The Marin Children & Nature Network recognizes that children today are far less likely than past generations to spend time playing outside, and a growing body of research says children are paying a high price for that lack.

Mission

The Marin County Children & Nature Network, a local network of individuals, organizations and agencies, unite to create more opportunities to get children outdoors and to help spread the word about the importance of providing opportunities for all children to experience frequent, regular play and exploration in natural outdoor settings.

• We share information about our programs.
• We discuss how we can facilitate and support greater outdoor learning and experiential opportunities.
• We support each other in our work.

Marin County offers some of the country's best environmental and outdoor education programs for youth. Click here for a list of Marin County Environmental and Outdoor Education Providers.

The Marin Children & Nature Network Host — EECOM

The Environmental Education Council of Marin also hosts the Marin County Children & Nature Network. While EECOM has provided information and networking for Marin County EE providers for over nine years, we are expanding our network (to new EE and Outdoor Education providers & open space and parks organizations) after our successful event with Richard Louv last May.

• EECOM serves as the facilitator for the network and offers quarterly networking meetings.
  
  
• EECOM highlights local Environmental Education (EE) and Outdoor Education opportunities at our website. If you have a program that is not listed, please us a your event and program information and a link to your website. If you have a program not listed on the Marin Environmental and Outdoor Education Providers webpage, please email us the following information:
  • Organization Name
  • Website
  • Email & Contact Person
  • Address
  • Telephone
  • Program(s) for Children
  • Program(s) Location(s)
  • Age Group & Grade Level
  • Events or Seasonal Programs
  
  
• EECOM conducts surveys to assess and measure the local EE community programs and their reach into public schools and in informal settings.
  
  
• EECOM hosts community events that highlight the importance of nature to people and to bring in key spokespersons like our events with Al Gore and Richard Louv — to bring greater awareness to the community.
  
  
• EECOM produces radio stories that air on KAWL that highlight the importance of Nature to Children and
  the important work of local Marin organizations.
  
  
• EECOM provides funding search services for EE providers and members seeking funding for their EE projects.
  
  
• EECOM also provides "valuation" (evaluation) services for EE and outdoor Education providers (with over twenty years of EE experience and expertise) and has completed surveys for over 200 environmental groups in the US and Internationally.
  
  
• EECOM provides teacher training in EE and experiential outdoor learning.
  
  
• EECOM has launched a new funding initiative to raise monies to use for transportation and for scholarships to connect children with nature.

Richard Louv

Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder, is Chairman of the Children & Nature Network.

Louv emphasizes the transformation in the relationship between children and nature, how society is teaching young people to avoid direct experience in nature. That unintended message is delivered by schools, families, even organizations devoted to the outdoors, and codified into the legal and regulatory structures of many of our local communities. He also describes the new body of scientific evidence demonstrating just how important direct contact with the outdoors is to healthy child development, touching on such health issues as ADHD, child obesity, stress, creativity and cognitive functioning. To stimulate a "Leave No Child Inside" movement, he offers practical suggestions for action by parents, grandparents, government agencies, conservationists, urban planners, educators and others concerned about the future of childhood and the earth itself.

The EECOM event, An Evening with Richard Louv, premiered some of the region's best outdoor and environmental education programs including:

• STRAW, a program of the Bay Institute
• YMCA Point Bonita Outdoor & Conference Center
• Wild Care
• Audubon Canyon Ranch
• Headlands Institute
• Awen Grove
• Manor Elementary School, Laura Honda
• Save San Francisco Bay
• Save-the-Redwoods League
• Marin County Outdoor School/Walker Creek Ranch
• Environmental Education Program of the Canal Child Care Center
• Marin County Parks & Open Space
• San Francisco Green Schoolyard Alliance
• Marine Mammal Center