Posted by Topher Donahue on Thu, Jun 17, 2010 @ 08:55 AM
By now, everyone has heard of 16-year-old Abby Sunderland’s effort to sail around the world and 13-year-old Jordan Romero climbing Mt. Everest. Blogs, talk shows, and print media are buzzing with criticism and praise for the teen adventurers. It is easy to see both sides of the controversy.
On one hand, the effects of isolation on the sea and the lack of oxygen at altitude on the developing teen brain are not well understood. The parents who publicize these children’s efforts appear to be capitalizing on their children’s risk taking.
On the other hand, teens are capable of so much more than our culture gives them credit for. The very shelter we smother them with might also be stunting their growth and causing issues in other ways. By the time most kids from developed nations are teens, they will have spent as much time in front of the television as Abby has spent in a boat and Jordan has spent wearing boots.
One could argue that the expense of Sunderland’s rescue was unnecessary. Another could argue that the expense we’ll bear in the future, in the form of health problems caused from a diet of junk food compounded by an Xbox lifestyle, will dwarf the cost of any ocean rescue.
Some have said that Abby Sunderland’s parents should be tried for child abuse. It could just as easily be argued that any parent who uses the television as a baby sitter should face the same charges.
Kids doing exceptional and controversial things are nothing new, but we’re in the infantile stages of reality television, social media, and blogs like this one. My hope is that our wickedly powerful, but still painfully clumsy, modern media machine will not stifle these kinds of ambitions. Kids need to have the freedom to pursue their dreams without the keyboard pundits tossing anonymous rants at them. When a teen goes too far, like the 13-year-old Dutch sailor recently blocked from a solo voyage, authorities step in with or without our rants.
For most teens, the best approach lies somewhere in between. Encourage teens to pursue a bit of outdoor adventure - with professional training when needed - like sailing, surfing, mountain biking, climbing, skiing or hiking. Encourage them to avoid the all-too-common sedentary lifestyle that young bodies and minds were never meant to live. The real issue here is not the few kids who are pushing the limits of adventure, it’s the millions who have never tasted adventure at all.
Posted by Topher Donahue on Fri, Jun 11, 2010 @ 09:34 AM
I just read one of those books that could change the world. Last Child in the Woods, by Richard Louv, is a best seller of such magnitude that its implications will send ripples through families, universities, and - hopefully - our entire culture.
In it, Louv coins the term “nature deficit disorder”, and gives the reader a shocking view into the wide range of issues today’s children face and how many of the issues can be blamed – at least in part - on how little direct contact with nature they have compared to earlier generations. The book opens the floodgates of contemporary studies that are in the process of proving that our electronic, indoor, hyper-compartmentalized lifestyles are liable for issues including ADHD and obesity – and that time in the natural world has therapeutic potential to help with the very same issues.
The other day I watched my twin three-year-olds grow hyper and irritable as a spring snowstorm prevented even a short play in the garden. It seemed obvious that the time outside was crucial to their learning and happiness as I reread a few of Louv’s best lines:
“Increasingly, nature is something to watch, to consume, to wear – to ignore.”
“As far as physical fitness goes, today’s kids are the sorriest generation in the history of the United States.”
“They (researchers) say the quality of exposure to nature affects our health at an almost cellular level.”
“Pediatricians now warn that today’s children may be the first generation of Americans since World War II to die at an earlier age than their parents.”
“The CDC found that the amount of TV that children watch directly correlates with measures of their body fat.”
“A study of Finnish teenagers showed that they often went into natural settings after upsetting events; there, they could clear their minds and gain perspective and relax.”
“There is a real world, beyond the glass, for children who look, for those whose parents encourage them to truly see.”
“Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle maintains that each hour of TV watched per day by preschoolers increases by 10 percent the likelihood that they will develop concentration problems and other symptoms of attention-deficit disorders by age seven.”
“I was intrigued by the way children defined play: often, their definition did not include soccer or piano lessons. Those activities were more like work.”
“Typical Americans spend 101 minutes in their car daily, five times the amount they spend exercising.”
“Time in nature is not leisure time, it’s an essential investment in our children’s health (and also, by the way, in our own).”
“Two-thirds of American children can’t pass a basic physical: 40 percent of boys and 70 percent of girls ages six to seventeen can’t manage more than one pull-up; and 40 percent show early signs of heart and circulation problems.”
Louv reveals that even our playgrounds, parks, and arenas are not providing the experience in the natural world that has nurtured children’s development since the beginning of time. And the Internet, while a gateway to the world in so many ways, is entirely devoid of the very same sensory experiences that nature supplies in abundance: the smell of a pine tree; the deep vibration of a wave crashing into a rocky shore; the tickle of a cool breeze blowing off a snowfield.
For adventure travelers, skiers, mountaineers, hikers, farmers, gardeners, sailors, surfers, people like us in the business of providing exceptional experiences in the natural world, or anyone who finds time in nature is essential to their health, "Last Child in the Woods" puts to words something we have been feeling for a long time.
Photo by Topher Donahue
Posted by Topher Donahue on Thu, Apr 15, 2010 @ 10:50 AM
When you show up at the airport these days, just getting on the plane is an adventure. It reminds me of travel in parts of the third world where you need a pocket full of bribe money, extra time to get anywhere, the mental fortitude to patiently handle whatever you encounter - and a sense of humor.
Remember when air travel was fun?
