How did you come to be interested in and engaged with nature and taking children outdoors?
Chris Carter (he/him): About fifteen years ago during New York Earth Week I discovered the book Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv and viewed the PBS documentary Where Do the Children Play? The book definitely hit a chord in me, though I was slightly biased with a background in environmental science and my boyhood spent as a Boy Scout. I was inspired to seek out resources regarding nature-based learning and
outdoor education in an attempt to find meaningful, engaging and relevant ways to present these ideals to my students. My commitment to getting students outdoors, our collage bin of found materials, outdoor play on even the snowiest of days, and raising and caring for trout, were all borne from my desire to foster an appreciation of nature and simply get students outdoors.
How did you initially get connected to Inside-Outside and what keeps you involved with the network?
A few years ago, I took a sabbatical and enrolled in Antioch’s Nature-Based Early Childhood Certificate. During my time working on the certificate I was introduced to many resources to stay connected with nature-based educators. One of the resources was Inside-Outside.
What do you want people to know about your chapter?
The New York City Inside-Outside chapter is a diverse group of educators looking to expand our membership. We have returned to meeting in-person and have taken advantage of a few site visits in the last year and continue to share and offer support relating to the unique challenges of nature-based programming within an urban environment.
