Help Ensure Kids Have a Connection to Nature

With about two weeks left in the Kansas Association for Conservation and Environmental Education’s (KACEE) 2022 fall fundraiser, Meltin’ John the Snowman is sweating things a bit and making a plea to donate while there’s still time. We’re less than half-way to our goal, and any little bit well help. I’ve previously discussed some of environmental education’s importance and even shared how some of my own formative experiences involving the natural world shaped my values, including my value of environmental education.

A lot of those formative experiences revolved around summers and weekends spent on my grandparent's farm, playing all day outside at the small creek down the road, around the barn and shop, and in the pastures. As I grew older, this connection with the outdoors grew in depth as I worked with my family raising cattle and crops. The summer wheat harvest image of my dad and I below is circa, well… a while ago.

Because I believe in the importance of environmental education and that KACEE (the Kansas Association for Conservation and Environmental Education) is an important source for that education in our state, I joined their board. I wanted to help ensure KACEE can continue providing this connection to nature that children and young adults need.

One of KACEE’s recent initiatives that I’ve been particularly proud of as a board member is a) the commitment to developing a JEDIA - Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (sometimes abbreviated as JEDI) action plan, b) following through on the development of that plan (including hiring a JEDIA consultant – Lacy Consulting Services), and c) the board approving the plan in July, 2022 for implementation. There’s still much work to do to equitably create these needed opportunities for kids to connect with the natural world in Kansas, but I believe KACEE is on the right path.

And a meaningful connection to the natural world isn't only beneficial to the wellbeing of students. It will also influence the eventual decisions they make as citizens, designers, or policymakers, and when multiplied across society this arguably increases the likelihood of meaningful climate action. As the insufficient level of connection many have with the natural world can desensitize them to their impact on the environment, a likely contributing factor to our current climate crisis.

By donating to help facilitate KACEE's mission, you will essentially be helping pollinate hearts and minds through environmental education, positively impacting the physical and mental health/wellness of kids as well as our long term collective interaction with non-human world. Each educator who completes a KACEE eeCourse (that you help fund) learns the skills and tools needed to bring environmental education to their classroom or learning experience.

So don’t keep Meltin’ John sweating through the end of the fundraising drive. Not unless you want him singing Goodbye Yellow Brick Road for the last time.