Would you know what I meant if I told you I were sun-drunk? Bear with me for a second; I think you know exactly what I mean. This intoxication comes not from the bottle but from hours and hours at The Lake soaking up the sun, pure and unapologetic. When you eventually retreat back indoors, you still feel the heat of the day in your skin, and you cannot help but wear an honest, smug expression behind your tired eyes.

To me, this is a significant part of what it means to be Minnesotan.

John O’Donohue, the late Irish philosopher and poet, believed that landscape is a defining feature of our inner life, as well as the outer physical world. In other words, our identities are to some extent formed by the tangible setting in which we live. This most certainly applies to Minnesotans as much as anyone else. Unfortunately, I fear that we are in danger of losing not only the health and beauty of the land, but also our connection to it.

Minnesota is the fastest growing state in the Midwest. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the population of Minnesota is expected to increase 17.9 percent by 2030. This growth has the potential to mean greater development, depletion and pollution of our land and resources.

According to Vote Yes Minnesota, the organization campaigning for The Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment that Minnesotans will see on their ballot this Nov. 4, one million acres of Minnesota forest, farmland and natural areas will be lost within the next 25 years; on top of this, 40 percent of the waters tested in Minnesota currently fail basic health standards, according to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. The proposed amendment to the Minnesota constitution would provide funding to protect and preserve our land, water and wildlife, as well as our cultural heritage.

Protecting the health of Minnesota’s natural resources is important, but the greater challenge Minnesota faces is ensuring that the younger generations are given the chance to identify with the Minnesota landscape. The average child spends six hours a day in front of the TV and computer and only four minutes in unstructured outdoor play, according to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

This habit is contributing to what Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods, coined “nature deficit disorder.” Louv argues in his book that nature deficit disorder is at least partially to blame for recent childhood trends such as obesity, attention disorders and depression.

In order to combat this trend, lawmakers have introduced a No Child Left Inside Bill to the U.S. House and Senate; the bill passed the House on Sept. 19. A ratified No Child Left Inside Act would authorize funding to states for environmental education, which at its core is about the relationship between humans and natural systems.

In his interview with Christa Tippet on NPR’s Speaking of Faith, O’Donohue said, “I think it makes a huge difference when you wake up in the morning and come out of your house, whether you believe you are coming into a dead geographic location that is used to reach your destination, or whether you are emerging out into a landscape that is just as much if not more alive as you, but in a totally different form.” This attitude toward the landscape, however, can only exist when people understand their relationship to it.

What would happen to Minnesotan culture if we ceased to relate to the landscape that surrounds us? If we no longer had this part of our identities in common, would we grow disconnected from each other as well?

What does it mean to be a Minnesotan when you take away the woods, the prairie and-above all-The Lake?