What Do Kids' Gifts Have to Do With Climate Change?
At first glance, not much.
After all, what does learning to sing, paint, build, garden, write, invent, explore, or work together have to do with the future of our planet?
Quite a lot, actually.
Back to Our Nature (BTON) begins with a simple observation: many of the challenges facing our world are connected to a growing disconnection within human beings themselves.
People can become disconnected from their gifts, their sense of purpose, their communities, nature, and even from the belief that their actions matter.
When enough people feel disconnected, the systems they create can become disconnected too. Communities struggle. Problems seem overwhelming. People begin to feel powerless. The future starts to look smaller than it really is.
BTON explores a different possibility.
What happens when children begin to discover who they are? What happens when they develop their talents, learn to communicate, work together, and contribute to something larger than themselves?
An acorn may look like an ordinary nut, yet hidden within it is the pattern of a magnificent oak tree.
Human beings are similar.
Within each child are interests, abilities, questions, dreams, and gifts that may take years—or even a lifetime—to fully unfold.
When children are encouraged to develop these gifts, something remarkable begins to happen.
They gain confidence.
They communicate more effectively.
They form friendships.
They contribute.
They learn to work together.
And they discover the power of synergy—the surprising phenomenon that occurs when people combine their talents and create solutions that none of them could have created alone.
Buckminster Fuller devoted much of his life to understanding synergy and the remarkable ways that people, ideas, and systems can work together as a whole.
In BTON, synergy is not merely a concept. It is something the young people experience firsthand through friendship, creativity, service, and adventure.
As they participate more fully in life, unexpected opportunities appear.
Helpful people show up. New ideas emerge. Problems that once seemed impossible begin to look solvable.
Some people call these moments coincidence. Others call them serendipity, synchronicity, grace, or simply good fortune.
Whatever we call them, they remind us that life is often more connected than it first appears.
The Climate Change Adventure Club is built on this understanding.
The children are not simply trying to "save the planet." They are learning how to become thoughtful, capable, caring human beings who can help create a future that works.
As they grow, adults begin learning from them. Communities discover new possibilities. Better ideas spread. Better systems emerge.
And little by little, the world begins to work better—for people, for communities, and for the Earth itself.
Some of the solutions our world needs already exist within people.
As Hugo, the teen from the future, explains, many of the answers we were searching for were already present in the talents, creativity, wisdom, and contributions of people who had not yet discovered their ability to make a difference.
BTON’s message to its audience might look something like this:
Discover your gifts.
Develop your gifts.
Share your gifts.
Work with others.
Pay attention to what life is showing you.
Notice the unexpected help and opportunities that appear.
Use your abilities in service of something larger than yourself.
And then the really important part:
The goal is not to become the biggest tree in the forest.
The goal is to become the tree you were meant to become–-and to help the forest thrive.
Watch the Preview
Watch this 12-minute preview to meet the characters, experience the music, and explore the ideas behind Back to Our Nature.
What is Liberty for?
On the occasion of America's 250th anniversary
Many people naturally reflect on the meaning of liberty. At Back to Our Nature, we find ourselves wondering what liberty is for.
Liberty is not the destination. Liberty is the doorway.
It is the doorway to discovering who we were born to be and to developing the gifts that are uniquely ours. Not simply to fit in, repeat the past, or do whatever we please, but to live with purpose, keep learning throughout our lives, and contribute something that only we can contribute.
For one person, that may mean raising a family. For another, inventing something new, teaching, farming, serving a community, creating beautiful things, or solving difficult problems. The point is not that everyone should choose the same path. The point is that each of us has the opportunity to discover—and faithfully live—our own.
When children, teens, and adults begin taking that journey seriously, something remarkable can happen. As they develop their talents and skills, continue learning, and connect with others who share their curiosity and purpose, new possibilities begin to emerge. Through cooperation and synergy, solutions can appear that no one person could have predicted. The future is no longer shaped only by arguments over who should solve our problems. It is also shaped by ordinary people discovering that they can make a meaningful difference together.
This is not a vision of utopia. It is a vision of participation. A healthy society grows when people become active participants in their own lives, their families, their communities, and the future they hope to create. There will always be challenges, but there will also be new ideas, stronger relationships, unexpected solutions, and the deep satisfaction that comes from contributing something worthwhile.
Perhaps that is one of the greatest purposes of liberty: not simply to protect what we have inherited, but to open the doorway for each generation to discover who they were born to be, become who they are capable of becoming, and help cultivate a future that works out—for themselves, for one another, and for generations yet to come.
It's the kind of future Amelia hopes for—and one that each of us can help create.
BTON is ready to come to life.
Back to Our Nature is no longer just an idea.
The pilot episode is nearing completion. The characters, artwork, music, scripts, and vision already exist. Dozens of episodes are outlined and three episodes are in draft form, along with an entire world of characters and adventures.
Your support will help us complete the pilot episode and begin production of future episodes.
More importantly, you'll be helping bring a unique educational and entertainment project into the world—one that encourages children to discover their gifts, work together, develop confidence, create synergy, yielding unexpected creative breakthroughs and solutions to both everyday and complex real-world problems–helping to create a future that works out.
Will you join us in creating that future?
