“Engaging with nature is a catalyst for curiosity, joy, caring, and learning.”
Wild About Outdoor Learning Society was registered as a non-profit in British Columbia on August 4th, 2022. It evolved into a provincial non-profit due to the success of the grassroots movement Wild About Vancouver. WAV began hosting the annual Tidal WAV Outdoor Festival in 2015. It garnered the support of educators, outdoor learning groups, and environmental organizations as well as hundreds of participants. This led us to expand our mandate to all of British Columbia with the goal to providing a structure for local communities throughout BC to come together to improve physical and mental health, learning and engagement in environmental activism.
The Tidal WAV event will be happening in Stanley Park again on May 27, 2023. We hope to attract our usual crowd, represent the diversity of our city in activities, events and participation, and provide training for how to host a Wild About Outdoor Festival in additional B.C. communities throughout the month of June. We will continue to develop a website and blog posts with ideas for how to participate and come together outdoors.
Ruby Best and David Cook have provided the first two blog posts sharing how they started groups to facilitate outdoor enjoyment, learning and appreciation in their communities. Ruby’s blog post, Photos, Friends and Nature as a Way of Life, outlines how she started a birding group that has morphed into a Nature Photography Group in the wetlands, parks, and forested areas in the Tri-Cities and the Fraser Valley. David’s blog, A Walk with a Biologist, details how he has shared out his background knowledge as a scientist with eager participants in the forest areas of North Vancouver.
Wild About Society is inviting people to share how they went about bringing together informal local groups interested in being out in nature for a variety of purposes. In the short term, the goal is to include the posts on the Wild About website and on our social media channels. Wild About’s wants to provide support for people wanting to create similar groups in communities, schools, or organizations throughout British Columbia. Long term, perhaps we will compile ideas into a book to continue our work in encouraging participation in outdoor activity and learning for physical and mental health, enjoyment, and environmental conservation in BC. We dream big????
If you are interested in sharing your ideas of how to start an outdoor learning group or activity, please follow the format below. Check out Ruby and David’s posts to see how they approached the task. All bloggers will be credited as guest contributors. Please send blog posts for review and direct questions to wildaboutsociety@gmail.com.
Wild About Wednesday posts are about focusing on all the ways to #getOUTdoors ad #getINvolved for your health, enjoyment, appreciation and commitment to preserving the environment.
