March 6th, 2007
transfer of knowledge
This morning the temperature was -26C (-15F) with a strong northwest wind. With the windchill factor, it was -42C (-44F). I’ve been out for a couple of short walks so far today, but it’s a bit wicked when you get out into the field behind the barn. I’ll be very glad when we get into some warmer weather.
In the meantime, I’m stuck in doors much more than I like. So, I’ve been trying to make the best of the time by working on several projects, one of them being the family photo album project described recently. It’s going well. I add a few more photos each day. I’ve also been working on archiving some family-related documents on the website that I set up for that purpose. Today, I spent the morning writing and assembling a short essay about my mom’s mother, Esther McDonald. That’s her in the photo up above. Last week, I posted a photo of her to my blog in the piece about photo restoration. The above photo is more the way I remember her, as I was born when she was in her late sixties.
Last week, in the comments to the photo restoration post, Wayne wrote, “She looks like she’d have been right at home hiking along with you and Don.” Wayne couldn’t have been more right about that. My grandmother loved nature and was very knowledgeable about flora and fauna. She knew a great deal about edible wild plants and about medicinal plants of all kinds. She liked to paint watercolors of wild flowers. In summer, when staying at the cottage next to ours on the Ottawa River, she would rise before dawn and go for long, solitary walks, returned to tell of seeing families of ducks with their offspring swimming along the river, or of meeting a raccoon along the roadway. Each day, I went walking with her, stopping to eat various berries and rose hips along the roadways or trails near our cottage. I don’t know how many small facts I remember from those walks, but what I did learn was to be observant and also comfortable about being out in the woods and being off by myself. I learned not to be afraid of large spiders or dragonflies, and to respect all creatures. I also learned how to row a boat well, swim like a fish, and cook over a campfire. These were all bits of knowledge and skills that I’ve made use of in one way or another in my life.
I think it’s worth reflecting on the role that our parents, grandparents or other mentors have had in teaching us about nature. We’re living in a time in which the passing on of knowledge about nature is in danger, just as the passing on of languages, skills and other cultural history is rapidly eroding. Even among those of my own generation, I see a distressing lack of knowledge of nature. Collectively, *we* are the generation responsible for passing on knowledge of nature to the next generation. If we fail to do so, who will speak for nature when we’re gone? Last night, a member of the local nature listserve to which I belong, posted a link to this essay entitled Leave No Child Inside, by Richard Louv, author of the book, Last Child in the Woods. I believe some of you might find the essay of interest. There were so many parts that reminded me of some of observations I’ve made on the occasions when I’ve done field work with kids. Here’s a brief passage that should set off a few alarm bells in all of us. It has to do with how little time most kids are spending outdoors these days:
In a typical week, only 6 percent of children ages nine to thirteen play outside on their own. Studies by the National Sporting Goods Association and by American Sports Data, a research firm, show a dramatic decline in the past decade in such outdoor activities as swimming and fishing. Even bike riding is down 31 percent since 1995. In San Diego, according to a survey by the nonprofit Aquatic Adventures, 90 percent of inner-city kids do not know how to swim; 34 percent have never been to the beach. In suburban Fort Collins, Colorado, teachers shake their heads in dismay when they describe the many students who have never been to the mountains visible year-round on the western horizon.
A few weeks ago, I wrote about how amazed I’ve been at times when I’ve worked with kids and discovered how many in a group have never held a frog, or have never seen a live crayfish. It’s all a bit scary to me. How can we expect children who have never held a frog, to grow up to be adults who care about conservation and preservation of wild habitat? Can we expect them to care about something they’ve only seen on television or on a computer screen? The truth is, we can’t, and it’s not likely to happen. When you don’t know much about something, you usually don’t care much about its existence. It could disappear and you wouldn’t even know it.
What we need are more people like my parents and grandparents — people who care about nature and the outdoors, to take the time to pass on their knowledge to the next generation. Of course, the people I’m speaking of are us. These days, we have the benefit of being able to use tools like the internet to learn more about the world around us, but we have to take that knowledge and put it to good use by taking it outdoors into the field and making it “real” for those who haven’t experienced the wonders of nature for themselves. It’s nice to see school and nature center programs playing a part in this, but the transfer of knowledge should not begin and end there. There’s just too much to learn, and too much at stake, to expect an hour or two of outdoor class time in a month, or perhaps even a season, to pass along the wisdom that is needed to protect the natural world. I don’t quite know what we can do to improve the situation, but if each of us can at least take the time to pass along a little knowledge to an up-and-coming naturalist, then at least we’ve made an effort.
