REFLECTIONS
WISDOM BEGINS IN WONDER. PHOTO: WOODS WHEATCROFT
BORN TO BE WILD
WHY A GENERATION NEEDS TO GET BACK IN TOUCH WITH THE ORIGINAL PLAY STATION
A trick-or-treater showed up at my friends Paul and Kate’s house last Hal- loween. He didn’t arrive in costume. In fact, like all babies, he arrived buck-naked. Canyon Ross Kuthe, son of a paddling instructor and a river conservationist, was born with several in-utero paddling trips already un- der his belt. We’d been making the usual jokes: he’ll be rolling at one, surfing before the terrible twos, and running waterfalls by four. Every once in a while someone jokes that he’ll rebel and get really into video games. Paul glares at them. But Paul and Kate have it right. I had similar experiences. Schulman
family gatherings inevitably feature stories about camping trips I was too young to remember but clearly influenced my life path. Today’s kids spend less time in nature compared to past generations.
With an estimated seven hours per day spent on electronics, it’s not surprising—what kid has time to go outside? Canyon’s adventure-friendly childhood is quickly becoming a relic of the past—and it’s a problem. Modern medical research has piled up evidence that time spent in na-
ture is essential to happy brains and bodies. We’ve proven that nature sparks creativity—which Byron and Wordsworth already knew from their inspiration-seeking rambles through the Lake District. We’ve shown that people recover faster from illness surrounded by nature—which Edward Trudeau knew way back in 1885, when he started tuberculosis rehabilita- tion in the Adirondacks. And exercising outdoors leaves you happier than working out indoors—which maybe your mom already knew when she told you to go outside and play. Our connection with the natural world is likely hard-wired. Humans
evolved in small bands, slow, clawless and flightless amongst saber- toothed cats. Our brains, social cohesion and opposable thumbs were what got us by. Familiarity with the environment had an evolutionary ad- vantage. Everyone on Earth shares that wilderness-dwelling human heri- tage, even though most of us live very differently now. Today 80 percent of North Americans live in cities, and that number continues to grow. We raise kids as independent parents instead of in communal groups. We get more done on screens than with our oppos- able thumbs. This has enormous benefits for individuality, social and geographic mobility, career fulfillment, and the leisure to paddle for fun rather than a desperate need for seal meat. Yet, as we distance our- selves from the natural world we suffer—and so does the next generation. Grab a boat—any boat—and some kids, and get out on the water. Now, and often. Don’t worry about whether the kids ever learn an efficient for- ward stroke. First and foremost, kids need the opportunity to discover that being outside is awesome. A few years ago, three friends and I were camped on an island deep in
the British Columbia fjords. Two weeks of wilderness solitude was broken by an engine, which disgorged 12 kids on “our” beach and motored off. It was like Lord of the Flies. The unsupervised kids made tons of noise, built fires, swam from island to island in frigid water, chased each other through our camp, and kept us awake. At the time it pissed us off. But now I realize it may well have been the best possible thing in the world.
Neil Schulman celebrates kayaking’s diverse heritage in Reflections. 202 KAYAKING || Annual 2016
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166 |
Page 167 |
Page 168 |
Page 169 |
Page 170 |
Page 171 |
Page 172 |
Page 173 |
Page 174 |
Page 175 |
Page 176 |
Page 177 |
Page 178 |
Page 179 |
Page 180 |
Page 181 |
Page 182 |
Page 183 |
Page 184 |
Page 185 |
Page 186 |
Page 187 |
Page 188 |
Page 189 |
Page 190 |
Page 191 |
Page 192 |
Page 193 |
Page 194 |
Page 195 |
Page 196 |
Page 197 |
Page 198 |
Page 199 |
Page 200 |
Page 201 |
Page 202 |
Page 203 |
Page 204 |
Page 205 |
Page 206 |
Page 207 |
Page 208 |
Page 209 |
Page 210 |
Page 211 |
Page 212 |
Page 213 |
Page 214 |
Page 215 |
Page 216 |
Page 217 |
Page 218 |
Page 219 |
Page 220 |
Page 221 |
Page 222 |
Page 223 |
Page 224 |
Page 225 |
Page 226 |
Page 227 |
Page 228 |
Page 229 |
Page 230 |
Page 231 |
Page 232 |
Page 233 |
Page 234 |
Page 235 |
Page 236 |
Page 237 |
Page 238 |
Page 239 |
Page 240 |
Page 241 |
Page 242 |
Page 243 |
Page 244 |
Page 245 |
Page 246 |
Page 247 |
Page 248 |
Page 249 |
Page 250 |
Page 251 |
Page 252 |
Page 253 |
Page 254 |
Page 255 |
Page 256 |
Page 257 |
Page 258 |
Page 259 |
Page 260 |
Page 261 |
Page 262 |
Page 263 |
Page 264 |
Page 265 |
Page 266 |
Page 267 |
Page 268 |
Page 269 |
Page 270 |
Page 271 |
Page 272 |
Page 273 |
Page 274 |
Page 275 |
Page 276 |
Page 277 |
Page 278 |
Page 279 |
Page 280 |
Page 281 |
Page 282 |
Page 283 |
Page 284 |
Page 285 |
Page 286 |
Page 287 |
Page 288 |
Page 289 |
Page 290 |
Page 291 |
Page 292