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Columbus Metropolitan Club - Saving Our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder
Featured Speaker: Richard Louv
Author, Last Child in the Woods
For those of us who spent leisurely days racing bikes around town, exploring the woods back of the school or climbing in the hay loft in Grandpa's barn on Sundays, the following quote from a fourth grader is sobering: "I like to play indoors better ?cause that's where all the electrical outlets are."
It's not only computers, television and video games that keep our kids inside. It's also parents' fear of traffic, strangers, Lyme disease, West Nile virus, their teachers' emphasis on more and more home work, their structured schedules and their lack of access to natural areas.
Instead of spending the summer hiking, wandering the woods, swimming and telling ghost stories around the campfire, kids today are more likely to attend computer camps or weight loss clinics.
Child advocacy expert Richard Louv directly links the lack of nature in the lives of today's wired generation -- he's coined it "nature deficit" - to some of the most disturbing childhood trends such as rises in obesity, attention deficit disorder and depression.
According to Louv, nature deficit disorder is not a medical condition, but rather a description of the human cost of alienation from nature. This alienation damages children and shapes adults, families and communities. There are solutions, says Louv, and they're right in our own backyards!
Hear Louv's compelling presentation on saving our children --- and ourselves -- from "Nature-Deficit Disorder."
Author, Last Child in the Woods
For those of us who spent leisurely days racing bikes around town, exploring the woods back of the school or climbing in the hay loft in Grandpa's barn on Sundays, the following quote from a fourth grader is sobering: "I like to play indoors better ?cause that's where all the electrical outlets are."
It's not only computers, television and video games that keep our kids inside. It's also parents' fear of traffic, strangers, Lyme disease, West Nile virus, their teachers' emphasis on more and more home work, their structured schedules and their lack of access to natural areas.
Instead of spending the summer hiking, wandering the woods, swimming and telling ghost stories around the campfire, kids today are more likely to attend computer camps or weight loss clinics.
Child advocacy expert Richard Louv directly links the lack of nature in the lives of today's wired generation -- he's coined it "nature deficit" - to some of the most disturbing childhood trends such as rises in obesity, attention deficit disorder and depression.
According to Louv, nature deficit disorder is not a medical condition, but rather a description of the human cost of alienation from nature. This alienation damages children and shapes adults, families and communities. There are solutions, says Louv, and they're right in our own backyards!
Hear Louv's compelling presentation on saving our children --- and ourselves -- from "Nature-Deficit Disorder."
February 8, 2006