Tags: nature education, conservation
March 6th, 2007 at 7:34 pm
I knew your grandmother was an interesting person from the photo you posted previously (I also enjoyed your family album on the separate site). What you say is so true, and equally alarming. Many children (and adults) have little awareness or curiosity about their natural environment.
March 6th, 2007 at 7:51 pm
I love reading about your grandmother, bev. She was such a great influence on you. You are so right about today’s kids. I worked with college students for years. You should have seen them run from the spiders in our shared work space. I don’t really know how I came to love the natural world because neither my parents nor grandparents were hikers or real outdoor types. Something else must have awakened me to the beauty of the world. Whatever it was, I am utterly grateful. My niece is coming for a visit from southern California this month. I’ve been planning hikes to take her on. She’s not a child, but she’s someone who may have children someday, and I hope just seeing one eagle nest or watching a red-tailed hawk fly will spark her interest for life!
March 6th, 2007 at 8:29 pm
I’m pleased to be able to look at the old photo albums of my kids growing up and seeing so many pictures taken at nature parks. I think I bent the twig the correct way.
March 6th, 2007 at 9:21 pm
The essay brought back memories of my grandmothers. How lucky you were to have spent your formative years with a woman of such strength and diverse interests and talents.
Perhaps you mentioned it and I missed it. How long did she live? Do you share her November 29th birthday? That would be a huge coincidence. I enjoy the fact that it’s the same as mine.
March 6th, 2007 at 10:14 pm
Ruth – I am concerned about what seems to be a lack of awareness about nature, but one thing I do take as a good sign is that there also seems to be a lot of curiosity and desire to learn about nature. Apparently, nature field guides and natural history books seem to be a “growth market” in the book business, so that must mean there are more people out looking around. If that interest can be built upon, perhaps all will be well.
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robin – It’s interesting that you developed an interest in nature on your own. However, I’m sure it must happen that way for many people. I remember reading a piece written by someone … unfortunatlely, I can’t remember who… saying that they first became interested in the natural world while lying on the grass and watching ants from a few inches away. The person was about 8 or so years old. That one even sparked a lifelong interest in nature. In my own case, I can’t remember any one incident, but I’ve always felt a sort of intimacy with nature whenever I study a plant or creature up close. That’s wonderful about your niece coming to visit soon. It seems that roger and you are the perfect guides to take her out to meet the hawks, eagles and other creatures in your area.
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pablo – I agree — you did a great job in raising your kids. The neat thing is, that I’ll bet some of them will raise children to love nature too. Good work! (-:
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Cathy – I feel very lucky to have known my grandmother, even though she died while I was still quite young. I meant to ask my mom when she died, but I think it was in 1967, so she lived to be around 77 years of age. And yes, I was also born on Nov. 29, the same as you. Until recently, my grandmother was the only other person I knew of with the same birthday.
March 7th, 2007 at 1:08 am
HI! Thanks for the link to the essay, I’ve been seeing that book mentioned in a lot of blogs lately. It’s distressing and disconcerting that for all of our environmental eco-love “save the rainforest” say so, the average person is very unconnected to nature and its ways, and is paranoid of dirt. My kids do fart around outside, shoot dents in my steel mixing bowls with their bb gun, fill the cooler with garter snakes, catch and eat crawdads. I was so pleased when my 16 year old said he would love to just start walking west and see what’s over the mountain. We made a deal to be hiking partners.
Schools desperately need volunteers. The kids LOVE being with caring adults(who have a sense of self-control and self discipline I might add ;0) We have a lot of programs that interact with schools for outdoor school. A few teacher shared with me that a big barrier for field trips is the cost of the schoolbus–they may get one trip budgeted a year(if they’re lucky). Sometimes money comes from the PTA, but I’m sure it would help to donate the bus fees(and any entrance or program fees) for nature field trips. The past few years in one elementary school the teachers put together an after school outdoor school for a week, and it was all on their dime. Sorry to ramble, but maybe that would help someone know how to help outdoor school happen–and get past the brush-off of “no money”.
March 7th, 2007 at 3:12 am
I was talking to a chap the other day, well educated, retired.
He asked the question “what would it matter if the Orange-bellied Parrot (150 surviving in the wild) became extinct.” The thrust of his argument was that mankind would get on very nicely without it and any others that don’t make it. He was playing devil’s advocate, but I think it demonstrates many peoples thinking that as long as humankind is OK that’s all that matters. :-(
March 7th, 2007 at 7:02 am
Celeste – I like your son’s idea about “walking west”. For awhile, I’ve been thinking of going on a long walk somewhere… maybe walk a section of the Trans-Canada trail. Might happen sometime soon.
