No Child Left Inside: City Kids Buck Nature Deficit Disorder

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

LONG PONG, PA — July 18, 2007 — On the first day of their internship with The Nature Conservancy, three New York City kids got a taste of life in the Pocono Mountains. They spotted a bear.

“It was pretty exciting,” said 16-year-old Artie De Los Santos who hails from the Bronx. “You definitely don’t see bears in New York.”

Artie and fellow interns 16-year-old Shariff DuruGordon and 17-year-old Jia Kai Ou, both from Manhattan, arrived this week in the Pocono Mountains with their mentor Qayyim Shabazz from Far Rockaway, Queens to participate in The Nature Conservancy’s Internship Program for City Youth. This unique program gives urban youths the opportunity to connect to the natural world at various Conservancy preserves across the Northeast such as the Poconos, one of the state’s most biologically diverse natural areas.

The interns have a variety of activities planned in the weeks ahead, including trail work at Thomas Darling Preserve as well as preparing Long Pond Preserve for prescribed burns. They’ve also carved out time to enjoy some of the area’s attractions and visit local colleges.

“We’re excited to mentor these interns and help them learn about the Conservancy’s important work in the Poconos,” said Molly Anderson, volunteer program manager for the Pennsylvania chapter. “During their stay, they’ll be getting hands-on field experience as well as exploring other career opportunities in conservation.”

The Internship Program for City Youth

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 13 years, over 200 high school students have participated in the program.

Shariff, 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.

Jia Kai Ou is also looking forward to the challenges ahead. “I’m excited to visit a part of Pennsylvania I’ve never seen and learn more about nature,” he said. “I hope I get used to all the bugs.”

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.

In addition to broadening their knowledge of conservation, the students also complete four 40-hour paid work weeks and visit three colleges. They 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.”

Their conservation internship 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.

The Nature Conservancy in June 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.” Researchers added if the youngest generation loses that experience, the future of conservation is in jeopardy.

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

To learn more about the Nature Conservancy programs here in New York City as well as around the state, call the Nature Conservancy at (212) 997-1880, or visit www.nature.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.