Exploration Leads to Conservation

The Palisadian-Post has partnered with locally founded environmental organization Resilient Palisades to deliver a weekly “green tip” to our readers. This week’s tip was written by Sheda Morshed and Ryan Craig.

Studies have shown that direct contact with nature, especially for young children, is the best predictor as to whether adults will make environmentally responsible decisions. In short, the less time children spend observing and interacting with nature—defined broadly as everything from mountains and forests to backyard wilderness—the less likely they are to protect it as adults.

Sometimes, just a few minutes of observation and interaction is all that’s needed to spark a lifelong connection to the environment. From one spark, the child can build a conceptual foundation of the ecological systems that maintain a healthy and balanced planet which all humans depend on. Such a foundation lends to understanding why, for example, a yard with California native grasses or flowers instead of a non-native lawn is beneficial to humans.

If you have children or grandchildren and want to help them gain an appreciation for the natural world, let them explore, observe, then share:

Temescal Gateway Park. Stop somewhere, put your things down and ask them to examine a small (safe) area. Don’t lead them, just let them explore for four to five minutes and draw or write what they see during this time. This is their time to connect. When the time is up, have them share.

Visit the Palisades Beautiful N/E/X/T garden just below Palisades Charter High School, on the south side of Temescal Canyon Road. Have them choose any native plant then draw or write what they see. Any of these plants will be repeatedly visited by at least one native pollinator. For fun, you could revisit the same plant in another season and have them draw or write their observations. Then, compare to the first visit and ask them to describe what’s changed between seasons.

Use your own yard, no matter how little life or diversity there might be. Have children pick a small area to explore: Allow them to be completely free, to play in the soil, handle earthworms, or examine birds and other wildlife. Have them draw or write what they see, then share.

Since native plants are a sure and easy way to attract birds, butterflies and non-stinging native bees to your garden with minimal input, plant two-plus in your front yard to create repeated opportunities for your children to explore. After writing or drawing what they see, they can follow up by reading about the wildlife they saw.
We suggest using plants native to our area because they will attract more wildlife, since our coastal ecosystem hosts a unique group of plants and animals that have evolved with one another. Once established, most do not like any summer watering. Some easy plants that work in most soils are: CA fuchsia, CA buckwheat (Erigonium fasciculatum) or meadow sedge (Carex praegracilis), which is also an ideal lawn replacement that will create healthy soils, and invite natural invertebrates and pollinators with only once per week summer watering. Some other hearty plants that will spread by rhizomes are Matilija poppy, goldendrod and seaside daisy.

Such explorations and observations can quickly connect your children to the magic of the natural community that makes the Palisades so special. As we become more and more urbanized with less time spent in nature, children are losing out. But one thing we know is kids are never too young to start. While adults might ignore what’s around them, nature is a natural draw for all children.