How to rewild your teenagers: a parents’ guide to reconnecting them with nature

From sniffing dandelions to prodding frogspawn and chasing butterflies, young children are often automatically and unashamedly drawn to nature. Then a chasm opens. During adolescence, many declare wildlife boring, “icky” or uncool, while the allure of social networks and fast fashion intensifies, alongside mounting pressures to conform to the norms of increasingly nature-blind communities.

In an era of climate breakdown and ecological collapse, the teenage slump in connection to wild nature is not just unfortunate, it is deeply perilous. Right now, we need to be nurturing fierce, clued-up generations of young adults, equipped and empowered to fight tooth and claw for the biosphere that supports all our lives. The rewilding movement, with its proactive, hope-infused ethos, offers inspiration and practical solutions to reconnect teenagers with nature and inspire them to demand a wilder, healthier future.

Roots of the teenage nature gap

that biology – the subject that should, by definition, be most full of life – is increasingly dry, abstract and fact-driven.

to bolster adolescents’ physical and mental wellbeing.

In short, it is time to counter what Haidt calls “the great rewiring of childhood” with “the great rewilding of youth”. Here are four ways we can do it and, in turn, safeguard our planet’s irreplaceable wild ecosystems for the benefit of many future generations to come.

1 Use technology to forge new nature connections

is a powerful way to recognise and learn bird calls. Used carefully, these tools can expand our senses and help young people broker new links with the wild.

offers a range of inventively conceived “immersive wildlife experiences” to pique teen interest. These include dawn chorus silent discos that use headsets and directional microphones to connect audiences with nature’s symphonies.

and social accounts to share her palpable delight in birding, but also to advocate for equal access to nature and greater ethnic diversity in environmental fields.

2 Embrace the disorderly wild

While the prefix “re” may seem to imply a return, rewilding does not – and cannot – look back to recreate idealised past landscapes. Instead, it is forward-looking, exploratory and ultimately aimed at creating resilient, self-willed ecosystems fit for an unknown future. Much the same goes for human adolescence, a time when young people experiment, challenge the status quo and forge their distinctive adult identities. Teenagehood and rewilding should, therefore, be a natural fit.

Richardson believes we need a “paradigm shift” in our attitudes to nature. “The decline of biodiversity in the last 50 or 100 years has been overseen by people who had great freedom to explore the natural world, who might think they had a closer relationship,” he says, “But it has still declined.” The door is firmly open, therefore, for young people to broker new and distinctive relationships with nature.

And though the task of rewilding the world may seem incomprehensibly vast, young people should not doubt their capacity to make a contribution. Encouraging activities such as guerrilla seed bombing, night-time torch-free walks or unsupervised exploration of biodiverse spaces can, for instance, kindle the sense of agency needed to enable further action and activism.

), says the group exists to “empower young people to feel like they have a voice, they have something to give to the environmental movement, no matter who they are, no matter what their background is.” Zoology student Ramandeep Nijjar, 19, a UKY4N member, says: “We all uplift, inspire and motivate one another, so we bring positive change for nature together.” Fellow UKY4N member, artist Kirsty Lloyd, 24, agrees: “UKY4N made me realise that it is OK to be captivated by wildlife, in fact it’s a wonderful thing. Yes, everyone has different backgrounds and interests, but we all fall under the tree of wanting to make sure we have nature left in this country.” “Now I am radically hopeful,” adds Holly Gray, 23.

3 Know the wild can heal

, can salve anxiety and bolster mental health in general.

Related: ‘Terrified for my future’: climate crisis takes heavy toll on young people’s mental health

, an organisation providing ecological education, environmental advocacy and wilderness therapy, focused on helping at-risk teens. “A lot of youngsters come to us completely cynical, jaundiced or traumatised,” Roberts says, “but we just need to turn the dial slightly and they’re off … noticing and talking about sounds and beauty and flowers and trees.”

Roberts recalls one especially wet and wild November trip to the Scottish island of Mull. Gathered under the stars, singing and dancing around the campfire, one youth told her “This is better than drugs!”

shows we can shift the focus of attention away from the self, reminding us that we’re part of a greater whole, leading to enhanced generosity, compassion and environmental awareness.

4 Remind young people of their revolutionary potential

On the inaugural Earth Day in 1970, 20 million Americans, mainly students and young people, took to the streets to fight nature’s corner. The protests worked, eventually triggering the formation of the US Environmental Protection Agency and several other significant pieces of pro-environment legislation.

More than half a century on, the need for concerted, organised environmental action has only become more critical. But just as biodiversity lends an ecosystem its power and resilience, today’s youth activists are keenly aware that it will take a diversity of campaigning approaches to meaningfully shift the needle on nature protection and rewilding.

. Bray salutes the righteous anger Greta Thunberg has injected into climate politics in recent years, “but that’s not my role”, she says.

network, designed to provide teenage activists with the resources, community and inspiration needed for effective grassroots campaigning. The network’s name is a reference to the power of exponential growth. “If one person spreads a message to 10 people on one day and the next day those 10 people tell 10 others and so on, it would only take 10 days for the whole world to be inspired,” says Bray.

Just as social movements can spur accelerating change through collective action, rewilding initiatives have compounding positive effects on ecosystems, for the good of wildlife, climate and people. Young people the world over have a key role to play in shifting hearts and minds in order to make mass adoption of rewilding possible.

, the latest title in the award-winning Explodapedia non-fiction series, introducing older children and teenagers to the biggest ideas in science.