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No Child Left Inside: City Kids Buck Nature Deficit Disorder

New York City High School Students Head Into the Wilderness to Grow and Connect with Nature

New York, NY — July 9, 2007 — Thirty-six New York City high school students and mentors left Manhattan on Monday, July 9th, to participate in The Nature Conservancy’s Internship Program for City Youth, a unique program that gives urban youths the opportunity to connect to the natural world.

The students' departure to various Conservancy preserves across the Northeast comes at a time of increasing national debate over the growing disconnect between young people and their ability and desire to experience the outdoors.

In May, Congress held hearings to discuss the disturbing trend away from outdoor activity among America's youth. The hearing examined the causes of this trend and its potential impacts on the health and well-being of kids.

And in June, The Nature Conservancy released the findings of a study* that reveals more evidence of a growing trend that show children are spending more time inside, with consequences for human health, national parks, and the environmental movement.

 “The greatest threat to conservation…may be more subtle than bulldozers and chainsaws,” say study authors Oliver Pergams, Ph.D. and Patricia Zaradic, Ph.D.  “Direct experience with nature is the most highly cited influence on environmental attitude and conservation activism.”

For many of the students, the program offers their first in-depth experience of natural environments. Launched in 1995, the program is a partnership with the Friends of the High School for Environmental Studies in Manhattan and the Brooklyn Academy of Science and the Environment. Over the past thirteen years, over 200 high school students have participated in the program.

Shariff DuruGordon, a 16 year old intern from Manhattan who hopes to become a NBA player someday is excited about the upcoming experience. “Until this moment, I have never had a place to see animals and nature,” he said.  “I will be introduced to a whole new part of me,” he adds. Shariff says his personal growth will come from overcoming his deep rooted distaste for getting dirty.

“In New York City, it is difficult to gain field experience and learn more about nature, especially with day to day distractions by the media and the entertainment industries,” says Balanda Joachim, a 16-year-old from Brooklyn attending the Brooklyn Academy of Science and the Environment.

The program sends students in groups of three with trained mentors on a four-week field season, where they live and work on Conservancy preserves in seven states throughout the Northeast (New York, Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania). Conservancy staff teaches the students basic land management, educational outreach and scientific research skills in a safe and supervised environment. The interns also enjoy other first time activities such as camping, kayaking, and swimming.

The students also learn about career opportunities in conservation, complete four 40-hour paid work weeks, and visit three colleges. They also develop critical life and workplace skills while living independently, away from their friends and families.

Brigitte Griswold, the Internship Program’s Manager, states “Many of these students rarely get the opportunity to spend extended time in nature and explore colleges outside of the City. Through this Internship Program, the Conservancy hopes to encourage a new generation of conservationists by providing these young people with their first direct and meaningful experience in the natural world.”

For more information on the Internship Program for City Youth, please contact Brigitte Griswold at (212)381-2186 or email bgriswold@tnc.org.

*The study was published in June in the Journal of Development Processes

The Nature Conservancy is a leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. To date, the Conservancy and its more than one million members have been responsible for the protection of more than 15 million acres in the United States and have helped preserve more than 102 million acres in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. Visit The Nature Conservancy on the Web at www.nature.org.