Addressing Estrangement from Nature with a Night Class in the Forest JACOB C. BRENNER 1 , JASON G. HAMILTON 1 , ANNE STORK 1 , JED JORDAN 1,2 AND TIM DRAKE 1 1 Department of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Ithaca College, Ithaca, New York, United States of America, 2 Primitive Pursuits, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County, Ithaca, New York, United States of America Email: jbrenner@ithaca.edu ABSTRACT Young people today spend relatively little time in natural environments, and this can lead to problems when they enter college degree programs in environmental studies or sciences. We designed a feld course to reconnect undergraduates with nature through focused exercises in wilderness survival. This course integrates multiple learning domains, with a primary focus on the afective. In this case study, we narrate the story of one exercise deployed in this course, a night class in the forest, which has proven valuable for helping our students develop an afective connec- tion with the natural surroundings. The success of the exercise hinges on careful choreography and the authenticity of the nighttime forest setting. Oral testimonies and written refections following a daytime return visit reveal profound impacts on students, both in their awareness of the environment around them and their sense of connection to it. This article concludes with several questions to help faculty and students critically consider their own teaching and learning in environmental studies, as well as the potential applicability of these exercises in other academic situations. KEY MESSAGE Afer reading our case study, faculty and students will be able to • refect more critically on the ways they teach and learn environmental studies • consider the application of immersive wilderness activities in their own academic situation INTRODUCTION Children and young adults currently spend much less time outdoors than they did a generation ago, despite system- atic efforts to increase their exposure to natural environ- ments (e.g. https://www.everykidinapark.gov/). The trend toward sedentary, remotely controlled, digitally mediated activity seems to be accelerating, with numerous well-documented negative outcomes including shortened attention span, obesity, and low academic and professional achievement [1]. The disappearance of hands-on activity in natural environments from the daily lives of young peo- ple and the associated feelings of estrangement have been recognized as pathologies by several scholars, using terms such as “nature deficit disorder” [2], “environmental amnesia” [3], and “shifting baseline syndrome” [4]. There is currently no definitive diagnosis of this estrangement from nature, but in our students we consistently observe the following symptoms: (a) unsubstantiated fear of the outdoors; (b) extremely risk-averse behavior toward the natural world; (c) unrealistic expectations of outdoor experiences (e.g. freedom from biting insects and other discomforts); (d) ignorance of the crucial links between nature and human wellbeing; and (e) a general subordina- tion of material reality to virtual reality. One of our chief concerns as teachers of environmental studies and science is to position undergraduates for careers as environmental professionals. Inspiring and preparing our stu- dents for environmental work is challenging enough given rapid and unprecedented environmental changes, social justice problems intrinsic to sustainable development, and a political backlash against environmentalism underway in the United States. In addition to these systemic issues, we find that most of our majors show signs of estrangement from nature at the ARTICLE CASE Case Studies in the Environment, 2017, pps. 1–9. electronic ISSN 2473-9510. © 2017 by the Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. Please direct all requests for permission to photocopy or reproduce article content through the University of California Press’s Reprints and Permissions web page, www.ucpress.edu/journals.php?p=reprints. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/cse.2017.000588 1