Kids of New Jersey: Go outside

New Jersey Seeks to End “Vitamin N” Deficiency  with

Ambitious Legislation

Jesse Baum

The New Jersey State Senate recently introduced a bill that would encourage children to spend more time engaging in outdoor recreation, according to Philly.com, a Philadelphia news source. The so called “ Children’s Outdoor Bill of Rights” would work to ensure that every child had access to camp outdoors, climb in trees, engage with local wildlife and otherwise experience nature.

The bill was created in response to studies that showed clear links between playing outside and children’s “mental, physical and social health” as well as an improvement in classroom performance and overall quality of life. The article also noted that Sally Jewell, the secretary of the interior, had spoken previously on the needs of acquainting future American workers and representatives to the environment around them, making sure that people that will one day run the country care about the natural world around them. In the past, Jewell has referenced a growing gap between today’s youth and the environment around them, and is working to expand the amount that the federal government spends on public park-land, and specifically making parks better for children and young adults.

Humorously, some have taken to calling the problem of the gap between today’s children and the environment a “vitamin N deficiency”- a nature deficiency. New Jersey’s new bill- in tandem with Sally Jewell’s federal initiative that would work to provide job training for “outdoor related work”, set aside land for more parks and teach about public parks within schools- both seek to correct this deficiency.

You can find the full article here, as well as the full NJ Outdoor Bill of Rights and more information on Secretary of the Interior Jewell’s initiative here