October 2007

Inspiring a Greener Generation

Who will be the environmental leaders of tomorrow? What children today will grow into inspired adults driven to maintain our country's most treasured parks and open spaces? As more children live their lives indoors, as they become more connected to televisions, cell phones and the Internet, what happens to their connection to nature? What can we do to ensure someone is there to listen when it comes time to pass on environmental knowledge?

In 2016, the National Park Service will celebrate its centennial, and a major campaign was launched this year to build up to that event. But the challenges to our national parks are myriad, and we need to come up with innovative approaches to ensure the parks survive to their bicentennial celebration. With declining visitation and the need for major investment in existing parks, the National Park Service understands its need to bring new people to the mission. Teaming up with Groundwork USA, a national network of nonprofits that work locally to support environmental change, neighborhood revitalization and community health, the NPS is aiming to "…reach and inspire new and diverse populations"—especially minority and underserved youth.

The NPS and Groundwork USA have teamed to help build the environmental leaders of tomorrow by getting them involved in their own communities. Over the summer of 2007, they launched a joint initiative called the Green Team partnership designed to reconnect urban youth with the outdoors through a summer of service and exploration. Across the United States, teams got involved in landscape restoration, camping and hiking trips to national parks and leadership training.

"Children are increasingly disconnected from the outdoors. Urban sprawl has affected the woods and fields where many of today's parents and grandparents played as children. Modern technology and virtual experiences compete with authentic learning adventures and personal explorations of our nation's nature and history," said U.S. Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne in a May 2007 report to President George W. Bush.

He added, "The challenge facing the National Park Service is to conserve what is timeless while keeping pace with the modern needs of Americans. The National Park Service must make a 21st-century commitment to work in partnership to preserve parks, while reconnecting adults and children to the outdoors, history and culture."

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, American children spend more than six hours daily using electronic media, yet other studies have shown that only 31 percent of children play outside every day, compared to 70 percent of their mothers.

NPS and Groundwork USA aim to get these kids off the couch and out from in front of the screen and into the great outdoors.

To learn more, visit www.nps.gov/2016 and www.groundworkusa.net.