorator, who will bring the outside in, creating or improving our homes to nurture health and well-being through nature: “living walls” of vegetation that purify air; indoor vertical vegetable gardens with automatic drip-irrigation systems; biophilic decorations such as twig furniture; fluorescent lights that adjust throughout the day via light sensors at the windows; bird-warning elements for windows; indoor water gardens and other living features. So will individual homeowners decorating their own homes. This goes way beyond Feng Shui.
7. New Agrarian. Who’s that? Urban farmers who design and operate community gardens. Designers and operators of vertical farms in high-rise buildings. Organic farmers and innovative vanguard ranchers who use sophisticated organic practices to produce food. The focus is on local, family-scale sustainable food, fiber, and fuel production in, near, and beyond cities.
8. Health care provider who prescribes nature. Ecopsychologists, wilderness therapy professionals, are going mainstream. Some pediatricians are now prescribing or recommending “green exercise” in parks and other natural settings to their young patients and their families. Hospitals, mental health centers, and nursing home are creating healing gardens. The Portland, Oregon parks department partners with physicians who send families to local parks, where park rangers serve as health para-profesionals. In the U.K., a growing “green care” movement encourages therapeutic horticulture, ecotherapy, and green care farming.

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9. Green exercise trainer. Exercising indoors and outdoors seems to produce different results. Even when the same number of calories are burned. Outside exercise appears to have better results, especially for psychological well-being. Green exercise trainers can help individuals and families individually or by organizing “green gyms” and family nature clubs. “People walkers” can help the elderly take a hike.

10. Natural teacher. As parents and educators learn more about the brain-stimulating power of learning in natural settings, demand will increase for nature-based schools and nature-based experiential learning, providing new opportunities for natural teachers and natural playscape and school garden designers. Librarians can be natural teachers, too, creating bioregional “naturebraries.”
11. Bioregional guide. We’ll see the emergence of the citizen naturalist who, as professionals or volunteers, help people get to know where they live. One organization, Exploring a Sense of Place in the San Francisco Bay Area, guides groups that want to have a deeper understanding of the life surrounding them. Think of these guides as nature-smart Welcome Wagons who help us develop a deeper sense of personal and local identity.

The list of possible careers can go on. Stream restorers, law-enforcement officials who use nature for crime prevention and improved prison recidivism, specialists in nature-based geriatric services.

See more examples in the comments below. Once the entrepreneurial spirit kicks in, it’s easy to start thinking of new products and services. And when people begin to consider the career possibilities of human restoration through nature, their eyes light up: here is a positive, hopeful view of the human relationship with the Earth, a way to make a living and a life.

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Richard Louv is chairman emeritus of The Children and Nature Network and the author of “THE NATURE PRINCIPLE: Reconnecting with Life in a Virtual Age,” from which this piece is adapted, and “LAST CHILD IN THE WOODS: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder.” This column was first published in April, 2012.
Follow Richard Louv on Facebook and @RichLouv on Twitter
More Reading and Resources
The Nature-Rich Career: How a Child’s Outdoor Experiences Helped Shape a Young Woman’s Future
It’s Time to Redefine Green Jobs: Thoughts Following the First-Ever White House Summit on Environmental Education: Richard Louv
The Hybrid Mind: The More High-Tech Schools Become, the More Nature They Need
Don’t Tear Down that Fort: Ten Lessons (and more) that Kids Learn from Building Their Own Tree Houses and Forts — if Adults Let Them
Hope by Design: Five Great Examples of Nature-Rich Places
A New Role for Landscape Architecture: Robin Moore
Forward to Nature: The new Nature Movement Isn’t About Going Back to Nature, but Forward to a Nature-Rich Civilization
What If We Truly Greened America?

Connecting Kids and Nature: Working Towards 10 Million Kids Outdoors

http://www.nwf.org/What-We-Do/Kids-and-Nature.aspx

Connecting Kids and Nature: Working Towards 10 Million Kids Outdoors

National Wildlife Federation has worked to connect children and youth with nature for decades, inspiring children through Ranger Rick magazine, working with educators to get kids learning outdoors, and helping parents find new ways to engage their children outside.
Children hiking in autumn

Today, the amount of time kids spend outside is alarmingly low--only minutes per day--while screen time is at an all time high (upwards of seven hours).

Why Connect Kids and Nature

42 6

The nature of childhood has changed. There's not much nature in it.
American childhood has moved indoors during the last two decades, taking a mental and physical toll on today’s kids. The negative impact of decreased time outdoors includes a doubling of the childhood obesity rate--accompanied by an incremental hundred billion dollar cost to our health care system--as well as declining creativity, concentration and social skills.
Some say it takes a village to raise a child. At NWF, we say it takes a backyard, a playground, a park.
Studies show outdoor time helps children grow lean and strong, enhances imaginations and attention spans, decreases aggression, and boosts classroom performance. In addition, children who spend time in nature regularly are shown to become better stewards of the environment.

