As Colin Harris wraps up a 7,600-kilometre run later this month as part of his “Take Me Outside” initiative, students in Jasper and across the country will join him in spending some quality time in the vast Canadian outdoors, which he describes as “one of the most amazing backyards in the entire planet.”

Harris has been running more than 26 kilometres a day, on average, each and every day since he set out on his cross-country journey from St. John’s, Nfld. in January, and that’s counting the days he spends resting or visiting schools to speak with teachers and students.

“On my running days I’m running about a marathon (42 kilometres) a day,” he said. “And in the past two months I’ve probably been more averaging 50 kilometres a day.”

So far in his journey, Harris said he has visited 78 schools across the country to talk about the benefits of spending less time in front of television and computer screens and  more time in nature.

Last week, after logging more than 7,000 kilometres on foot, Harris finally made it to British Columbia and he now expects to arrive at his destination in Victoria on Oct. 25.

On that same day, Kim Wallace hopes to see young people in Jasper – and adults, too – take some time out of their day to spend outdoors in honour of Harris’ effort.

“I totally believe in the cause of getting kids outside and place-based learning,” said Wallace, a teacher at École Desrochers, who is currently on a leave of absence while she completes a Master of Arts in Environmental Education and Communication through Royal Roads University.

Harris was in the same program at Royal Roads, which is how he and Wallace met. After Harris graduated last year and decided to take on his running challenge to promote more outdoor activity for kids, Wallace decided she wanted to help.

She’s doing her part by helping to organize a series of outings for young people, as well as adults, in Jasper on Oct. 25, both on her own and through her connections with local educators in the school system. She hopes to encourage other Jasper teachers to take their students outside at some point during the day, even for a brief period of time. She said classrooms across the country will also be participating in support of Harris and his message – in what he’s dubbed “Take Me Outside Day” – and she hopes about 15,000 Canadian students will participate in total.

Wallace and another local educator, Paula Klassen, are organizing an outdoor activity for kids who are too young for school or otherwise out of class that day, as well as any adult Jasperites who want to take part. The pair plans to host a group hike to the “Fairy Tree” behind the Sawridge Inn in the afternoon. (Photos of the Fairy Tree can be seen below on this page, taken during a recent expedition by Jasper Elementary students and staff to the fabled location.)

Wallace said anyone interested in taking part in the hike to the Fairy Tree on Oct. 25 should meet at the trailhead just east of the Sawridge Inn at 1:30 p.m., and bring warm clothes and water. She hopes people will find a connection to the natural environment during the trip.

“I feel that we are a part of nature,” she said. “We are of the environment and we tend to separate ourselves and think that we’re in the environment.”

Harris hopes activities like this will help bring more attention to the imbalance that he believes is developing in many people’s lives, in particular young people, as they spend more and more time with computers, televisions, cellphones and other devices, and less and less time outdoors.

“The average teen is spending 53 hours a week in front of a screen of some sort, and that’s outside of school hours,” he said. “That’s one of the big-ticket items in terms of the rising rates of obesity and diabetes and overall poor health.”

And while his message has been primarily delivered through the school system, Harris wishes he could speak more directly to parents, as well, especially those who use television or computers as a babysitter. Many parents worry that outdoor activities can be dangerous for kids, he added, while overlooking the harm done by excessive amounts of sedentary time.

“We, as adults, aren’t setting good examples,” Harris said, noting the degree to which many people seem addicted to technology. He likened the modern fascination with computers, smartphones and the Internet to the obsession of a first love.

“You know when you have your first real crush and you fall for someone hard?” he said. “When you do that you suddenly forget about some of the more important things in life.”

Harris hopes the obsession will soon fade and people will remember that there is more to life than sitting in front of a screen. That said, however, he is careful to not characterize spending time with technology as necessarily bad while spending time in nature as the only good.

“It’s not to pit one against the other,” he said. “After a long day of running I really enjoy watching a movie or diving into a great TV show. It really is about finding that balance.”

For more on Harris, his run and his message, visit www.takemeoutside.ca