Adam Bienenstock
→ Founder and president, Bienenstock Natural Playgrounds
→ Member of the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Commission on Education and Communication and past director of the Child and Nature Alliance
→ Advocate for inclusion, belonging and safety for everyone in outdoor spaces
WHAT THE NOMINATORS SAID
Adam Bienenstock is a fierce advocate of all children’s right to nature play. For more than two decades, his company has created natural parks and playgrounds as well as outdoor classrooms. His professional and personal life is dedicated to connecting children to nature.
Adam is uniquely able to highlight the connections between soil and gut health, environmentally sound and regenerative landscapes, accessibility, equity, and the psychological and developmental benefits of time in nature. The logs, rocks and plants featured in natural playgrounds provide more sensory experiences, unlike playgrounds made of artificial materials.
Adam has worked on projects in every province in Canada and across the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia, designing and building 3,500 parks and playgrounds around the world. As the business has grown, he has expanded his efforts to raise awareness of the importance of nature to health, environmental sustainability and child development.
IN HIS OWN WORDS
Canoeing the rivers and lakes of northern Ontario very young, by 14 I was transfixed by the complexity of the landscape. Growing up in a UNESCO biosphere reserve, I was already very aware of how important this connection to nature was to me, how I used it to remain calm and centred in the midst of my chaotic academic family.
Growing up, our house was filled with mad scientists and brilliant researchers who took me under their wings and encouraged me to make connections.
These mentors, my father among them, launched my career. Dr. Fraser Mustard, co-author of 1999’s seminal The Early Years Study—Reversing the Real Brain Drain, taught me about the importance of sensory connection for optimal child development and the key markers for cognitive and physical health. Dr. Jack Gauldie, an Olympic swimmer for both Canada and England and now a famous immunologist, taught me how to hold my breath for minutes, not seconds, by slowing my heart rate and altering my perception of time while lying on the bottom of the lake. My father, Dr. John Bienenstock (the father of mucosal immunology) taught me that my senses were a vector for macro- and microbiota that could change my mood and my perspective.
Stan Hodgkiss Outdoorsperson of the Year Award
Since 1975, this award has been presented to a Canadian who has demonstrated an active and enduring commitment to conservation. It is named in honour of CWF’s founding president, Stan Hodgkiss.