The word is out! You can help our children re-engage with nature


The Lost Words... a thing of beauty (and learning!)

Few people would argue that, as a society, we are in danger of losing contact with our natural world.
A combination of work pressure and myriad leisure options means the joys of wildlife and environment are lost to many. Perhaps the saddest aspect of this is the growing disconnect between children and nature.
In a bid to counteract this, our friends at Essex Wildlife Trust are launching an appeal called Lost Words, which aims to place a book of that name in all the county’s schools – the book highlights once-common wildlife words that could be lost to our children for good.
‘Dandelion’, ‘newt’ and ‘acorn’ are hopefully familiar enough to most of us, but you might be surprised at quite how many youngsters do not know what they refer to or mean.
EWT says: “Lost Words was a reaction to changes made to the Oxford Junior Dictionary, where new words such as ‘broadband’ were introduced and many of those describing the natural world disappeared.
“Back in 2015 an open letter was sent, signed by prominent naturalists, writers, artists and defenders of the natural world, to try to reverse it and as a result Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris came together to write this book.
“They created a fascinating and informative look at the natural world that children can enjoy learning about. But only if we do something now to ensure this book is in all of our 800 schools in Essex, please help us to save the lost words of nature!”
We are encouraged to make a donation, with £20 buying one copy of The Lost Words for an Essex school. It really is a beautiful publication and, on seeing some of the illustrations on the EWT website, you might be tempted to buy a copy for you and yours… as well as making a donation as well, of course!
To learn more and make a donation, click here

Monday, April 8, 2019

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