Louv is Blogging

Rich Louv has a new blog called Field Notes From the Future. Read it here.

Louv

Leave No Child INSIDE Central Ohio Collaborative posts a new article by Rich Louv.

Got dirt? “In South Carolina, a truckload of dirt is the same price as a video game!” reports Norman McGee, a father in that state who bought a small pickup-load of dirt for his daughter and friends.

Check it out.

Preaching to the Choir?

New book review from the AAI Climbing Blog. Is Last Child in the Woods simply preaching to the choir?

Ultimately, Last Child in the Woods is not all gloom and doom. Louv passionately argues that a return to the “way it was when we were kids” when parents just let their kids run around the neighborhood to climb trees and dig holes and ride bikes and play will at least partially heal a number of these social ills. He argues that it’s time for our culture to reacquaint our children with the outdoors. There is no doubt that those who read this book will be convinced. The only problem with his argument is that he is likely to be making it to the very people who already encourage their children to spend time outside.

Friday News Story

This one from the Denver Post.

Cameron Renteria, 9, is buzzing with excitement over a patch of sandy earth. It's shaded by a twisting juniper and ringed by rocks. It has just enough room for him and two friends to cram onto, unpack their peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches, and chatter with bravado about what they'll do if they encounter mountain lions and rattlesnakes.

New Edition

The Olympian has a brief on the new edition of Last Child in the Woods.

1. Yoo-hoo, butterflies: Bring a swarm of butterflies to your yard by planting lantana, black-eyed Susans or purple cornflowers. Migrating species need flowering plants even through November.

Be sure to check out the review on digital photography in the outdoors at that link too.

Enough Already

There's a new blog in the county I live in called Greener Loudoun. They have a section on Children and Nature issues, and include a post that Rich Louv will be in Reston Virginia next week.
I had to laugh as the first comment on the post is the ever-appearing Michael Vendeman essay that responds to Rich's book.

Enough already.

I have posted on Mike Vandeman and his arguments in the past. I do not know him, and have never met him. I'm not going to get into the merits or weaknesses of his essay, but will instead say if he continues to spray them all over the internet, as comments to others' posts on or about Rich Louv, it only cheapens his arguments and really seems no different than spam. A quick Google of "Mike Vandeman" and Louv to see how widespread this is.

You made you point, now chill.

More Media

Here's an interview with Rich Louv published the other day in US News and World Report. Make sure to participate in the survey at the end of the story (it was 93% for getting children outside last time I looked).

In the oft-quoted "Birches," Robert Frost muses about a boy who lives too far from town to learn baseball so instead spends time in the woods swinging in the trees. "He always kept his poise / to the top branches, climbing carefully / with the same pains you use to fill a cup / up to the brim, and even above the brim," Frost writes. "Then he flung outward, feet first, with a swish, / kicking his way down through the air to the ground." This sort of unstructured, imaginative play is increasingly lacking in an indoor, scheduled world—to children's great detriment, argues Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods, a book that explores research linking the absence of nature in children's lives to rising rates of obesity, attention disorders, and depression.

Audubon Medal

I had previously mentioned Rich Louv being the next recipient of the Audubon Medal for his work with Children and Nature. Here's a formal press release on the honor.

"Louv's success in building public awareness and action to address "Nature Deficit Disorder" represents a vital contribution to both the future of our environment and the health of our children," said Audubon President John Flicker. "It will fall on the shoulders of our next generation to address the huge environmental problems of today and the new challenges that lie ahead so it is critical that we narrow the divide between young people and the natural world."

Friday Shorts

Congrats
Go to Rich Louv for winning the Audubon Medal.

A San Diego colleague of Rich's writes about it.

Wired Culture
These have apparently been around for a year now, but I just heard of them. Ipod vending machines in airports. One report I read told of how Ipods had become "tranquilizers" for a crazy world, especially at a chaotic airport. I love music, but ugghh, I'll take a sunset and some crisp fall breezes any day over tunes at the airport. But this where this culture is...

Nordic Fun
I grew up cross country skiing and learned to really appreciate nordic areas. they would groom trails and have neat trail networks to make the whole day an adventure. Cheap too, the costs are far less than downhill areas. Viking Nordic Ski Center in Vermont was one place we would go to. Check it out. They have done much to make nordic skiing appealing to kids, which is a tough nut to crack when big downhill areas are nearby. They have gotten a couple of feet of snow up that way the past few weeks.

TPL Interviews Rich Louv

The trust For Public Lands Fall 2007 Magazine includes an interview with Rich Louv:

And no matter how good a job they are doing now, conservationists and environmentalists need to do more. They need to realize that the future of the environmental movement—indeed of the planet itself—may depend on this work. Studies show that people who care deeply about the future of the environment almost always enjoyed transcendent experiences in nature when they were children. If nature experiences for children continue to fade, where will future stewards of the earth come from?

Rich's interview was posted here.

Changing Experiences of Childhood

World Changing has an interesting essay up on changes in childhood experiences.

One of the most effective responses, according to research in the field of significant life experiences is to nurture connections with the earth. Spend time in nature with your little ones. Send your kids outside to play with someone who loves the woods or is happy to overturn rocks in the vacant lot in search of bugs. Create space and time for childhood adventures and share the wonder of their discoveries. "Healing the broken bond between our young and nature is in our self-interest, not only because aesthetics or justice demand it, but also because our mental, physical, and spiritual health depend upon it," writes Richard Louv, best-selling author of Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder. In a world filled with well-intentioned parents driving their kids from Little League to piano to gymnastics, such moments of unallocated time may be difficult to find. Yet they are precious.

Read it here.

"Richard Louv gives parents and educators a sense of hope," Vander Velden said. "All is not lost. There are studies to indicate that these childhood conditions can be improved by providing children with opportunities to be outdoors and up close with nature."

More here.

Latest Book Review

I am not one to review books but the “Last Child in the Woods – Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder” by Richard Louv just seemed too perfect of a book for me not to recommend to the many home schoolers, educators and parents that visit this blog. Louv goes into great depth about how our children are increasingly disconnected from nature and why it is important to have our children around nature.

Read it here.

USA Weekend

USA Weekend--getting kids outdoors and in touch with nature improves their health.

Different Viewpoint on Louv

This essay by Michael Vandeman has been floating around the blogosphere. It gives a counterpoint to some of what Rich Louv says about Nature Deficit and future support of the natural world.

But what strikes me most about this book is how Louv is able, in spite of 310 pages of text, to completely ignore the two most obvious problems with his thesis: (1) We want and need to have contact with other species, but neither we nor Louv bother to ask whether they want to have contact with us! In fact, most species of wildlife obviously do not like having humans around, and can thrive only if we leave them alone! Or they are able tolerate our presence, but only within certain limits. (2) We and Louv never ask what type of contact is appropriate! He includes fishing, hunting, building “forts”, farming, ranching, and all other manner of recreation. Clearly, not all contact with nature leads to someone becoming an advocate and protector of wildlife. While one kid may see a beautiful area and decide to protect it, what’s to stop another from seeing it and thinking of it as a great place to build a house or create a ski resort? Developers and industrialists must come from somewhere, and they no doubt played in the woods with the future environmentalists!

Vandeman's intentions are noble, but he tends to leave out other issues at hand, such as the growing differences in generational thinking about the world and our place in it. I still believe that Rich Louv's message is relevant and clear. Read his essay and see what you think.