Nature for the Generations


When I was a kid, my dad took me out scalloping one summer in the Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of northwest Florida. It was just he and I, and we had a ball hunting, Easter egg style, for the turquoise-eyed bivalves amid the muck and seaweed. I've always been cautious--perhaps unreasonably so--of "big things" (read: sharks) lurking in the watery depths, and so I kept a watchful eye for anything that could conceivably ingest me as I bobbed along.

At one point during our search, a seemingly benign patch of mud suddenly lifted off the ground like a levitating placemat; my fright nearly ejected me from the water, and I landed on my dad's back where I hovered like a baby whale.

I eventually regained my composure, realizing the phantom was probably just a stingray. My dad and I carried on without further interruption and reaped a fruitful harvest. It was a day I'll never forget.

It's hard not to enjoy the great outdoors, but sharing it with someone older--like a father who doubles as a shield when nature gets fierce--is particularly enlivening. For more proof, take a look at the annual "Sense of Wonder" contest entries. An intergenerational photo, essay, and poetry competition hosted by the EPA's Aging Initiative, Generations United, and the Rachel Carson Council, Inc., the contest just goes to show how fascination with wilderness transcends age and brings people closer together. Go online now and vote for your favorite entry. Also, keep an eye out for the results of Audubon's first-ever photo contest, which accepted both adult and youth submissions.

And speaking of intergenerational nature buffs, check out Audubon's "Birds of a Feather," by Jennifer Weeks, about a grandmother-grandson birding team, as well as "Pedaling for the Planet," by Jane Braxton Little, which tracks a teenager as he and his parents bike across the U.S. in search of new additions to his life list.