• less people wanting to stay overnight (schools are reluctant)

• scared to go outside

• no one cares if things go missing because they don't know it is missing: a generation of kids who don't get to do those outdoor experiences

• If people don't have a chance to connect, they won't care. If they don't care, they won't make changes or actions to protect

In school boards equity has been used as a reason to cancel trips:

• can't have anything that has a fee (but are unwilling to provide funding to support the students who can't afford it or make it more affordable for all)

• boards don't see the inequality of cancelling these experiences as access to them outside of the school system is uneven and inequitable

Children are having fewer opportunities to engage with the natural world.

• Kids used to be able to just go out and come back at dark. No longer the norm. There aren't street spaces that are universally safe enough.

Outdoor Education trips can be transformative

Risk that we tolerate in other settings is almost hysterical in outdoor settings (especially water).

What are we trying to do when we go outside:

• teach kids to love the earth and take care of it

• we have huge existential problems. Kids need to know and love it

• give kids key stewardship experiences that are age-graded so that they can practice caring and have opportunity to start caring right from where they are.

Some outdoor ed programs can't see the forest through the trees. Sometimes the curriculum needs get in the way of connection and reason for being there, the joy and falling in love with the space.

Advocate for getting kids outside the door to the outdoors.

Start at schools to convince them that outside spaces matter. Have an outdoor ed centre in each classroom. Have an outdoor kit hanging in every classroom to help them get into outdoor spaces. The more comfortable kids feel outside to do any subject, they more comfort they have being outside period.

Are kids lonely today because they are missing the connection to the life systems that nourish us? We need more re words

lobby insurance companies about the advantages of being outdoors, advocacy,