How did your mom give you the gift of nature?

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Here are more details about the mother-child stories featured in this video:

Dan Siemann, Washington

Dan works in the Pacific Regional Office in Seattle for the National Wildlife Federation on global warming and water issues.

“I really wanted to experience being an explorer and not being on the trail, not being bound by the trail. We were driving along and I asked my mom to stop and explore the woods. So she indulged me. She stopped and we got out of the car and we probably didn’t go more than 30 or 40 feet. I’m not sure we even got past the point where we couldn’t see the car anymore, but I remember for me it was totally exciting to be walking on the logs, and in the grass, and just going where the animals went, maybe walking in places that nobody else had ever walked. I remember just feeling like I was in the woods and free, kind of exploring things that nobody else had explored. Maybe I was the first person walking there or something like that. I just remember thinking this is the coolest thing. It made me want to go back and see it over and over again.”

“I wonder with my own son if like he said, “Dad can we stop and go walk into the woods?” If I hadn’t done that myself with my mom, I wonder if I would be as indulging or not. But it was such a cool experience for me. The ability to just walk off and go wherever and not be bound by the trail and experience the freedom of the woods.”

“She was a cool mom. And she loved travelling and she loved seeing new places. That was something that she instilled in me, is this sense of exploration and wonderment of the world, and going and experiencing things.”

Deji Akinpelu, Michigan

Deji is a member of National Wildlife Federation’s Youth Advisory Council. He is a student at Wayne State University. He attended National Wildlife Federation’s Earth Tomorrow program as a young man.

“I remember my mom used to always let me go outside and let me play in the backyard. And I think she even started, or attempted to grow a couple of crops. She grew some okra, spinach, tomatoes, also bell peppers. I just remember going outside and always having a great time, seeing so much greenery, and just exploring the outdoors, and just being at one with nature, even at a young age of seven or nine, I really had a great time doing that.”

“We had a playground. We always had time to play with the sand and look at the different invertebrates or vertebrates that were in the ground. We also made dirt pies. We saw cool creatures, what we call the roly poly. You touch it and it rolls up into a ball. Other than that, just looking at the different plants and seeing the vibrant colors. Just kind of like having that sense of security and tranquility when you are outdoors in nature.”

Beth Pratt, California

Beth is the Director of National Wildlife Federation’s California program.

“What I remember most about my mother – we lived near the woods. We were at the end of this road. I grew up in the woods. And she would just walk as much as we wanted and take us through the woods and down to the Concord River. So I think my early memories of my mother were always outdoors. I don’t remember being indoors with her as much.”

“She would go to the library and get those wildlife books for me. She would buy the wildlife encyclopedias at the supermarkets when you could still do that so I could look at them.”

“For me, mom is the encourager. She still is. My mother, on Saturday accompanied me to National Junior Ranger Day in Yosemite, where Ranger Rick was making a appearance. She stickered Ranger Rick books. She was handing them out to kids. You could tell she was just as encouraged as I was of all the little kids getting sworn in by park rangers and Ranger Rick – the new Junior Rangers. She was the one who took me to state parks and all the great wildlife areas in New England so she’s just been forever associated with being outdoors and not only being outdoors but encouraging me to be someone who works for the environment.”

Ivy Simmons, Georgia

Ivy participated in the National Wildlife Federation’s Great American Backyard Campout in Atlanta last summer.

“I’m one of those moms who makes sure my kids get outside every day, just to get their energy out. Even before the whole nature deficit phenomenon research had been done and really been proven, I was very much aware of the benefits of being outside just to activate their mind and creativity because my mother grew up on a farm and always sent us outside. No matter rain, shine, snow – she grew up in Michigan – no matter how cold it is, you are going outside. I really think it helps them, just like I said, activate their creativity.”

“As my mother is from the country in North Carolina, you know we made everything from scratch. We were always out in the yard taking care of things. We didn’t waste things. If we cooked it, we ate it, even if we didn’t like it that much that time. And then we let go of it and we didn’t get excess. It was about not having excess and too much. Like even when the superstore started being popular, my mother is like, “But do you need all of that, and how much space does it take, and all this packaging.” As soon as recycling was available we did that.”

