An article in the Boston Globe last week stated that a decline in hiking and backpacking, especially among the younger generations correlates to less money being donated to conservation groups like the Sierra Club and the Nature Conservancy. Pulled from a paper in the journal PLoS One, University of Illinois professor Oliver Pergams stated that people who engage in arduous outdoor sports tend to give more to conservation groups. Fishermen, on the other hand, gave very little to conservation causes. As quoted by the Globe, “Pergams said it was a wake-up call to environmental groups that their base is probably shrinking. He noted that the key to conservation awareness and support is to reach children early with programs that introduce them to vigorous outdoor recreation.” So do yourself and the natural world a favor by bagging a peak with your child.