American children are losing touch with nature, and television, the internet and videogames are to blame, or so says The Oregon Tourism Commission, anyway.
The Tourism Commission, also known as Travel Oregon, was responding to new information from the Travel Industry Association which revealed that 73 percent of children under the age of 18 and who travel regularly had never visited the Pacific Ocean.
"We believe it's time to unplug and interact with the natural wonders of our world, like the Pacific Ocean," said Travel Oregon's Todd Davidson.
In an effort to get children to reconnect with nature, Travel Oregon launched explOREGON (Oh, how clever!), an initiative including a contest offering kids the chance to explore the Pacific Ocean, or at least the part of it that bumps up against the Oregon coastline.
You can find out all about the contest at Travel Oregon's website for kids, just try not to hit your head on the irony.
I'm all for getting kids out of the house and into a natural setting, but to say kids haven't seen the Pacific Ocean because they're holed up playing World of Warcraft is pretty stupid. Videogames didn't prevent me from visiting the Pacific Ocean until I was in my twenties, the fact that it's rather inconveniently placed on the other side of the country did.
Photo: Mary Witzig/Flickr
73 Percent of Kids Have Never Dipped Their Toes in the Pacific [Sun Herald]