“It was naturally embedded in who she was because how she was raised, that really informed who we were. It’s the little things that you teach children. We don’t litter when we go out for walks. We’re going to clean up after ourselves. We’re going to make sure the fire is damped out. If you want to leave something for the birds, leave this type of thing, that’s not healthy for them. So that was really given to me young.”

Like Ivy, you can register to attend the Great American Backyard Campout on June 23, 2012!

Tim Brady, Pennsylvania

Tim is a philanthropy officer for National Wildlife Federation in Pennsylvania.

“When I was four years old, my mom got me a subscription to Ranger Rick magazine. We had no money at the time. We were poor. But she got me this subscription, or at that time it was a membership in the Ranger Rick Club. I can remember every month that mail would come to my house, and it was for me, it had my name on it. I was so excited. Because we didn’t have much. The main thing I remember is the tin badge that I got from the Ranger Rick Club, and then looking at the pictures. I’m not sure if I could read yet, but just looking at these great pictures of animals.”

“So that was my first contact with National Wildlife Federation. So fast forward to about five years ago, I was working in development for a college, and the VP of development at NWF recruited me to come and work for NWF. Well, it wasn’t until I was sitting in the lobby of the headquarters here that I saw Ranger Rick magazine and connected the dots that NWF was Ranger Rick. So while I had gotten away from it for so many years, I had never forgotten Ranger Rick magazine. It had been burned into my memory as a wonderful experience as a kid to get Ranger Rick magazine.”

“My mom got divorced when I was about a year old and took me and my brother on this wild adventure across the country, kind of running from my dad. We would go to the Rocky Mountains, Utah, California, Washington, the state of Washington. Animals and wildlife were what she loved the most. She connected with animals better than she did people I feel, and sometimes I feel the same about myself. She was the one that really instilled in me the interest in animals and the love of animals. I can remember as a kid I would have fought to the death to protect an animal probably before a person because they were helpless and they needed us to help protect them. So it fits very well with Ranger Rick and with NWF, and I know if my mom were alive today, she would be so proud that I work for Ranger Rick.”

“It has been a life-changing experience to work for NWF because it got me re-introduced to the outdoors. I had gotten away from outdoor recreation in my twenties and thirties, with being busy and starting a family and everything else. Since coming to the NWF, I have picked up 10 or so new hobbies – kayaking, mountain biking, nature photography, gardening – the list goes on and on and it’s all because of the NWF that I do those things. And I just live for that these days. I’m introducing my son and my wife to them and they have become lovers of the outdoors as well because of that. And it’s all due to people that I work with here at NWF that I have been introduced to those hobbies.”

Like Tim’s mom, you can purchase a subscription to Ranger Rick magazine for your child!

It’s hard to pinpoint the moment when I began to see nature and the outdoors as my own personal refuge, but the video below does share an outdoor moment that I will never forget–when I was a kid and I encountered a mountain lion.  Don’t worry, I was about 30 yards away from the mountain lion so there wasn’t much to be afraid of.  Here are some tips on what to do if you do come across a mountain lion.

This post is broadcasted from the Outer Banks, North Carolina.

Click here to view the embedded video.

At that moment I realized that I was in someone else’s backyard–a species who had been calling those mountains home way before my Aunt and Uncle moved there.  These are the moments that I want to protect for other people, and is a reminder of why I love what I do. Wildlife habitat is being threatened at an unprecedented rate, and many are facing the threat of extinction, please take action!

National Wildlife Federation’s Storytelling Video Diary Series shares the candid tales of nine NWF staffers from around the country; armed with their cameras in the Great Lakes, California, South Dakota, the Pacific Northwest, Northern Virginia, and Washington, DC, these nine staffers will share with you their individual trials, epiphanies and stories as they unfold in their daily adventures.

There are a lot of little moments throughout my life that made me this way and brought me to NWF, many of which took place outside my front door. This video is actually an indoor moment about a tiny little thing—that wasn’t hard to do or hard to grasp—that apparently made a big impression on me when I was about six. Are you dying to know what it was? You will probably be surprised! Watch this video and find out!!

Click here to view the embedded video.

