They are our future
WILD is a fledgling non-profit that I am trying to start here in Portland - a type of Outdoor Adventure organization for kids and families here in Portland.
Hopefully, one day, we'll touch many different parts of the globe --- but for now we are looking at focusing on the grassroots and hoping to make a difference in Portland, Oregon.
What is WILD?
Wildlife Introductions for Learning and Development (WILD) will try to reach out and inspire the discovery of the wild for families through play and adventures outside.
Why?
I see a confluence of many positive and many frightening aspects of life -- and I really believe efforts like WILD can help. What are these aspects?
- The concept of Nature-Deficit Disorder -- and how kids are growing less familiar with our natural surrondings
- No Child Left Behind is forcing school systems to teach to standardized tests and a rigid and regimented curriculum
- Playtime has become a misnomer -- we ferry our kids from one activity to the next in the belief that all these structured activities are our only options
- Obesity is on a dramatic increase
- The landscape of childhood has shrunk and we are raising our kids under a virtual house arrest (compare the free reign you had versus what kids get today -- we barely let them go around the block)
- Our kids are intellectually aware of environmental issues -- but they are being denied the opportunity of discovering their local wilderness
But there are many great efforts underway to try and tackle this (more in a later post) -- and I hope WILD can become one of them.