Growing up, I knew that adventure education was about practical skills and recreational activities. It was a way to keep young people active and engaged. More recently, however, I have learned more about the history and philosophy of adventure education and so my idea of ​​the concept has changed dramatically as I have experienced and learned a lot since the days of my youth. I define adventure education with one word: integration. Integration includes both personal growth and moral development and an understanding of nature and the environment on a deeper level. I have chosen to define it in the context of what I believe are the most important aspects of adventure education. The reason to highlight these specific aspects regarding adventure education is for simple reasons such as common sense. However, in Western society common sense has gone the way of the dodo. In fact, the dodo is a perfect example to start with. The dodo was a bird that lived on the island of Mauritius before the Dutch hunted them all to extinction within 80 years of the bird's discovery. That's the story of human impact on the planet in one sentence. Without an understanding of the environment, our first inclination is to plunder all resources for personal gain, whether that gain is science, exploration, survival, or even entertainment. Some decisions we make and the resulting actions we might take have a higher moral value. compared to others. Rather than teaching a particular set of values, we would better serve our participants if we helped them understand the process of making reasonable moral decisions. . . We may not all agree on the philosophical orientation used to determine just and unjust acts, but we should agree that some system will probably be better than... middle of paper... moral standard. If we can maintain a relationship with nature, then perhaps we will shed our hardened egos that society has tempered, and perhaps then we will finally know love and compassion at our core. Works Cited Cole, D., Hampton, B. (2003) . Nols: Soft Paths (3rd ed.). Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole Books.Fox, R. (1999). Enhancing the spiritual experience in adventure programs. In J. C. Miles and S. Priest (eds.). Adventure programming. (pp. 455-462). State College, Pennsylvania: Venture Publishing, Inc. Garvey, D. (1999). Outdoor adventure planning and moral development. In J. C. Miles and S. Priest (eds.). Adventure programming. (pp.133-139). State College, Pennsylvania: Venture Publishing, Inc. Garvey, D. (2002). The future of adventure education. The external network.Unsoeld, W. (1974). Proceedings of AEE: Spiritual Values ​​in Wilderness. Estes Park, CO: Colorado Outward Bound School.