Eco Child’s Play

I’m getting older. I realize this because the arrival of summer just doesn’t matter as much as it did before. Beyond serving as an indicator for when I can stop wearing sweaters and when I need to start giving up my weekends in favor of weddings, summer brings little in the way of day-to-day change.

That’s not the case for the younger kids in my life—little cousins, nieces, nephews. To them, summer is the light at the end of the tunnel. There are no weddings (or at least, nothing they need to plan for). There’s only opportunity.

I am fascinated by what “opportunity” means to this generation. When I was young, I had two non-religious opportunities to get involved. I could volunteer at our local hospital, or I could volunteer with our local congressman. I ended up doing both—and feeling fulfilled by neither.

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Today is different. The opportunities facing the youth of today are simultaneously endless and ever-expanding. For today’s youth, getting involved and making a difference is a lot like summer. There’s only opportunity.

In the spirit of these opportunities I have decided to spend part of my summer sharing stories of kids making the world a better place. I’ve divided these up into what kids can do to make a difference (“Kids Can…”) and what kids already did to make a difference (“Kids Did…”). I’m excited because I know I will be inspired throughout this exercise. Inspired by the problems we’re inviting our youth to solve and inspired by the answers they’re coming back with.

I’ll also be inspired because I’ll finally have something valuable to talk about at all those weddings.

For this post, I’ll focus on a “Kids Can”.

Kids Can…”See the Big Picture”

Your browser may not support display of this image. Per the Press Release: “Youngsters around the world are invited to enter the “See the Bigger Picture” photography contest by submitting images illustrating plants, animals, or anything else that captures biodiversity. The winner will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to National Geographic headquarters in Washington, D.C., and will meet with renowned photojournalist Joel Sartore, a contest judge.”

This is a fantastic program because it emphasizes balance. It creates a global, virtual network of child photographers but requires children to engage with the outside (offline) world to participate. It emphasizes nature and science, while requiring children to come at both from the perspective of an artist. I also see a unique opportunity for children to balance their own interests and pursuits with the guidance of a “grownup”. For an opportunity, I couldn’t think of a better way to start this series.

See the Bigger Picture is a joint project of Airbus, National Geographic and the Secretariat of the Convention of Biological Diversity in support of “The Green Wave” — an outreach program that promotes the goals of the United Nations biodiversity treaty and that will contribute to the celebration of the International Year of Biodiversity in 2010.” You can learn more by visiting the Website.

Image Courtesy nyki_m via Flickr under Creative Commons license.

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