Wondering why your uber-environmentally aware kids don’t like to play in dirty. Read Look, Don’t Touch: The problem with environmental education, by David Sobel in Orion Magazine.

“FOR SPECIAL PLACES TO WORK their magic on kids,” wrote lepidopterist Robert Michael Pyle, “they need to be able to do some clamber and damage. They need to be free to climb trees, muck about, catch things, and get wet—above all, to leave the trail.”

…and then take your kids to some wild, wild spot where they can climb, run, catch things, get wet and dirty… and fall in love with our planet.

via my lovely friend Brooke and her awesome “leave the trail” family.

Photo: A trail at Jacobsburg Environmental Education Center (Photo credit: Wikipedia)