50 things to do before the age of 11 to get closer to Nature

The new generations are losing contact with nature. This phenomenon is known as "Nature Deficit", that is, the separation from natural elements which scholars now recognize as a "disease of our time" for the new generations.

Research by the National Trust conducted in the United Kingdom has shown, for example, how, especially among the new generations, physical detachment from experiences in nature is also reflected in current language. In the United Kingdom in 25 years some words in common use including web, cloud, tweet, stream have gradually taken on a meaning very far from that originally linked to nature: these terms are now associated almost exclusively with the digital world. In current language, just 1% of those interviewed associate the word 'twitter-tweet' with that of bird calls, only 7% connect the word 'web-net' to the web woven by spiders while 'cloud' in 30 years has lost its original meaning in at least three-quarters of those who use it. Even the term 'stream', if in the 1990s practically always referred to the river environment, today it does so for only 36% of people. Meanings therefore in danger of extinction which highlight how influential the replacement of the natural world with the artificial one is in daily life.

To guarantee children contact with nature, the WWF launches the "Nature Classroom Project" and provides a list of "50 things to do before the age of 11" to ensure that experience can be the determining factor in nurturing younger generations the interest and desire to protect nature.