Families descended on the Environmental Learning Center recently for an Earth Day Family Fun Festival in celebration of Earth Day, where they immersed themselves in a Saturday afternoon filled with outdoor exploration. Activities had been spaced out on the 64-acre campus so that everyone could safely connect with nature.
The event centered around a Restore Our Earth theme, showing families how to “unplug, discover and connect to the natural world while learning how you can help care for our planet.”
Hands-on activities included pond dip-netting, recycled crafts, guided nature walks, an interactive storytime, the Discovery Station and touch tank, meaning something for everyone.
Their goal was to teach families how to lead sustainable, eco-conscious lifestyles by providing them with an opportunity to spend “meaningful time engaging in outdoor recreation while also adopting healthy habits to help restore and protect our beloved ecosystems.”
Barbara Schlitt Ford, ELC executive director, said it aligns directly with their mission to educate, empower and inspire people to be active stewards of the environment and their own well-being.
“It’s all interconnected. When they’re stewarding the environment, they are also protecting their own health. By being immersed in nature, they’re experiencing all of those positive physical, emotional and mental health benefits they get from just being outdoors. It’s the nature prescription right here at the ELC,” said Ford.
She added that the pandemic has shown a spotlight on the interconnectedness between the health of the environment and our own human health.
“It’s more important than ever for us to be getting the message out about living sustainably, but then also getting people to connect with nature,” said Sarah Christopherson, ELC environmental educator.
Noting the importance of children becoming aware of the health crisis faced by the Indian River Lagoon, Christopherson added “we need to get children playing outdoors and enjoying nature.
You can’t ask them to protect something that they don’t know or that they are scared of.”
Christopherson said they have designed ELC events and programs to help build that connection to nature.
“Once that relationship is established, then we can ask the kids to become thoughtful, conscious adults making good decisions on protecting the environment,” she said.
“We bring them out here to have fun, connect with nature, and they learn to care about it,” Ford added. “Then they’re like, ‘Oh! All these things are happening to our Earth. What can I do to be part of the solution?’”
Their new Sustainability Walk around the pond does just that, using signage focused on the eight major, global environmental issues: species extinction, air quality, habitat loss, water quality, climate change, resource scarcity, marine debris and overfishing. The signs include “eco steps” that inform how to be part of the solution.
Ford said that while it is important to “get them young and start them young,” it is equally important to remember that nature is not just for children. She stressed that the ELC offers plenty of activities for adults to engage in with friends, as couples or solo.
For more information, visit discoverelc.org.
Photos by Kaila Jones
