The National Forum on Children and Nature

An article by David Derbeyshire in the Daily Mail explores “How Children Lost the Right to Roam in Four Generations”. After reading that, it got me thinking about how far I roamed as a kid and now how far do I let my own roam. While they’re still young, I wonder just far I’ll let them go as they start to grow. Unfortunately, a stigma has developed that children who roam beyond the confines of the front yard will either get run over or abducted and that those parents who do allow their kids to go out are somehow negligent.

I really like these quotes from the article and wanted to share them here:

Stress levels fall within minutes of seeing green spaces…even filling a home with flowers and plants can improve concentration and lower stress.

If children haven’t had contact with nature, they never develop a relationship with natural environment and they are unable to use it to cope with stress…

Studies have shown that people deprived of contact with nature were at greater risk of depression and anxiety. Children are getting less and less unsupervised time in the natural environment.

They need time playing in the countryside, in parks and in gardens where they can explore, dig up the ground and build dens.

To that end, The Conservation Fund in 2007 started The National Forum on Children and Nature, a 54-member Forum consisting of corporate CEOs, three mayors, four governors, parks officials and others dedicated to reconnecting kids with nature.

The Fund held a kick-off meeting in June 2007 at the Evermay House, an historic 3.5 acre estate in Washington D.C. In Sept. 2008 it was put on the market for $49 million dollars. I was invited to photograph the event.

Larry Selzer, CEO of The Conservation Fund and Director of The Forum on Children and Nature, addresses the group.

Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods, and Honorary Co-Chair of the Forum.

The Everymay house is simply stunning inside and I loved the light that was flowing through the hallway in these next two shots.

As most photographers shooting a large group know, it’s difficult to gather everyone together and get their attention; this group was no exception. After having to raise my voice a bit to get everyone listening, they managed to organize themselves into a respectable looking group. Still, this was a challenging shot. I was standing on a wobbly chair (I would have preferred a ladder for additional elevation), the fountain was still flowing and there was a lot of contrast, but in the end this turned into a decent group shot.

Many thanks to The Conservation Fund for inviting me to spend an afternoon with an amazing group of people. I wish you much success in this great initiative.