Executive Chairman, Gogo
Search every verified Oakleigh Thorne interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. In a December 2020 episode of Nick Forster's "Teach Me One Thing," Oakleigh Thorne, then 91 and a half, discussed his lifelong commitment to nature education. Thorne described founding the Thorne Ecological Institute, later renamed Thorne Nature Experience, which focuses on children's environmental education. He noted the organization operates a nature preschool for children as young as two and summer camps for older age groups, with bird banding activities for those twelve and over. Thorne emphasized the importance of children playing in nature and learning to identify birds by song, recalling that Frank Trevor at Millbrook School taught students to learn bird songs and associate them with the birds. He recommended resources from the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology and suggested that people can enhance their nature experience by standing still with closed eyes to notice sounds they might otherwise miss.
“I'm 91 and a half.”
“I learned a lot about the physics of water — I loved building dams in the rain and seeing how water would flow.”
“When a child is allowed to go out and play in nature it's very important.”
“Thorne Ecological — we changed the name to Thorne Nature Experience about 10 years ago; we're doing entirely with children's environmental education now.”
“That's why bird banding is so great, because they're handling wild birds. We use mist nets and we particularly band a lot of cliff swallows — you can drop the net down and catch 20 or 30 at a time.”
“They get very good at it — within a week they're professionals.”
“We have a nature preschool — kids will come with a parent, and when they're three or four they can be in the preschool; in the summer camp the youngest is five or six.”
“Frank Trevor was really good at that at Millbrook School — he would have us learn the song and the bird; the music of the bird song was imprinted on you early.”
“The Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology put out some great things; there are several apps you can get for bird songs — you can describe the bird and it'll show you the possibilities.”
“Have them stand and close their eyes for a minute — it's amazing how quickly your ears start picking up sounds that you hadn't noticed before.”
Through laid-back, at-home virtual video calls, longtime host of the syndicated radio show and podcast, eTown, and Hot Rize ...
Sign in to search the full transcript archive, filter by topic, and access every quote from Oakleigh Thorne.
The summary and quote tags on this profile are produced with AI assistance from verified, first-person interview transcripts, then checked by our team to confirm the speaker's identity and the accuracy of every quote. See how we verify →