First they ding you for your checked luggage. Ok, if we all travel lighter, the airplanes use less fuel. It also gives the marketing departments at airlines like Southwest endless advantage over the other carriers: they just advertise NOT doing what the other airlines are doing. Now Southwest advertises, “Your 1st and 2nd checked bags are free only with Southwest Airlines!”
More recently, Spirit Airlines unveiled a plan to charge for carry-on bags. Anything that goes in the overhead bin will cost passengers $45, almost double the cost of a checked bag. Some items will be exempt from the rule including “umbrellas, coats, cameras, car seats, strollers, medicine, reading material and food for immediate consumption. “ I can just see the new travel luggage that looks like a Burger King go-bag but is actually a high-quality roller bag, and jackets with pocket capacity for a 2-day trip.
Now Ryanair, a low-cost European carrier is taking the next step: charging passengers to use the toilet! And they are trying to get aviation authorities to allow them to redesign the cabin with only one toilet to make room for more seats. If passed, the new ratio will be 189 seats for one toilet! In an article in Business Week, the Ryanair CEO, Michael O’Leary rationalizes: "The purpose of charging for the toilets is to change peoples' behaviour," he said. The company sees profit in the theory that by giving people incentive to use airport toilets before they depart, it would be able to remove two out of the three toilets on each plane, making space for six additional seats. Seats they can sell.
Who are they kidding? Changing people's bodily functions? Everyone I know already tries to avoid using the cramped cabin toilets by using the airport toilets just before boarding. I don't know of anybody who waits to get ON the plane to use the toilet. I can just see Southwest Airline’s next slogan: “Use the toilet for free!”
Do you think this family is waiting until they board to use the toilet?
The nice thing for us at CMH is that these trends in the air travel industry make our all-inclusive approach and helicopter travel seem that much more refreshing. Just show up for a CMH Summer Adventure and we’ll take care of the rest. Sure, we charge additional for massages and alcohol, but everything else is part of our award-winning adventure travel package. We’re not about to start charging for the spa, nor do we charge rental fees for our fleet of comfortable hiking boots and warm jackets. We don’t charge for mountaineering or via ferrata equipment use during our high-flying summer adventures – or for using the toilet.
Photos by Topher Donahue
Posted by Topher Donahue on Thu, Feb 04, 2010 @ 12:10 PM
At first glance, it seems that kids are natural adventurers, but so many of our modern adventures entail adult-oriented elements like goals and schedules that seem, at first glance, to be incompatible with childhood. To get a bit of insight into how kids these days like adventure vacations, I tracked down Lyle Grisedale, a CMH summer guide who began taking people into the mountains in 1961 and has been doing it ever since. I figured if anybody knows about families having adventures together in the mountains, it is Lyle.
TD: First of all, how do kids do on adventure vacations?
LG: Kids do very well on mountain adventures. Kids from city environments are usually completely blown away by the experience. Kids from rural environments may have a better idea of what the mountain environment is like, but they too are really excited about mountain adventures. Of course the helicopter is the icing on the cake, I have yet to meet a kid who is not excited by a helicopter ride.
TD: What kinds of things can parents do before a mountain adventue to make sure everyone has fun?
LG: The best pre-trip thing a parent can do is to get the kids away from computer and TV and out walking, thus their feet and minds are toughened up a bit. Most kids use backpacks for school these days so carrying their lunch and an extra sweater is easy for them. However, if they don't use a backpack for school it might be a good idea to get one and have the kids wear it while walking around town just to get used to the way it feels.
TD: What kinds of tricks do you use to get kids into the mountain experience?
LG: Usually tricks are not required but sometimes they are useful, especially with younger kids who tend to have shorter attention spans. I have many games up my sleeve for these moments. Most kids are enthusiastic about learning about nature so I always incorporate teaching opportunities into the adventure. Stopping to investigate animal tracks, bear digs, identifying flowers and maybe sampling edible plants is just enough of a diversion to keep the kids enthusiastic about exploring the next ridge. One of my favourite tricks involves dental floss. When the horse flies are bugging us we'll catch a few and slip a little leash around their heads. Then each kid can have their own personal pet horse fly on a leash.
TD: If a family has never done any kind of outdoor adventure together before, is a CMH Family Adventure a good first step?
LG: A CMH Family Adventure is a great way to start them on a healthy and educational experience that can lead to a lifetime of fitness and learning. Mother Nature has the best classroom in the world and exploring this classroom is both mentally and physically rewarding. I'd say everyone should have a mountain experience, and heli-hiking and the rest of our summer adventures are the most comfortable way to get out there.
TD: What is your favourite part of guiding CMH Summer Adventures?
LG: One of the biggest thrills for me is seeing how blown away both parents and kids are on their first experience in the mountains. It’s not uncommon for our guests to have tears in their eyes when it comes time to go back to the real world.
I am an avid educator and it is very gratifying to expose people to the intricacies of the mountain environment. Of course meeting new people and having fun with them in the mountains is wonderful, I have good friends all over the world as a result of taking people into the mountains and working for CMH. Being a guide is the best job in the world!
These days Lyle guides summer wilderness adventures in both the CMH Bobbie Burns and CMH Bugaboos, but his experiences include most of the mountain ranges in western Canada including Banff, Jasper, Kootenay, Glacier, Mt. Revelstoke and Waterton National Parks. He's not the only one who believes kids need time outdoors - check out this writeup on Nature Deficit Disorder.