March 2, 2022

Get Outdoors: Mobilizing America's Youth through Outdoor Nation

Youth involvement - or lack of involvement - in the great outdoors represents a growing challenge for our nation. As kids concentrate more and more on indoor activities and parents continue to confine their kids to the indoors in fear of potential dangers to their children, an entire generation of Americans is losing its connection with the wild. We've covered this topic before on this blog, with links to information on nature-deficit disorder and the best-selling book Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv. The U.S. government introduced the Let's Move campaign in 2010 to fight childhood obesity with a major component titled simply Let's Move Outside. These issues are well documented and solutions can seem to be few and far between. Outdoor Nation is part of a movement by America's young adults themselves to combat these issues. In June of 2010, the first Outdoor Nation Summit convened in New York City attended by over 500 delegates from all 50 states. The result of the two-day event was:
...a solid commitment to break down the barriers to the outdoors - not just for (young adults), but for everyone. We love to prove the stereotypes false!
In "official" terms,
Created by The Outdoor Foundation and supported by a diverse coalition of public, private and not-for-profit partners, Outdoor Nation and its community of Outsiders are committed to increasing and expanding youth participation through entertainment, education, engagement and action - especially among urban communities and communities of color - resulting in a healthier, more active generation.
In 2011, five Outdoor Nation summits across the nation are scheduled for the months of June and July. Alpine Shop-Columbia's Liza Babington was selected as one of the 250 delegates to the Twin Cities Summit held this past weekend in Minneapolis, Minn. In the next week, we'll be posting her reaction to the experience. Stay tuned!
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