When you go outside, what do you see?  Trees, plants, a blue sky specked with clouds, maybe a rabbit or deer?  What don't you see?  Kids, most likely.  Specifically, kids outside enjoying nature in unscheduled play.  There is a current trend in society that is keeping people, children especially, indoors and attached to  electronic devices (TVs, computers, cell phones, etc.).  Richard Louv wrote a whole phenomenal book (Last Child in the Woods) about our children's growing "nature deficit."  The statistic that most jars me is that kids are on average spending over 6 hours a day watching TV/playing video games/on the computer/on the cell phone. 6 HOURS.

On top of this, our schools are teaching less about the natural environment, thanks to the unintended consequences of the "No Child Left Behind" law.  So kids in America are getting less time to experience nature on their own time and learning about nature and the environment less in school.  Just exactly what will the next generation know about the environment?  How many of that generation will care enough, without the necessary knowledge, to become future leaders in conservation?

Sadly, we are only skimming the surface of this problem.  Kids not getting outside can lead to health problems, mental and physical.  Without knowledge about the environment learned at an early age, where will the future workforce and policy leaders that we will need to combat the effects of global warming and natural resource depletion come from?  What about this great "green workforce" we've been clamoring for?  Who will fill those jobs?

Thankfully, there are some steps we can take to begin to solve this problem.  The No Child Left Inside Coalition has been pushing legislation that will amend the No Child Left Behind Act to include important  provisions that will teach kids about the environment and provide more outlets to get them outside.

It is an important step, but like the energy bill in the greater global warming process it is only the beginning.