Teaching Our Children to Care for the Earth

             “We are born with a connection to nature,” says Tim Corcoran in his book The Earth Caretaker Way. “But as we grow, we may lose conscious touch with that relationship. Regaining that awareness and connecting with nature so intimately that you know you belong as part of it can be life-turning. You are no longer an outsider feeling as if you are in a museum looking through glass. You feel a complete sense of belonging. You are home.”

Children can be Earth Caretakers

The news is filled with examples of how life on Earth is suffering from centuries of practices that do not take into account how affecting one part of the natural world affects the whole world. Children’s little ears pick up on this news and they can become anxious and worried about current climate events. We can help ease their anxiety by showing them ways they can make a difference. Tim Corcoran recommends first getting out in nature to gain an understanding of the interdependence of all life on Earth. “When we spend time in nature, we learn empathy for other beings. We inherently know that everything affects us and it becomes harder to make bad decisions,” Tim says. “Caring for our planet and our fellow Earth travelers is the gift of who we are. Reclaiming this purpose brings meaning to life. We become who we are meant to be, Earth Caretakers.”

But how can you and your children be Earth caretakers in the modern world and within busy lives? Tim says it can be the core of what you do and the decisions you make every day, without disrupting your life, by incorporating three pillars into your life: Nature Awareness, Wilderness Skills and Earth Philosophy.

Families get back to nature at Earthbound Skills.

Fun ways to learn to be an Earth Caretaker

There are ample opportunities in the North State for children and families to learn how to incorporate the principles of the Earth Caretaker into their lives through fun adventures and experiences.

Children connect with nature and learn to respect the Earth through fun hands-on activities at Regenerative Arts Learning Center and Day Camp.
Photo credit: ilanna Greenfield

Headwaters Outdoor School, established by Tim Corcoran in Mount Shasta in 1982, offers beginners as well as experienced students opportunities to learn skills people have used throughout time to survive in kinship with the earth (wilderness skills), an awareness of their connection with nature (nature awareness) and a deeper communication and interaction with nature, (Earth philosophy). Go to hwos.com to learn more about their exciting and unique classes and experiences.

Butte County residents of all ages can get back to nature and learn wilderness skills through Earthbound Skills, an outdoor nature awareness school located in Chico. Earthbound Skills teaches naturalist skills, wilderness survival and primitive living. Students learn through exciting hands-on naturalist studies, including tracking, bird language, animal and plant identification and wilderness survival skills such as shelter building, friction fire starting and wild edibles. Earthbound Skills works with public schools, home schools and charter schools and occasionally offers programs and workshops for adults and families throughout the year. Visit earthboundskills.com for information on classes and youth programs.

For those who have young ones who might want a gentle, gradual introduction to the natural world and working with natural materials, Regenerative Arts Learning Center and Day Camp in Mount Shasta might be the perfect solution. At this innovative and fun camp, children experience working with nature through such activities as growing a garden, baking banana bread in a solar oven, making crafts using all natural materials and preparing simple lunches incorporating produce from their garden.

“I believe we can help guide our children to be good earth stewards with little actions each day from starting a compost, recycling old cereal boxes into art projects, talking about water consumption and about where our food comes from or starting a garden and getting some chickens or even an earthworm farm,” says Regenerative Arts Learning Center founder and director, Ilanna Greenfield. “From simple but consistent communication to implementing these concepts with our day-to-day actions, we can teach the next generation by example. Sow some seeds and see what comes up! Simple actions with lots of observation and care connects us with our planet.” RADLearningCenter.org. Visit them on Facebook page and Instagram to learn what campers have been up to at the day camp. Email ilanna_d@yahoo.com for information on camp times and days and to register your child for these super fun camps.

However you and your family choose to engage with nature, your actions as Earth Caretakers will make an impact locally and worldwide, but will also, as Tim says in The Earth Caretaker Way, “build our personal relationship with our Earth, emphasizing what it means to be a human of integrity and honor. It will create leaders to guide us into a new future of Earth Caretakers.”