Agree about the schools needing volunteers — also about the barriers for the field trips. For the past few years, I’ve done a day of stream survey work with high school kids and the teachers involved have said that the cost of a bus for a day trip in now astronomical. However, the even bigger stumbling block has been that outdoor trips require a crazy amount of paperwork before they can even take place. The teacher who has been organizing this field work day each year told me (2 years ago), that there was so much paper work that it was getting to the point that it was discouraging. The paper work has to do with legal liability in case something happens to someone during the trip. Volunteers are increasingly put in the position of being “responsible” if something goes wrong — and that’s a difficult position to be in as many of us, myself included, can handle the nature teaching part — but making sure that, in a gang of kids, nobody gets stung by bees, falls in the river, has an encounter with poison ivy, etc.., is almost impossible — especially as many kids get very hyper for the first hour or two when they get out in the field. By the way, that in itself, is a very interesting phenomena. When we’ve done this field trip, we usually break the large group up into 3 smaller groups and work with them on different survey projects. The first group that we work with for the day is usually practically loco. Then everyone settles down and things go well. It’s interesting that the kids (and these are 15-16 year olds) get this wild when they get outdoors. Reminds me of when you let a horse out of the barn if it’s been kept indoors for a week. To me, it’s just another sign of how insulated kids have become as far as being indoors too much of the time. Anyhow, these are all things to consider — how to get kids outside doing more. One thing that I’ve been thinking about for the past few days is that the Ontario 4-H program — and this is probably true all over — now has quite a few nature, ecology, and environment programs now. A 4-H club might be one way to get at least a handful of kids outdoors doing some nature study.
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Duncan – I get that argument from time to time as well. In a way, it’s not surprising considering what a throw-away society we live in. Here today, gone tomorrow. We seem to be losing the desire to preserve anything — whether it is a native species of plant or animal, an historic building, a forest, a language. The mantra is that “progress” is of greater importance than anything else – even if it means destroying everything in its path. It’s a rather bizarre way of treating the world, our past, and other people. To me, it seems that our value system has gone off a cliff and I wonder if it will ever be restored – or if it too will become “extinct”.
March 7th, 2007 at 8:20 am
I glanced past the picture at first, and then went back. Yes, there’s that smile. I think I would like to have known her, young or old.
March 7th, 2007 at 10:18 am
Here’s a great place that is trying to fill the void near where I live: http://www.urbanecologycenter.org/
It’s very focused on kids and getting them into the woods and river.
March 10th, 2007 at 7:55 am
As you know, Bev, this is an ever-important topic, but your grandmother’s photo is the icing on the cake. I know that learning about my earlier ancestors, and seeing photos of them, just delight me no end. I place huge credibility in their interests and exploits.
I only had one grandmother, my father’s mother, to influence me. My father’s father, who might have been a huge influence with his plant-collecting ways and enormous fund of knowledge of nature, died when my father was 16. Although my parents were influential in a number of unusual ways that had more to do with esthetics (lots of camping) and encouragement, rather than teaching and learning.
My grandmother did contribute in her own way. She had a garden every year and she knew the names of many plants and was delighted to share that. But she was also a very conservative southern lady who (for instance) wouldn’t have been caught dead in pants, and never referred to her best friend of 30 years as anything other than “Mrs. Green”.
So I’d say that the influence offered to me by three individuals was there, but certainly not to the robust extent that your grandmother offered. Nonetheless, and that’s my point I think, it was sufficient. It doesn’t take all that much when your role models are parents and grandparents.
March 11th, 2007 at 8:45 am
Mark – My grandmother was a very special person — well, most grandmothers are — but she had such an interest in many things and also a great deal of patience to pass on knowledge.
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crow – Thanks for posting a link to the Urban Ecology Center in Milwaukee. It’s good to see these kinds of facilities thriving in many cities.
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Wayne – I like that photo so much. It very much captures my grandmother’s spirit and brings back so many memories of summers past. I agree that it doesn’t really take all that much to inspire children to take an interest in nature and to carry it on much further. I was thinking about that a few weeks ago when the grandparent asked me for some information on insects for his grandchild. He said he didn’t know anything much about such things, but wanted to find the information so that he could pass it along and encourage his grandchild to study further. I liked that.