PROJECT WILD JAPAN, 1: Learn what we have in common 
with the people of Japan ... on Passport to Texas ... 
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PTT from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the SFWR Program

We share a common problem with Japan.

They, too, are seeing a decrease in the understanding of nature 
- and consequently - in the understanding of science. :07

Cappy Manly coordinates Project Wild for Texas Park and 
Wildlife ... it's a K-through-12 program that trains teachers 
how to incorporate the natural world into their curricula. 
Japan has had Project Wild for several years and sought 
Manly's expertise to enhancement their understanding.

I was quite honored to be invited by the Japanese government, 
their parks foundation, to come in and do a speech for some of 
their academics and some of their practitioners, but then do 
two days of workshops with a lot of their educators and staff 
people that deliver Project Wild programs in Japan. :20

Children in Japan, as in the US, are becoming estranged 
from nature.

For example ... the Ministry of Education did a presentation at 
the same symposium that I was asked to speak at. They had 
seen a decrease in the last ten years of the number of children 
who had climbed a tree higher than their head. Who had 
witnessed a sunrise or a sunset. Who had never gone fishing ... . 
:19

These are basic experiences that a generation ago were 
"a given" for the Japanese and for us. We'll have more 
with Cappy Manly tomorrow.

That's our show ... made possible by the Sport Fish and 
Wildlife Restoration Program ... helping to fund the 
operations and management of more than 50 wildlife 
management areas. 

For Texas Parks and Wildlife ... I'm Cecilia Nasti.