Fast Facts About Outdoor Time and Children

Children are spending half as much time outdoors as they did 20 years ago. (Juster et al 2004); (Burdette & Whitaker 2005); (Kuo & Sullivan 2001)
Today, kids 8-18 years old devote an average of 7 hours and 38 minutes using entertainment media in a typical day (more than 53 hours a week). (Kaiser Family Foundation)
In a typical week, only 6% of children ages 9-13 play outside on their own. (Children & Nature Network, 2008)
Children who play outside are more physically active, more creative in their play, less aggressive and show better concentration. (Burdette and Whitaker, 2005; Ginsburg et al., 2007)
Sixty minutes of daily unstructured free play is essential to children’s physical and mental health. (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2008)
The most direct route to caring for the environment as an adult is participating in “wild nature activities” before the age of 11. (Wells and Lekies, 2006)

http://greenteacher.com/

Berkeley Adventure Playground

http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/contentdisplay.aspx?id=8656

http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/contentdisplay.aspx?id=8656

The Adventure Playground at the Berkeley Marina was opened in 1979. It is a wonderfully unique outdoor facility where staff encourage children to play and build creatively. Come climb on the many unusual kid designed and built forts, boats, and towers. Ride the zip line or hammer, saw, and paint. By providing these low risk activities Adventure Playground creates opportunities for children to learn cooperation, meet physical challenges and gain self confidence. Pictures of a fort building project. The concept for Adventure Playgrounds originated in Europe after World War II, where Lady Marjory Allen, a landscape architect and childrens advocate, studied children playing in the "normal" asphalt and cement playgrounds. She found that they preferred playing with parts that they could move around and manipulate to make their own makeshift structures. The formula for Adventure Playgrounds includes Earth, fire, water, and lots of creative materials.

Who should come?Adventure Playground is designed for children seven years old and older, however younger children are welcome as long as they are within arms reach of a participating adult. Parents of older children are encouraged to participate (see below) and help out with safety for all children. Everyone needs to sign the walk-in waiver when you come in.

What should everyone wear?Everyone must wear sturdy shoes like tennis shoes, NOT flip flops, sandals, crocs or clogs. Stepping on a nail is a possibility and sturdy shoes protect feet. Wear clothes that can get dirty, wet, painted on and you may consider bringing a change of clothes for wet or muddy days. Warning: Our playground paint is water based tempera (school paint) and .( red) may not come out of clothing even with pre treating. The other colors actually have soap in it but that makes for slippery painted surfaces when wet.

How can I as a parent or adult help when I am there?
When you are here, please, watch your child, respect our staff and our rules. Keep your cell phone in your pocket. Be present for your child. if you need a break from supervising them, register your child as a drop in and we will watch them. Please, Don't read a book, or get caught up in your phone. You children need your attention and we need your help.
Do not let your children under the age of 6 ride the zip line, even though you think they can.
Teach them to use good judgment and if what they are doing is destructive and dangerous- please stop them and cleanup. Remember children build these forts. Staff are making sure the playground is safe, you need to be sure your child is safe.
Pick up the wood on the ground ( which is a trip hazard) and put it in the wood racks. If it is naily wood put it in the red zones.
If you see things that might be dangerous, or if your child gets hurt, please tell the staff- so they can fix it and help you. Before you leave, if you didn't finish your project, take it apart and put the parts back in the wood racks or take it with you. Please have everyone return all the tools ( including paint, brushes and clamps) back to the shed and put all unnaily wood to the racks, and any naily unsafe wood to the red zones.

Adult Helper Cards
We have 5 X 7 job task cards for adults to learn about each job that they can help with, just ask at the desk. Jobs include:

Small wood helper-Assisting kids with clamps and picking out the soft woods for them to learn to saw and hammer on.
At the base of the trolley we need help shoveling sand at a 45 degree angle so the children slow down and stop.
We do ask that you do NOT HELP children onto the wooden seat at the top of the trolley platform. If they cannot do it themselves, they are not ready to ride yet.
We always need people to assist staff behind the tool counter passing out tools to the children. Please clarify that job with staff so you know which tools should NOT go out .

We are always looking for volunteers to help in the playground- must be 16 or older.

Students can get community service hours helping on weekends or in the summer.

If you or your child is interested, please call us for an interview and to fill our our paperwork.

Adventure Playground is one of the Marina Experience programs and has been written up as a top 10 playground in National Geographic.
It was voted the Best Creative Playspace in Diablo Magazine. YELP has rated us 4.5 out of 5. We have been written about in the Chronicle, the Boston Globe and Newsweek as one of the Top 5 playspaces in the country.

“Drop-ins”Children seven years and older may be signed in by their parent/guardian to stay in the playground without their parents for up to three hours.
All “Drop-ins” mush have a waiver on file and pay the Drop-in fee.
No Drop-ins on Sundays unless fee is paid in advance.

Every adult who enters the playground must sign in on the waiver at the entrance for themselves and their children.

IS THERE A FEE? Individual FamiliesFREE for individual families: parents/guardians who accompany 4 children or less. If you are a large family, call please.
Groups

5 children or more, regardless of how many adults/parents you have
Organized programs of any size (daycare programs, summer camps, church groups)
Multiple small families who meet at the playground with 5 children or more -
including individuals coming in from gatherings (like birthday parties) happening outside Adventure playground in Shorebird Park.