I guess the point I’m trying to get across is it doesn’t take a lot to build a connection with the natural world. I work on NWF’s Be Out There movement to reconnect kids with nature. Every generation says it, but it’s a different time. Getting a good healthy dose of outdoor time isn’t as easy as it once was and regardless of age, it’s so good for you! I’ll share some outdoor moments—old and new—along this crazy ride, and hopefully you’ll share some with me too.

National Wildlife Federation’s Storytelling Video Diary Series shares the candid tales of nine NWF staffers from around the country; armed with their cameras in the Great Lakes, California, South Dakota, the Pacific Northwest, Northern Virginia, and Washington, DC, these nine staffers will share with you their individual trials, epiphanies and stories as they unfold in their daily adventures.

Click here to view the embedded video.

3… 2… 1… Liftoff!

For the next six months we’ll publish weekly video blogs, such as this one about the Sky Dance of the American Woodcock.

There are 10 participants from around the Federation: Lindsay Hauswald, Carla Brown, Danielle Moodie-Mills, Beth Pratt, Bentley Johnson, Kendall Mackey, Tony Summers, Nic Callero, and Ryan Stockwell, and myself.  

I know I speak for all the participants when I say “Welcome!” We look forward to sharing our stories from around the Federation with you.

National Wildlife Federation’s Storytelling Video Diary Series shares the candid tales of 10 NWF staffers from around the country; armed with their cameras in the Great Lakes, California, South Dakota, the Pacific Northwest, Northern Virginia, and Washington, DC, these 10 staffers will share with you their individual trials, epiphanies and stories as they unfold in their daily adventures.

Great Blue Heron covered in oil from the Enbridge oil spill in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Photo/David Kenyon

More often than not, really momentous epiphanies surface from great storytelling.  To be on the receiving end of a great story is to experience a revelatory moment in the midst of hearing, seeing or reading about something or someone who moves you, sparks your imagination, makes you laugh out loud or even scares the bleep out of you.

Storytelling is a“golden ticket” that makes you go from sitting to standing, from scarcity to abundance, from fear to courage.  You get up, metaphorically or physically, and you take yourself somewhere new and better.

NWF Storytelling Initiative

In the New Year, National Wildlife Federation is embarking on a storytelling initiative, the brainchild of NWF staffer Carla Brown who is leading this effort and to which I’m thrilled to be a devoted storytelling groupie.   We’ve just begun and what I see are endless prairies, mountains and rivers of amazing people who for one reason or another, have privileged the National Wildlife Federation with sharing in their expression of love for wildlife and the natural world.  In my nearly 20 years at NWF, this new adventure in storytelling is the most inspiring thing I’ve been a part of.

And while the world often pushes us to tell stories of only larger than life characters and tragic events; if you’re like me you crave stories of authenticity, of people like yourself, of small gestures that add up to something bigger or simply make life more fulfilling.

“It’s the worst of bad manners – and self protection, I think, in a nervously cynical society – to ridicule the small gesture.  These earnest efforts might just get us past the train-wreck of the daily news, or the anguish of standing behind a child, looking with her at the road ahead, searching out redemption where we can find it: recycling or carpooling or growing a garden or saving a species or something.  Small, stepwise changes in personal habits aren’t trivial.  Ultimately, they will, or won’t, add up to having been the thing that mattered.”

Barbara Kingsolver

The Power of Storytelling

One personal golden ticket moment for me that came from storytelling was a paragraph in Barbara Kingsolver’s book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.  If you haven’t read this story, the Kingsolver family spent a year off the food grid, growing their own vegetables and fruit, raising their own animals, making all their food.  For most of the book I was inspired and salivating (see the book’s recipes!) and quite honestly, a little intimidated.  It is unlikely I will personally raise the turkey that I later eat on Thanksgiving.

But Barbara Kingsolver’s story and what said towards the end of her book about stepwise changes adding up the thing that mattered, made me get up and re-establish my garden (something I’d stopped doing for a few years), made me pay attention to the praying mantis on my fence, made me feel proud of feeding my family from the garden.

Through a small gesture I reminded myself that spending more of my daily life outdoors brings nothing less than welcome stillness to my often bustling soul.  That’s the golden ticket of storytelling and the power within, and that’s what drives me in this new effort – because if we do this storytelling initiative well – it will produce “golden tickets”, and I can’t think of anything we all deserve more.