Helena Independent Record
By Alana Listoe
September 24, 2008
Aislinn Munck, a Helena High School senior, believes there is strong correlation between childhood obesity and the lack of time young people spend in nature.
That was one of the messages she offered at the Montana Children and Nature Summit held in Helena Tuesday.
“I’m here to learn and give a point of view of a young person,” Munck said.
Keynote speaker Cheryl Charles said one way for young people to reconnect with nature is through schoolteachers, who can incorporate outdoor activities into lesson plans.
“If children don’t get that deep bond in the early years they tend not to make decisions that benefit the Earth or (be) stewards for the long term,” she said.
The physical education curriculum has changed from an elementary setting of going outside to play soccer to being inside the gym in high school where students are lifting weights and running on treadmills wearing heart monitors, she said.
“They need to make the idea of physical activity about kids having fun outside,” she said. “They need to be introduced to nature and not be hooked up to machines.”