All groups must make reservations and pay the group fee ($73-$174 depending on group size).
Summers and weekend days are very popular with the public. The only way to keep the Playground safe is to control the numbers by limiting groups. So, if you come in a group (5 children or more) without reservations, you will be asked to leave.

Learn More about Adventure Playgrounds and Unstructured Play

Learn More about Adventure Playgrounds and Unstructured Play

You’ve probably read this very popular article from The Atlantic called “The Overprotected Kid” from April 2014 which argues in favor of adventure playgrounds and risk taking in childhood.
Darell Hammond, Chief Executive Officer of KaBOOM.org, visited adventure playgrounds in Europe. He wrote “I’m Gonna Sue! How Lawsuits Are Depriving Our Children of Play” (Huffington Post, May 2010) with reference to the wonder these amazing adventure playgrounds provide for our children.
Read about the importance of adventure playgrounds on Adventure Playgrounds: A Children’s World in the City website. Lia Sutton also has a wealth of links and research on her site.
Listen to “Adventure Playgrounds a Dying Breed in the U.S.“ from NPR.org (March, 2006).
The Project for Public Spaces website runs down “Elements of a Successful Playspace” and says: “Experts often recommend adventure playgrounds, which let different ages find their own “level” of activity which suits them best. Older children will actually discourage younger ones from activities too risky for their age.” In fact, they go on to point out: “Adventure playgrounds are often said to be less dangerous than traditional playgrounds because participants are more alert (Bartlett, CERG).“
Berkeley’s Adventure Playground website (only open on weekends)
Huntington Beach Adventure Playground website (only open during summer)
Urban Adventure Playgrounds: The Coolest Places You Probably Never Played As a Kid (WebUrbanist, 2007)

Thursday, June 2, 2016

Last Child in the Woods

Currently reading Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv
An amazing books that discusses Nature Deficit disorder in Children and how disconnected children have become to nature due to a range of influences e.g. technology, stranger danger, time limitations, ease of access to nature, organized sport.

Sit Spot - desire to find a special place in nature where I can just 'sit' and 'be'.

A developing bond with natural world than can form a foundation for environmental stewardship p44

.....the quality of exposure to nature affects our health at an almost cellular level. p43

peace inducing elements.

p 57 Here you can hear things; in the city you can't hear anything because you can hear everything.

Seeking to find relatively undistributed tracts of land to use for solitude; seeking peacefulness, replenishing the soul, making connections to (flora and fauna) nature and rediscovering my freedom. An emotional refuge.

Organizers of nature activities should strive to make the experiences as unorganized as possible - but still meaningful.

- a mentoring adult who taught respect for nature.

That while knowledge about nature is vital , passion is the long distance fuel for the struggle to save what is left of our natural heritage. Passion is personal. Passion is lifted from the earth itself by the muddy hands of the young, it travels along grass stained sleeves to the heart., If we are going to save environmentalism and the environment we must also save endangered indicator species: the child in nature.

"Pay Attention" (not be careful)

"NSW had 'such incredible diversity and opportunity for adventure' that he no longer felt the pull of the travel bug," Henry Brydon

It's not the lanugage of painters,
but the language of nature which one should listen to.....
The feeling for things themselves,
for reality, is more important than the feeling for pictures. Vincent Van Gogh

p353 Such organisations are recognizing that the human child in nature may well be the most important indicator species of future sustainability.

p355 the child in nature is an endangered species, and the health of children and the health of the Earth are inseparable.

greenhour.org
kids daily green hour

Nature journal
greenhour.org/content/activity/detail/1525
kids outside info

California - Irvine Adventure playground outdoor, nature, campfire building, cooking, astronomy, gardening,
New kids must complete a safety course before they can take up hammer, nails, and build a fort. Adult must accompany kids less than 6 years of age.
http://funorangecountyparks.com/adventure-playground-irvine-university-park.html

This is a BIG deal! Why?

The Irvine Adventure Playground is one of only 3 such playgrounds in the United States. According to the NPR story, “there are roughly 1000 scattered across less litigious Europe.”
Unstructured play is essential to every child’s development. These spaces allow kids to build forts, play in the mud, and get creative with unstructured play outdoors!
Play opportunities at typical playgrounds are limited to the equipment provided. Here, play and imagination spill over into every corner of the park.
It will be open and staffed every day with a minimum of two people from 10am to 5pm.

Berkeley Hunting Beach - play in mud and build forts, pond with rafts, rope bridge, 'zipline; tire swing, water slide, and mud.

Respect the nature integrity of place

p292 'look at the world in a way that takes nothing form granted. Everything is phenomenal everything is incredible, never treat life casually. To be spiritual is to be amazed'.

Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement.

www.greenteacher.com (magazine)
Book:learning with Nature Idea book
www.arbordy.org

Pics from Mt Stirling walk to Craig's Hut in May 2016.