If you are from the south, or if you know someone who is a dedicated gardener, you have probably heard the phrase “passalong plants”.

This phrase describes the point in most gardeners’ lives when their hobby quietly changes from a pastime to a passion. When that happens, they want to share their joy. They give flowers to friends. They share homegrown produce and herbs with neighbors. They even begin collecting seeds and rooting their cuttings so they can encourage new gardeners. They’ve discovered the deep wonder of working the earth and they want to share it. And from the process, multitudes of new gardeners have been encouraged to get outside and to enjoy the pleasures of the earth.

Steve Bender and Felder Rushing explain this gardening custom is their book, Passalong Plants (© 2002, University of North Carolina Press). "The experience of husbanding a flower through sowing, germination, growth, and blossoming is so spiritually rewarding that it engenders a sort of botanical evangelism in its participants," Bender and Rushing explain. "It simply reflects the belief that people don't own the wonders of nature, they just take care of them for awhile. What brings joy to one should bring joy to all."

These words seem to exemplify the fact that gardeners don’t just passalong their plants. They passalong their passion. And as nature lovers, we should all take heed of those words. What brings joy to us can bring joy to others. We just need to quit being shy about passing along our passion.

As naturalists, scientists, nature writers and photographers, we already understand the wonders of wildlife and the excitement of the environment, but there are many people out there who do not. And although we may be tempted to try to persuade them with lectures about environmental responsibility and the extinction of species, we will probably make a much bigger impact if we share our passion.

We need to become PR people for the planet and evangelists for the earth. We need to get others to feel what we feel and to see what we see. We don’t need to explain the details of the whys and the hows of the natural world as much as we need to share the wonders.

Amateur nature photographers capture incredible images of miraculous events that are occurring all around them but their photos sit unshared on their computers. Writers pen inspirational thoughts about the joys and miracles of their experiences in nature and then hide their journals away in desk drawers. Scientists and naturalists make new discoveries every day that they share with their colleagues but keep quiet about when in the company of family and friends.

But now is not the time to be shy. The environment is suffering and we hold the key to its survival. The key is our passion.

Pope Benedict XVI's Message for World Peace Day encouraged humankind to "renew and strengthen their covenant between human beings and the environment." The United Nations declared 2010 the International Year of Biodiversity. But environmental advocates such as Ahmed Djoghlaf, executive secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), feel that we will make little progress unless we can get people outside to experience nature.

“Human beings are becoming increasingly cut off from nature,” Djorghlaf said. “Without contact [with nature], people are not aware that their patterns of consumption lead to habitat loss, pollution and other drivers of biodiversity loss.”

And that’s where we come in. All of us feel a spark of

In 2005, author Richard Louv wrote a book entitled, Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder. The book was so popular that it was updated, expanded and reprinted in 2008.

Louv’s book sheds light on a situation that won’t come as a surprise to most parents: Modern society has created a drastic disconnect between young people and nature.

Its obvious why this disconnect has occurred. Today's kids have too much homework, too many after school activities and too many electronic playthings keeping them inside. Too much negative news has instilled sometimes-unrealistic fears in both parents and children: fear of traffic, fear of crime, fear of strangers and even of nature itself. And rapid development is quickly eating up many of the parks and other really fun places to play.

For whatever reason, kids just aren’t playing outside much anymore — not even in their own backyards.

Louv’s title would lead you to believe that this is causing a health problem for modern children. And he does, in fact, touch on many of the “mental, physical and spiritual health” aspects that this deficit creates including loneliness, depression, high rates of obesity, and the onset of one-time adult conditions such as diabetes and a shortened life expectancy. On the other hand, he states, research shows that exposure to nature helps reduce the symptoms of hyperactivity and attention deficit disorder, while improving memory, concentration and grades.

But perhaps the most important aspect of this “nature deficit” is the one that should have made it to the cover of the book. Correcting the problem isn’t just necessary for the health of our children. It is necessary for the health of the entire planet.

If kids don't go outside, how are they going to learn to respect the planet? Ten or fifteen years from now, those kids are going to be making the decisions about parks and public gardens and university horticulture programs. They are going to be creating the land clearing ordinances and voting on whether to fund endangered land programs. And most of them will think of trees as nothing more than messy things that drop leaves all over their front yards and insects as things that bug them.

The truth is that adults as well as children seem to be experiencing a rapid disconnect from nature, and for many of the same reasons. We have become enslaved by our electronics, fearful of crime, strangers and unknown creatures that lurk in the woods. And we are just too busy to find any free time between dusk and dawn.
As kids, we would fidget through school, eager to be outside to climb trees, fish, and just explore the bugs and birds and other beasties that we found as we scouted through our own backyards. We squeezed every moment from our outdoor adventures, reluctantly tearing ourselves away when called in at night as the owls began to call and the fireflies began to dance across the sky.

But many adults have lost that sense of wonder they once felt for the environment. The songs of the birds and the fluttering butterflies go virtually unnoticed. And our children, our spirits and our planet are all paying the price.

It’s a wonderful cause to want to help save the planet. But it isn’t a planet of asphalt and steel and huge skyscrapers we are trying to protect. It’s the little things. The miniscule miracles. The things we sometimes forget to even notice.

So go outside! Get eye to ey