Irvine Nature Center

Irvine Nature Center, the non-profit environmental education organization whose mission is to inspire appreciation and respect for the natural world, will host its first Earth Day: Kids Unplugged event to commemorate the 40^th anniversary of the national observance of Earth Day.  The event, to take place on Sunday, April 18 from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., is designed to encourage Maryland’s children to unplug from their iPods, televisions, video games, cell phones and other electronics to get outside and explore nature at Irvine.

In accordance with the goals and objectives of the national observance of Earth Day (April 22, 2010), a day designed to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth’s environment, Earth Day: Kids Unplugged will engage children and their families in forest, stream and wetland exploration, making reusable lunch boxes and bird feeders, recycled kite races, and the making of recycled puzzles and worm bins.  Children will also be given an activity booklet called a “Passport to Nature” to help guide their tours of Irvine’s campus and interact with the beauty of the natural world.  Families will have the opportunity to plant a tree in honor/memory of a loved one as Irvine reforests a portion of its 116-acre property.

But Kids Unplugged is not just about a day’s worth of activities to protect the environment.  It is a campaign designed to bring awareness to a troubling issue affecting today’s youth, and to be a catalyst for a lifelong change in habits.  Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods asserts that direct exposure to nature is essential for a child’s healthy physical and emotional development. 

He coined the term Nature-Deficit Disorder (NDD) for children’s lack of routine contact with nature, which results in stunted academic and developmental growth, and contributes to greater incidences of childhood obesity, attention disorders, depression and more.  Irvine Nature Center is responding to this condition locally by building on its 35-year reputation for providing quality environmental education for now more than 20,000 individuals per year.  Kids Unplugged, Irvine Nature Center’s GET OUTSIDE Initiative, will continue throughout the year with coordinated awareness activities and programs focusing children on getting outside to explore nature and to combat some of the statistics associated with Nature-Deficit Disorder. 

Maryland Congressman John Sarbanes spent Earth Day 2009 introducing the No Child Left Inside Act (NCLI) to strengthen environmental education in our nation’s schools.  The act is supported by a national grassroots coalition of 1,300 organizations from around the country, of which Irvine Nature Center is a member.

“Earth Day celebrations like Irvine’s are crucial to educating our youth to become environmental stewards while growing the next generation of scientists and innovators to solve our energy and ecological challenges,” said Congressman John Sarbanes. “According to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation study, children spend 53 hours a week using electronic media. We need to unplug kids from their electronic devices and get them outside so they can live healthier lives.”  

“Here at Irvine Nature Center we do Earth Day every day with the more than 500 environmental programs and events we offer annually emphasizing the importance of care for the environment and the natural world,” said Irvine Executive Director, Peggy F. O’Neill.  “However, we are particularly excited about Earth Day: Kids Unplugged because it is a new way to engage Maryland’s children and their families in the activity of getting outside and having fun.” 

“We are honored to celebrate the 40^th Anniversary of Earth Day in this very meaningful way,” she concluded.

Click here for a schedule of events for Kids Unplugged.  Just added - special appearances by Bob the Vid Tech!  Watch our website for specific times TBA.

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Founded in 1975, Irvine Nature Center is a nonprofit organization dedicated to environmental education.  The Center is located at 11201 Garrison Forest Road in Owings Mills, MD 21117.  Call 410-738-9200 or visit www.ExploreNature.org for more information.