The Sustainable Development Commission may not quite have the snappiest name in history – but they do have one or two decent ideas up their sleeve.
The SDC – to give them their obligatory three letter acronym – is holding an event in London today(Wednesday July 1) hosted by broadcasters Jonathan Dimbleby and Anna Ford. The SDC’s job is to advise the government on how they can run the country without destroying the planet at the same time – and their latest advice is to kick our kids out onto the street.
Well not the street exactly, and not forever. Just long enough for them to discover that there’s a wonderful world out there and it beats TVs and computer games hands down.
The event in London – which is being attended by Prince Charles and a host of top education decision makers - will be a platform for the unveiling of the SDC’s latest big idea – outdoor learning for our children. They want outdoor experiences with nature to be part of the curriculum.
We think it’s a great idea - and that’s not just because we’re chuffed that they’ve chosen our education centre at Rainham Marshes in Essex as an example of a place where schoolkids are having amazing wildlife experiences every day.
Last week was Child Safety Week across the UK. Now of course, we all want our children to be safe. But when keeping them safe means cooping them up behind closed doors and in front of screens rather than discovering and exploring the amazing wildlife outside our windows then our alarm bells start to ring.
We love wildlife – that’s why we’re here. And we want to pass on that passion to a new generation so that when we hand the environmental baton on to them they can follow in our footsteps by protecting and caring for it.
The RSPB believes that experiencing nature shouldn’t be a luxury for our children – it should be a basic educational right. And if this idea gets given the notice it deserves then we can really teach them a lesson they’ll never forget.