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Re: generalizations
In article <MOD$971006.8307@rec.gardens.ecosystems>, allyn@u.washington.edu
(Allyn Weaks) wrote:
>
> I just finished reading _The Geography of Childhood: Why Children Need Wild
> Places_ by Gary Paul Nabhan and Stephen Trimble, and in one of his essays,
> Nabhan points out that even among children with easy access to wild places,
> the children estimate that most of their knowledge of the wild comes from
> TV (50%), with a lesser amount from school (30%), and almost nothing from
> spending time outside with peers or parents (10%). They know more about
> the giant panda than they know about the house wren, or lizard, or ground
> beetle in their own territory. When three groups of kids from the desert
> southwest were asked if they'd ever spent as much as a half-hour on their
> own in a wild place (basically their backyard in this case), only about 40%
> said yes. Kids rarely collect things such as rocks and insects and shells
> anymore, or build forts in caves and trees--they watch TV and play video
> games. Kids, and even their parents, have little or no connection to the
> land, so how how can anyone expect that they will want to preserve it, even
> in an agricultural context?
[and much else of worth, which I mercilessly snipped]
Good points, Allyn. And now some people are not only disconnected, but
terrified of even the tamest of wild places. A few years back, a news team
came out to do a skeeter story. We took them out to some woodlots to see
real mosquito habitat. The reporter was pretty edgy about it: not wanting
to stand to close to the pond, worried greatly about the poison ivy (even
though we had provided calf-high rubber boots.) And on and on: spiders and
such all seemed to frighten her. So once back out to the pavement, I said
"be sure to check yourself for ticks, this is a Lyme disease area."
Certainly got a reaction. Then I let her know I was just kidding: ticks are
pretty unusual 'round here.
Ok, sue me. It was cruel. The cameraman and the intern loved the joke, though...
Regards,
Bill
--
Bill Morgan
wtmorgan@pilot.msu.edu
Center for Room Temperature Confusion
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