Dan Kriesberg: Nature Connection for the Rest of Us (Ideas for Typical Modern Families)

Discussion with environmental educator and author Dan Kriesberg about how everyday people can maintain their nature connection and raise nature connected kids amidst the hustle and bustle of living a fast-paced modern existence. We discuss ideas for navigating the desire and need to get out for long or short-term trips and still maintain peace at home with one’s spouse. We also talk about philosophies and practices for building nature connected kids, the importance of allowing kids to take the lead and meshing our outdoor activities to suit them, and how the outdoors provides opportunities for kids (and all people really) to develop mental toughness and resilience. We also riff a bit on the life lessons that kids can gain while interacting directly with little wild creatures. We finish the discussion talking about the importance of maintaining daily nature connection routines to maintain wellness and also talk about the struggle of being good environmental stewards while living a modern existence with all the trappings of society.

Connect With Dan:

Witness to the Wild Website

Dan’s Books:

A Sense of Place: Teaching Children About the Environment with Picture Books

Think Green, Take Action: Books and Activities for Kids

Book Recommendations:

The Path: A One-Mile Walk Through the Universe

Seeing Nature: Deliberate Encounters with the Visible World

Resources:

Children and Nature Network

Kitty O’Meara Poem “And the People Stayed Home”

“And the people stayed home. And read books, and listened, and rested, and exercised, and made art, and played games, and learned new ways of being, and were still. And listened more deeply. Some meditated, some prayed, some danced. Some met their shadows. And the people began to think differently.

And the people healed. And, in the absence of people living in ignorant, dangerous, mindless, and heartless ways, the earth began to heal.

And when the danger passed, and the people joined together again, they grieved their losses, and made new choices, and dreamed new images, and created new ways to live and heal the earth fully, as they had been healed.”