Nature Literacy

As a whole, or average, the generation into which I have been born is absolutely losing its touch with nature. I consider myself a contrasting exception to this trend, however I am quite the minority. Through my observations of students personal interests and activities, I have concluded that ideas of what is considered "fun" are partly reflective of the environment. As my scope is limited to the Temple University populace, my deductions may be skewed relative to that of a more rural college. However, the population density of an urban campus far exceeds that of a rural campus, and therefore, the average trend may be preserved in my observations*. Most temple students do not in any way experience nature during their stay, and since their free time is limited to a certain radius within campus, their exposure to nature is also limited. The most nature is discussed, viewed, or pondered is under the flourescent hum of a dim lamp in one of the Universities lecture halls. As time goes on, the focus of a students knowledge is primarily within their major, and unless that major relates to nature, few students will have even a second thought about it. Although some students will show an increasing interest in nature, their in-depth interest in nature cannot make up for their numerical minority among the student population, therefore leading their valuable insight down the path of the dodo.

*(For example, as listed by www.collegeboard.com, Kutztown university is a rural campus with a population of about 10,000, where Temple University, an Urban school, has a population of about 27,000.)