With the leadership of Richard Louv and the Children & Nature Network, and the hard work of many people across the country, the word is spreading about the critical importance of unstructured play in nature for children and adults. Energy is now being focused on solutions – the cure, if you will, to “nature-deficit disorder.” [...]
I started teaching 5th grade nearly 15 years ago. In that time, I’ve done a lot of gardening with my students. Nothing gives me more joy than to spend time gardening with the kids and their families. Over the years it has allowed me to form very special relationships with the community I serve. Many [...]
I love my work. I am afforded the opportunity to promote the value of connecting people with nature. Working with so many great people to help empower a new generation to be connected with nature is a blessing and a responsibility that I take seriously. One of the things I find to be a constant [...]
After Richard Louv gave an inspiring talk in Bend, OR, in May 2010, a group of children and nature advocates from around our region formed an informal network to keep the conversation alive. Members included representatives from the healthcare community, parks and recreation, Deschutes National Forest, geographic organizations, conservation education nonprofits and the schools – [...]
I was raised in the deserts and high country of the American Southwest. An only child, I spent hours and hours on my own, or with friends, including my cousins, exploring arroyos, climbing trees, and experiencing the sense of being at home that comes from being connected to the place where you live. Some of [...]
It does not matter if you choose to take to the streets, the Occupy Movement has captured the imagination of everyone, and is not going away any time soon. The Occupy prompt has become a symbolic directive to give voice to a wide range of concerns – from corporate bastions, to conceptual ideals, to icons of popular culture. [...]
Like many professions, medicine being an example, landscape architecture is beginning to subdivide into specializations informed by empirical evidence. The design and management of children’s outdoor environments is one such area of practice, with evidence drawn from many disciplines, including landscape architecture itself. A burgeoning mountain of evidence supports the importance of kids spending time [...]
Inspiration is a word used a lot these days, but it is also a word that we need to use more in these dire economic times. A couple weeks back I had to put the remote away, as I could not take any more images of exotic animals being shot in Ohio or a dictator [...]
Summer has always traditionally been a time when people come together to get outside and go camping. America has been the leader in establishing the “great idea’ of National Parks, as Ken Burns showcased so well in his documentary last year, and in having generations of families head out on the road to camp every [...]
Three finalists have been announced for the 2012 Maine Teacher of the Year award. They are Ingrid Stressenger, a 4th grade teacher at Pond Cove School in Cape Elizabeth; Tim Eisenhart, a 9th grade mathematics teacher at Westbrook High School; and Alana Margeson, a 10-11th grade English teacher at Caribou High School. Ingrid Stressenger is [...]
I just drove in from my time in nature with the kids at Feather River Camp, where we spend a part of every summer. On the way home, I reflected with gratitude on how adaptive the camp experience is. For a change this year, instead of high-impact adventure, tie-dye shirt making, and day-long trips to [...]
Watching a family bond through a shared outdoor experience is always special, as it reminds you of the power of nature and how it can bring people together. But to see military families, who have served and sacrificed to protect our nation, is truly inspiring and humbling. Our family was honored to participate in an [...]
Last Saturday I volunteered to plant trees next to the South Boulder Creek. As I stepped out of my car and trudged slowly across the parking lot, I realized I hadn’t been awake that early on a Saturday in months. I watched people running or walking their dogs next to the creek and wondered if [...]
Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed. You cannot uneducate the person who has learned to read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore. We have seen the future, and the future is ours. -César Chavez This Saturday my friend Juan Martinez graduated [...]
In Praise of “Vitamin N” and the American Academy of Pediatrics
A walk in the woods, climbing a tree or patiently watching a fish rise to a dry fly will not solve everything, but it could go a long way to bring things into a more positive, hopeful perspective. Richard Louv’s “Vitamin N” (the health benefits of time spent in nature) should find its place in [...]