Читать книгу The Outdoor Citizen. Get Out, Give Back, Get Active онлайн

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When I think about the world that today’s children are growing up in, and the one that future generations will be born into, my daughter—now three years old—is at the forefront of my mind. I often ask myself what her relationship with the outdoors will be in the space-age world of 2066, when she’s fifty. There is enormous positive potential in the discoveries of tomorrow—things like advances in personalized medicine, synthetic biology, automated work, machine learning, and more—but there are also great threats. If we focus too much on technology, or misuse it, how might humanity and the planet be threatened?

We desperately need an outdoor-centric action plan for people to reconnect with the natural world and care for it. We need to recognize the importance of our planet and embrace it, preserve it, and delight in what it has to offer. This is a mission we should all stand behind. Today’s world is one of bitter political divisions, but we need to put our differences aside when we consider the environment. We are not just citizens of our cities, states, and countries, we are citizens of the natural world, and we are identical in this. It is a citizenship each of us is born with, and one that allows us advantages but also gives us responsibilities. When we fulfill these responsibilities, caring for and standing up for our planet, and we regularly enjoy the outdoors, we take pride in this citizenship and we earn the right to call ourselves Outdoor Citizens.