My Sunday column argues that young people suffer from “nature deficit disorder,” and that environmentalism needs to be focused not only on preserving nature but also on getting people into it. If we’re divorced from nature, then there’s simply no constituency for it.

I also profoundly believe that a dose of nature is the best way to gain some perspective. You can think you’re God’s gift to the world, but you’ll still end up getting blisters on a hike if you’re not careful, or falling out of your raft in the rapids. Nature is very good at bringing us back to Earth.

So this is my summer appeal to get your kids outdoors — hiking, birdwatching, white water rafting, bouldering, whatever. Traditionally, many Americans hunted and fished, but as we become more urbanized those habits are fading as well. These outdoor skills and avocations were part of our culture, handed down from generation to generation, but that has all been ruptured in just the last half-century. Kids these days know all about Facebook, but nothing about how to lick a banana slug.

I’m hoping that there are some readers here who want to get their families out and would like advice. They want to camp, bird, raft, fish or backpack, but they don’t know how. My own advice: ultralight backpacking beats all, and www.backpacker.com is a good site to get some basic info. What about you — what advice do you offer, both on what to do and on how to find out how to do it?