Photo (c) Jenna Register, CEMEX
School’s out, but that doesn’t mean your Corporate Lands for Learning (CLL) program has to go on break, too. Summer offers opportunities to engage different audiences and connect to nature through fun activities, such as hiking. With student field trips out of the picture for a few months, summer activities can take on a more relaxed tone but still offer substantial benefits to the participants. As noted by Audubon Medal-winning author Richard Louv in his book Last Child in the Woods, “Today, kids are aware of the global threats to the environment – but their physical contact, their intimacy with nature, is fading.” Regaining that intimacy can start with something as simple as one nature walk on a summer morning.
Summer conservation education suggestions from WHC’s Education Department:
- Invite employees and their families to a morning bird watching hike, afternoon wildflower walk, or dusk outing to listen for wildlife calls.
- Invite a local scout troop to help refurbish or construct a nature trail and then have a barbecue or campout.
- Take a child fishing.
- Offer an internship to a college student. Students majoring in education or natural sciences could host nature trail walks for employees at lunch hour, plan and implement habitat enhancements, or do species inventories.
- Start planning a National Public Lands Day event.
