No Child Left Inside: Economist on National Parks
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto 
on 02.13.07
Ansel Adams: El Capitan and Half Dome, Yosemite National Park, CA
One would think that with growing environmental awareness and the rise of the green movement, TreeHuggers everywhere would be flocking to national parks. In fact, over the last ten years attendance at Yosemite has dropped 17%, Death Valley at 28%, and camping and back-country trips are down 24% overall. The Economist says " The importance of this decline can hardly be over-estimated for big environmental organisations such as the Sierra Club: they have depended on what one expert calls “a transcendent experience in nature”, usually in childhood, to gain new members and thus remain powerful lobbyists for environmental causes."
“The political implications are enormous,” says Richard Louv, a writer whose most recent book, “Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder”, describes the social, psychological and even spiritual ramifications of a dearth of outdoors experience for a generation raised on electronic, rather than natural, stimulation and entertainment."
National Wildlife Federation (NWF) has had its “Ranger Rick” magazine and education programme for children in place for 40 years, but Kevin Coyle, the group's vice-president for education, thinks that the declining interest in the outdoors has spurred a feeling of urgency among environmentalists. “There won't be a conservation movement 30 years from now if there's no love for nature,” he says. ::Economist
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I'm not wasting my time with any national parks anymore. Last one we went to the security guard would not allow us to change my 6 month old son's diaper, said we could go anywhere over to the small town near their ground but it was forbidden on the park grounds. I though he was joking until we realized he was completely serious. The more the .gov tries to enforce a false sense of security the less people will want to deal with them.
We hit the smaller state parks every weekend or so, load up the little grill and head out and spend the day outdoors.
Seems to cut both ways. Some of the national parks are so oversubscribed that its hard to imagine having a transcendent experience in nature there.
As someone who recognized the importance of environmentalism but hated the outdoors growing up, and had their first "transcendent" nature experience at age 30, I'm not that worried. You don't have to experience nature directly to understand its importance.
For me the big thing that made we aware, and "green" to the point where ppl say i am too much, was watching national geographic and other nature shows as i was growing up. The shows would show you the most amazing things and then end with something along the lines of; these specials could go extinct if humans dont stop doing this or that.
gasoline prices
Traffic and overcrowding in the big parks is terrible. Also crime. Those rangers you see wearing the .357s actually NEED them. Fugitives love the backwoods.
Also the icky creationist books and videotapes for sale in the bookstore.
It's totally true, however. There seem to be more Europeans and Japanese enjoying our environment than we do.
Start a "Vacation American!" program. Hopefully it will have more luck than "Buy American!"
Well, I read that something like 95% of visitors to the national parks never leave pavement. I spent some time in Great Smokey Mountains National Park over the summer (supposedly the most visited in the country) and did some backpacking. I went from a crowded parking lot, to not seeing another soul for 4 days. So trancendent nature experiences are defently possible, you just might have to actually walk into nature.
As an educator and a former park ranger, I believe people can learn to love wilderness and parks even if they don't visit them. Why is declining visitation bad?
In my book, CAMPING WITH KIDS, Wilderness Press, Berkely, CA, 2006, I give lots of information about finding other places to camp, besides the very popular and often full national parks. I interviewed more than 120 individuals to provide expertise for the book. It will be especially helpful to families who have never camped before.
Respectfully, people can learn about nature's lessons without going into back country or their own back yard. I want to ask a serious question. Can people learn and be apart of nature without going out side? The old wives-tale. "In the long rung children do what you do, not what you say" may hold true regarding how our future generations truly learn how to live as what they are placed on Earth to be- - - a living part of a living planet. When compared to going out of doors and respecting the parts of us that are nature, Is reading about and watching films about nature as effective a way of becoming a real part of nature?
Great Smoky Mtn, Yosemite, Yellowstone, and others have brooked complaints about crowds for decades. Other NPs (which shall remain nameless and blessedly obscure) are virtually deserted. I think it's OK for different parks to have different levels of use and different target populations.
I think part of the reason people are making less time for parks is that 1) we're overscheduled and 2) we're increasingly passive about recreation. Getting off the roads, selecting a route, carrying food and water, following a map, and experiencing nature is psychologically and physically challenging.
The important thing is for people to get outside and get their children outside. People need a better understanding of natural processes. Our society needs to promote this understanding in order to make better consumer and policy decisions. Books and television can be great tools for learning about nature, but there's no substitute first-hand experience.