Letting nature be the classroom

Yesterday 11 6th grade girls from Anaheim, CA asked me if they could stop and touch the small patch of snow left on the side of one of the trails. "It doesn't feel like it does in the movies!" one girl exclaimed. "It's so COLD," another yelled.

"Are those ALL stars, or are they airplanes?!" A shocked student exclaimed upon looking up during the night hike.

Let me just say that those comments alone are making the next 5 weeks here completely and totally worth every effort I could possibly put into this project.(Picture thanks to Katie Liberty)

To be able to share something as simple as nature, something that, luckily, has always been my backyard, with kids who have never spent a single night under the stars, never hugged a tree, never tripped over a rock or touched snow is a gift. I'm so honored to be able to spend the next 5 weeks here at Outdoor Science School. I know that we will have long days, I'll get exhausted and frustrated. But when I start feeling those ways, I'll just have to look at the stars and remind myself, they're not airplanes.

It's Earth day today, what can you do to preserve the few places left that look like where I live right now? How can you inspire someone from a younger generation to care for the planet we share and will continue to share for centuries to come? How can you reduce your carbon footprint and help others do the same?