Progress does not have to be patented to be worthwhile. Progress can also be measured by our interactions with nature and its preservation. Can we teach children to look at a flower and see all the things it represents: beauty, the health of an ecosystem, and the potential for healing?

Being close to nature, in general, helps boost a child's attention span.

If war occurs, that positive adult contact in every shape is needed more than ever. It will be a matter of emotional life and death. There's not a handy one-minute way of talking to your kid about war.

Here is the beginning of understanding: most parents are doing their best, and most children are doing their best, and they're doing pretty well, all things considered.

Nature does not steal time, it amplifies it.

The future will belong to the nature-smart...Th e more high-tech we become, the more nature we need.

The times I spent with my children in nature are among my most meaningful memories-and I hope theirs.