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The New Nature Movement

Field Notes from the Future: Tracking the Movement to Connect People and Nature

Last Child in the Woods & The Nature Principle

"Last Child in the Woods" introduces the concept of nature-deficit disorder, offering practical actions for families and communities. "The Nature Principle" extends the issue to adults and reports the restorative power of the natural world.

Tag: "Education"

Comments: 4

By Richard Louv on January 14th, 2012

And Now a Few Words About the Children & Nature Network

After “Last Child in the Woods” was published in 2005, a handful of like-minded individuals came together to form the Children & Nature Network. Our mission: to help build a movement to reconnect children, their families and their communities to nature—for human health and well-being, cognitive development, stronger community — and for the good of the planet. For [...]

Columns by Richard Louv • Featured Columns

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By Larry Volpe on January 4th, 2012

The Benefits and Joys of the School Garden

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 [...]

Briefs & Commentary

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By Richard Louv on December 28th, 2011

The Forgotten Human Right

“Nothing so important as an ethic is ever ‘written’… it evolves in the minds of a thinking community.” — Aldo Leopold. Do children – do all of us – have a right to meaningful connection to the natural world? Annelies Henstra, a Dutch human rights attorney, thinks so. She calls it the “forgotten human right.” In [...]

Columns by Richard Louv • Featured Columns • uncategorized

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By Cheryl Charles on December 2nd, 2011

The Ecology of Hope

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 [...]

Briefs & Commentary

Comments: 7

By Richard Louv on November 24th, 2011

A MOVEMENT MOVES: 15 Signs of Progress for C&NN & the Movement

“A movement moves.” — Rev. Gerald L. Durley All of us involved with the Children & Nature Network recognize the challenges ahead, the miles to go, the promises and deadlines to keep. But for the children and nature movement, 2011 has been a banner year. Here are a few of the achievements accomplished during the [...]

Columns by Richard Louv • uncategorized

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By Richard Louv on September 30th, 2011

SAVING THE FIELDS OF DREAMS: Building ‘Natural Cultural Capacity’ to Enrich Our Parks and Cities

Despite some signs of progress, the impact of recession on public access to the natural world is a reality, and it could get worse. Take California, for instance. In coming months, as many as 70 parks, many of them in or near urban areas will close, according to California State Parks Director Ruth Coleman. This, she [...]

Columns by Richard Louv • uncategorized

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By Richard Louv on September 24th, 2011

NATURE’S OWN STIMULUS PACKAGE: 7 Ways to Improve Our Lives in Tough Economic Times

For many stressed-out families, spending more time in the natural world — a nature stimulus package — may be just what the doctor and the economist ordered. Here are a few of the benefits, updated from an earlier post: 1. With high gas prices, families are rediscovering both the joy and the cost-effectiveness of getaways [...]

Columns by Richard Louv • Featured Columns • uncategorized

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By Richard Louv on September 7th, 2011

APOCALYPSE NO: Something large and hopeful is forming out there. You’re already creating it.

Why is the future so often portrayed as a post-apocalyptic dystopia, filled with human brutality and stripped of nature? For decades, our culture has struggled with two addictions: to oil and to despair. But what if our lives were as immersed in nature as they are in technology every day? What if we not only conserved nature, but created [...]

Columns by Richard Louv • Featured Columns • uncategorized

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By Richard Louv on September 7th, 2011

THE MORE HIGH-TECH SCHOOLS BECOME, THE MORE THEY NEED NATURE

Want Your Kids to Get Into Harvard? Tell ‘em To Go Outside. I once met an instructor who trains young people to become the pilots of cruise ships. He described the two kinds of students he encounters. One kind grew up mainly indoors, spending hours playing video games and working on computers. These students are [...]

Columns by Richard Louv • Featured Columns • uncategorized

Comments: 16

By Richard Louv on August 25th, 2011

WANT YOUR KIDS TO GET INTO HARVARD? TELL ‘EM TO GO OUTSIDE!

First of two in a series September is back-to-school month, and the chanting begins: Drill, test, lengthen the school day, skip recess, cancel field trips, and by all means discourage free time for (gasp!) self-directed play. Is that approach working, particularly in science learning? Not so well. A few months ago, I met with a [...]

Columns by Richard Louv • Featured Columns • uncategorized

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By Richard Louv on August 11th, 2011

Jerry Schad’s Gift of Enthusiasm

In the San Diego bioregion, Jerry Schad has accomplished more than anyone I know to create a deep sense of place. Word now comes that Jerry has final-stage kidney cancer and is in hospice care. When I spent time with him several years ago, what impressed me most was not his formidable knowledge but his [...]

Columns by Richard Louv • Featured Columns • uncategorized

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By Richard Louv on July 26th, 2011

THE “VITAMIN N” PRESCRIPTION – Some Health Professionals Now Recommending Nature Time for Children and Adults

In 2009, Janet Ady of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service stood before a crowd of grassroots leaders gathered by the Children & Nature Network. She held up an outsized pharmacy bottle. Within the bottle was a physician’s prescription – one that would be as appropriate for adults as it would be for children. The [...]

Columns by Richard Louv • uncategorized

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By Richard Louv on July 21st, 2011

The Eye in the Tree

In a recent feature on Orion magazine’s Web site, the editors asked me this question: “Does technology merely distract us from the natural world—or can it help us gaze more intently at its varied forms?” My article, answering that question, is here. In it, I described how I spend more time carrying a camera than a [...]

Columns by Richard Louv • Featured Columns • uncategorized

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By Richard Louv on June 28th, 2011

A Boost to Education and an Antidote to Teacher Burnout?

“Connected and honored, natural teachers could inspire other teachers; they could become a galvanizing force within their schools. In the process, they would contribute to their own psychological, physical, and spiritual health.” — The Nature Principle Not long ago, I was speaking with a middle school principal in Austin who was sympathetic to the cause, but [...]

Columns by Richard Louv • Featured Columns • uncategorized

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By Richard Louv on June 20th, 2011

SEVEN REASONS FOR A NEW NATURE MOVEMENT

Martin Luther King Jr. taught us, by word and example, that any movement — any culture —will fail if it cannot paint a picture of a world that people will want to go to. As others have said, his speech was not called “I Have a Nightmare.” For decades, our culture has struggled with two [...]

Columns by Richard Louv • Featured Columns • uncategorized

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