A Force For Change

Whether you're thinking about youth as consumers, future policy makers or global citizens, the question of whether children and young people should be involved in business decisions cannot be answered simply.

Children under the age of 18 make up almost one third of the global population and so have a huge stake in the market and can be a powerful force for change. They are able to offer a fresh perspective and their voices and opinions are valuable not only in business, but across society as a whole. However, when engaging with children, companies must ensure child rights are respected and the correct protection mechanisms are in place.

Some companies have gone beyond seeing children and young people as future purchasers of their products and are looking deeper, adopting programs that actively promote leadership skills to socially disadvantaged children, offering youth insight initiatives into big business or using the creativity and ideas of children to create new products.

Article from Guardian sustainable business: Giving children a voice in business by Sarah LaBrecque Nov. 27, 2013

What do computer games, bike riding, and shoe tying have in common?

Image credit: Thanasis Zovoilis

Article from the Huffington Post 2/4/2014 titled: Kids can use Smartphone before they learn to write their names and tie their shoe.

According to the parents polled, a whopping 89 percent of their 6-to-9-year-olds are active online. Internationally, 46 percent of kids spend more time in a virtual world like Webkinz or Club Penguin than any other online activity. Additionally, 65 percent of kids spend more than two hours online each week—the U.S having the highest percentage of kids, 12 percent, spending more than ten hours per week online.

But here’s where the findings get really interesting...

66 percent of kids ages 3-to-5 can play a computer game, but only 58 percent are able to ride a bike.
38 percent in that age range can write their full names and 14 percent can tie their shoes (a skill that’s usually mastered by age 6), compared to 57 percent who know how to operate a tablet. 47 percent of little kids are able to operate a smartphone while parents reported only 26 percent know how to make their own breakfast.

This excerpt was taken from  the Nature Kids Institute blog by Kenny Balentine: Create Outdoor Traditions This Holiday Season!

"My challenge to you is to examine your family traditions and to take at least one of them outdoors! This could be a family snowman building contest every New Year's Day, leaf-pile jumping on Thanksgiving, or perhaps your family can start recognizing International Mud Day every June! Give kids something to look forward to and something to rely upon!

Our traditions and routines have an enormous impact on our children's worldview. They help kids decide what life is all about and they help to develop deep emotional bonds. Those emotional bonds can be focused around movies, football games, and hysterical consumerism... OR, they can be tied to all that is real, living, wondrous and beautiful. May we all find time this holiday season to create and enjoy some outdoor traditions with our families!"

What an inspired message. Please take a look at his blog. We here at a Kid by Nature couldn't agree more. 

"We have such a brief opportunity to pass on to our children our love for this Earth…. In my children’s memories, the adventures we’ve had together in nature will always exist.” — Richard Louv

Richard Louv is a journalist and author who investigate what happens when humans separate themselves from Nature. Think about yourself. When you go for a long walk in the woods or spend a day by the ocean, how do you feel? Mr. Louv has written eight books but is most famous for his book Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder. In this book, Mr. Louv explains why time in nature can help kids (and grownups) be healthier and learn better. Click here to learn more about him. 

Join A Kid By Nature on Facebook and tell us your favorite place to spend a day outdoors.

Listen to Richard Louv talk about wonder, and why our connection to nature is critical to healthy development.

“Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.” — Rachel Carson

Rachel Carson, 1940, Fish & Wildlife Service  employee photo

When Rachel Carson was a little girl, the two things she loved most were animals and writing stories. She often had animal characters in her stories. Ms. Carson grew up to become a marine biologist during a time when not many women went into this field. She became concerned about pesticides when she saw how they affected fish and other marine life. (Pesticides are any chemical meant to kill insects.)

In 1957, Ms. Carson saw how the United States Department of Agriculture fought fire ants by spraying pesticides mixed with fuel oil. She wondered how this affected all the animals in the areas sprayed, and soon realized that the fire ants caused less damage to the environment than the spraying did. Ms. Carson wrote a book called Silent Spring, which explained how the pesticide DDT killed not just insects but the birds and fish who ate those insects as well as bigger animals who ate the poisoned fish and birds. The title Silent Spring refers to how quiet it becomes when pesticides kill all the songbirds. Many people call Ms. Carson “the conscience of a nation” because she worked so hard to make sure the lives of animals weren’t forgotten. Because of Rachel Carson, people understood more about protecting the Earth and all its creatures.

Watch a short video about Rachel Carson’s life. Join A Kid By Nature on Facebook and tell us which animals you are most concerned about right now. Will this affect what work you choose to do when you’re an adult?

photo courtesy of Pam Longobardi

Pam Longobardi is an artist and an art professor who collects plastic debris and sometimes has to swim to collect her art materials. She cleans up beaches, sea coves, and even dives into the ocean to pick up floating trash. She has removed thousands of pounds of garbage from the sea and the shoreline, and she makes beautiful art work from the trash she gathers. What do you think of Pam’s art. Would you like to make art from the trash you pick up on Coastal Cleanup Day? What does it mean for marine life that so much trash is in our oceans?

WHAT: Environmental Art & Used Toy Drive 

WHO: Students at Jefferson Elementary School and Rosa Parks Elementary School

WHEN: October & November 2014

WHY: Kids learn when they’re having fun. This project teaches environmental awareness, gets children into nature, and shows what can be accomplished by a group. Earth stewardship is our goal; having fun is our priority!

Who’s behind this project? A Kid By Nature.

Thank you to Rosa Parks Elementary School in Berkeley for participating in the pilot program for environmental art and used toy drive. It was a fun and educational event.

Check out this great video from High Beam Films called One Plastic Beach. Richard Lang and Judith Selby Lang take the plastic debris they retrieve from their local Northern California beach and turn it into amazing art.

Sean Keller leads his class on a nature walk and scavenger hunt through the woods. His class of happy kids listened closely to Sean as he described the local habitat.

Toy collection and environmental art project were started at Jefferson. Kagen says he is happy that these toys will not end up inside of a bird or a sea turtle.