The Last Child In The Canyon
Reconnecting our children with nature
by Cynthia Jenson-Elliott
San Diegan Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder, is widely considered a visionary in the movement to connect children with nature. In his Audubon Award-winning book, Louv puts his finger on an alarming cultural trend, which he calls Nature Deficit Disorder. Children are losing their connection with nature at an alarming rate, with sad and serious consequences.
Louv says that childhood has changed from being a time of natural wonder, to being a time of electronic addiction. In the past two decades, the rates of childhood obesity, Attention-Deficit Disorder, and enrollment in organized sports have increased dramatically, while open-ended outdoor playtime has disappeared. Children have suffered from this loss, physically, mentally and spiritually.
Louv hopes to reconnect children with nature through the Children and Nature Network (www.cnaturenet.org), a loosely connected coalition of parents and educators around the country who encourage a return to natural play in the outdoors. They’re helping parents and communities see that outdoor play is a natural right, easy to achieve, and vitally important to our well being...
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Cynthia Jenson-Elliott is a freelance writer, parent and environmental educator in San Diego.