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

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“Outdoor Citizen” and “Outdoor Citizenship” are terms I’ve coined to reflect how ordinary folks can step up by stepping outside and making commitments. I believe that we need an outdoor-centric action plan and an epoch of Outdoor Citizenship to address the dangers our natural world is facing. This requires both individual responsibility and the widespread support of leaders who value the outdoors as Outdoor Citizens do and will enact legislation to protect it. Together we can orient our lives around the outdoors. We can make our cities Outdoor Cities, where green spaces are the epicenters of our communities and sustainability is embraced on every level; we can foster engagement in outdoor leadership; we can address pressing global challenges; and we can become healthier and happier by enjoying the natural world.

Bringing a Dream World to Life

The great writer Jules Verne was supposed to pursue law. Verne’s father was a lawyer and expected his son to follow in his footsteps, studying law in Paris, France, and then returning to practice in their hometown of Nantes, France. Jules had another idea; he wanted to write, to create, and he did so marvelously. With his vivid imagination and quest for knowledge, Verne would become a groundbreaking author. Among the thrilling expeditions he took readers on are the ones in Journey to the Center of the Earth, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, and Around the World in Eighty Days. With Verne, we descend into a volcano; we accompany Phileas Fogg on his voyage through distant and exotic lands; we plummet into the sea with Captain Nemo in his indomitable submarine, encountering creatures at never-before-explored depths. Verne was arguably the father of science fiction, but many of the inventions, sciences, and technologies he imagined are realities today.