By MARSHA MERCER
You know about Hillary Clinton’s private emails and
about the infamous letter signed by 47 Senate Republicans aimed at torpedoing
an international deal on Iran’s nuclear program.
But did you know the federal government is about to
make many of us envy a fourth grader?
That’s one of the lesser news items you may have
missed the last few weeks as news outlets obsessed over weightier topics and scandals
du jour.
Here are three recent developments that won’t change
the fate of the world or even the 2016 presidential election but may – just may
-- improve Americans’ quality of life:
1) About those fourth graders: Starting this fall,
the federal government will give every fourth grader and their families a pass
for free admission to all of America’s national parks and public lands for a
full year.
“We want every fourth grader to have the experience
of getting out and discovering America. We want them to see the outside of a
classroom,” President Barack Obama said in Chicago last month when he announced
his “Every Kid in a Park” initiative.
“Put down that smart phone for a second. Put away
the video games. Breathe some fresh air,” the dad in chief counseled. A 2010 Kaiser Family Foundation study found
that young people devote an average of more than seven hours a day to
electronic media use, or about 53 hours a week, he said. That’s more than a
full time job.
Besides the addictive appeal of electronic devices,
there are practical reasons why kids don’t spend more time in nature. About 80
percent of families live in urban areas where it’s not easy to spend time
outdoors safely; many schools have dropped field trips to save money.
An annual pass to the nation’s parks and public
lands usually costs $80, and children under 16 are always free. Giving kids themselves
the passes, though, may help create a lifetime connection to nature. But first,
they have to get there.
Needy families will receive transportation grants to
visit parks, public lands and waters from the National Park Foundation, a
charitable organization that supports the National Park Service.
Research has found that early exposure to nature and
outdoor activities can influence attitudes in adulthood. Today’s young hiker
may be tomorrow’s steward of the environment. Or not.
Young screen fanatics who spend most of their time
indoors will grow up without any appreciation of nature. As adults, they won’t care
less about preserving undeveloped nature.
2) Which leads us to Secretary of Interior Sally
Jewell and her announcement Thursday of a $5 million grant over four years from
the American Express Foundation.
The goal: triple the number of volunteers in national
parks and public lands to one million volunteers annually by 2017.
Interior is working to engage the next generation of
ordinary citizens, mayors and state and federal officials in nature so
everybody understands and wants to preserve green space.
“We need
partners,” said Jewell, whose agency has responsibility for one in five acres
in the United States. “We can’t do it alone.”
American Eagle Outfitters donated $1 million last
year and began engaging other companies in the campaign.
“We won’t
have advocates for open spaces if people don’t value them,” Jewell said.
Among her plans is to
expand the 21st Century Conservation Service Corps, modeled on President
Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps, which puts the unemployed
and recent veterans to work.
3) Finally, a hopeful news alert: The cherry
blossoms are coming.
Blossom experts (yes, they are) predict the peak will
be April 11 to 14, a week or so later than usual because of the long, cold
winter. But even in politically-fractured
Washington, the blossoms are a sure
sign that spring is around the corner. Somewhere.
Dates for the Cherry Blossom Festival were set earlier.
The festival is slated to run from March 20 to April 12, which means the blossoms
once again may only partly coincide with the festivities.
For that miscalculation, you may blame Obama…Clinton…Republicans...but
it’s all a stretch.
Speaking of stretching…put down that phone, step
outside and breathe. We can’t all be fourth graders, but we all can get
outside. And that’s not an inconsequential goal in the digital age.
© 2015 Marsha Mercer. All rights considered.
30
No comments:
Post a Comment