The ChariTree Foundation Calls for More Outdoor Learning Opportunities for Children in the Age of AI
Nature is a powerful antidote to an increasingly digital world.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 10, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Artificial intelligence is transforming how children learn, communicate, and experience the world. While these technologies offer extraordinary opportunities, they also introduce new risks, including algorithmic addiction, excessive screen time, privacy concerns, and growing impacts on children's mental health and wellbeing.
The ChariTree Foundation believes protecting children in the digital age requires more than creating safer technology. It requires a broader, child-centered approach that combines children's rights online with opportunities to connect, learn, and thrive in the natural world.
Environmental education and access to nature are powerful tools for building resilience, supporting healthy development, and fostering wellbeing. Time outdoors nurtures curiosity, creativity, physical activity, and meaningful social connections while helping children develop a deeper understanding of the world around them.
"Protecting children in the digital age requires more than safer technology. It means creating opportunities for children to thrive beyond screens. Environmental education and access to nature help build the resilience, wellbeing, and leadership skills children need to navigate an AI-powered future. In an increasingly digital world, nature may be one of the most effective antidotes to the challenges children face online."
— Andrea Koehle Jones, Advocate for Children's Rights in the Digital Age, Environmental Education and AI Safety
Nature Offers a Powerful Antidote
As children's lives become increasingly shaped by screens and AI, nature offers a powerful counterbalance. Protecting children means ensuring that innovation is designed with children's rights, safety, and wellbeing at its core while also providing opportunities to experience the benefits of nature.
The future of child wellbeing depends on both responsible technology and meaningful connections to the natural world. By combining digital protection with environmental education, we can help children thrive online and offline while preparing the next generation of environmental leaders.
About The ChariTree Foundation
The ChariTree Foundation is a Canadian non-profit organization and United Nations Climate Observer Organization dedicated to connecting children with nature through environmental education. Founded on Earth Day in 2006 and based in Greater Vancouver, British Columbia, the Foundation inspires children to get outdoors, plant trees, explore biodiversity, and develop the knowledge, skills, and confidence to become environmental leaders in a rapidly changing world.
About Andrea Koehle Jones
Andrea Koehle Jones is an award-winning British Columbia-based environmental education advocate, children's book author, founder of The ChariTree Foundation, and advisor to the UNICEF Leading Minds Fellowship on Climate Education. Passionate about empowering the next generation of environmental leaders, she advances inclusive climate and biodiversity education while promoting children's wellbeing, resilience, and healthy relationships with technology. Her latest children's book, Don't Let Ned Plant a Tree THERE!, inspires young readers to explore nature and learn about environmental stewardship through storytelling.
Media Contact
Andrea Koehle Jones
Founder, The ChariTree Foundation
info@charitree-foundation.org
www.charitree-foundation.org
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