How can I help my child grow up to be an environmentalist?

People who have positive experiences with nature in childhood care more about the environment as adults.

• Many researchers have reported that childhood experiences with nature were a key formative influence on today’s environmentalists.
• Time spent in natural environments during childhood was a common factor in the lives of individuals with a strong commitment to nature and the environment as adults.
• Research is clearly substantiating that an affinity to and love of nature, along with a positive environmental ethic, grow out of children’s regular contact with and play in the natural world.

Build a love for the environment by helping your child become a citizen scientist.

• Citizen scientists are predominately involved in monitoring environmental indicators and the biodiversity of species related to regional climate change, which range in scope from the micrometer to the cosmos.
• There are now over 200 citizen science projects available worldwide, allowing for ordinary adults and their children to collect data that supports scientific studies and local policymaking.
• While youth are engaged as citizen scientists they are also being engaged as participants in the democratic process of decision-making in their local communities.

Source: The Children's Nature Institute "Why Nature is Important"; Mike Mueller “Citizen Science Can Renew A Child’s Love of Nature”