Richard Louv in New Bedford, Massachusetts

Last night, I had the pleasure of seeing Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods and The Nature Principal speak at Tifereth Israel in New Bedford. I've quoted Louv here before and strongly encourage you to read his books and check out the Children & Nature Network if you haven't already done so.


Louv had much to say in a little time but I'd like to share some of the highlights.

He wishes there were another word he could use besides "sustainability" to describe what he believes we need to do to keep nature alive and well. He feels sustainability implies stasis- maintaining things as they are. We need to do more. Conservation is no longer enough. We need to create new habitats for ourselves and for other species by re-imagining where we live. We also need to paint a positive picture of a hopeful future.

When Louv gave a talk for a group of students a while back, a young woman stood up and asked him to describe that hopeful future because she "couldn't see it." He did his best to answer. That night he worked his ideas out more and wrote an 800 word essay response.  (It will appear in the paperback version of The Nature Principle). He read it to us last night. There was no way I could get it all down, but here are a few points that really jumped out at me.

Imagine a society in which...

• the point of education is not rote and drill learning but wonder and awe.
• natural history is as important as human history.
• connection to the natural world is seen as a human right.

He further gave us this question to ponder: What would it be like to live in a society that spends as much time in nature as with technology?

Toward the end he offered basic suggestions for ways all humans can reconnect with nature and create new natural places.

The simplest thing you can do right now is plant native species in your yard, rooftop garden, vacant lot next door, etc. Louv and his wife did this in their yard in San Diego to attract native species of butterflies and birds. The great part is, native species are just that- native- so they will thrive exactly where you live with little intervention from you. You don't need to have a "green thumb" to do this. Visit your local, independently owned garden center and ask for advice (not a big box home center). They'll usually be able to advise you. Some nurseries even specialize in native species.

Louv's wife had the idea that instead of giving a little jar of jam to her neighbors each holiday season they'd give neighbors a native plant. Then maybe the neighbors will do the same and soon enough they will have created a wildlife corridor right through their neighborhood, through private land.

We don't need government to act. We just need to act. Through this action, your children will see that they have the power to bring back nature.

Many thanks to the Southcoast Outdoor Network for bringing Louv to our neck of the woods and to Tifereth Israel for hosting. Louv is keeping a busy travel schedule these days so he just might turn up in your hometown. If he does, please make time to go see him.

Related Posts:
Loose Parts Play
Loose Parts Play, Part 2
Loose Parts Play, Part 3
Gardening Without a Yard
Reading the Land

Stress Therapy: Get Back to Nature

In times of stress, it's easy to forget to do simple things that will keep you healthy and limit the impact of stress. I'm as guilty of this as anyone.

Our family has had some fairly significant stressors lately. When I'm stressed, my shoulders rise up to meet my ears, I become impatient, and I don't  sleep well. I know what I need to do in these times. For me, practicing yoga, getting a chiropractic adjustment, or meeting a friend for coffee and conversation all help. On Tuesday, I realized I had recently done each of those things but it wasn't enough. I felt scattered and ungrounded.

The solution? Time in nature. In fact, literally time on the ground at several points. I grabbed a small backpack, some water, my notebook/pen, and my camera. As I set out for a walk in the woods, I had no plan. I just knew I needed to move my body and to spend time in nature. As I stepped out my back door, I noticed these cute little mushrooms in my herb garden.

As I approached the first bend in the trail, I felt myself start to relax.

By the time my house was out of sight, my breathing had deepened and my shoulders had dropped.

Perhaps one hundered feet later, I noticed this mushroom. Purple! Can you believe it?

And thus my adventure was born... Mushroom hunting! I spent the next hour wandering along, looking for mushrooms. (To see more mushroom photos, come back next Wednesday for Wordlesss Wednesday).  I crouched down low and even laid right down in the damp soil and moss to get close up photos. I found purple, white, orange, brown, and red mushrooms. I found them growing on soil, leaves, trees, and fallen logs. I found the tiniest little mushrooms whose tops were no more than 1/8 of an inch across and one that was nearly 4 inches across.

I'm not a professional photographer, but it doesn't matter. I was totally lost in the experience. An hour pased but it only felt like minutes. Not once did I think about all the things I would have been thinking about if I  weren't in the woods.

I know nature rejuvenates me. Heck, I blog about getting out into nature. I'm Nature Girl. Why didn't I get out there sooner? Perhaps for the same reasons you may not get out as often as you should- life gets busy and you go from one responsibility to the next to the next. Perhaps you go into survival mode in times of extreme stress and don't go outside at all. Here's the truth, though. To really survive it, we NEED to be outside. We NEED time in nature to be healthy, well-adjusted beings. Our kids need it, too.

There's loads of research to support this. If you want to know more, check out the Children and Nature Network website. (Or, go directly to the Research and Resources page). Then grab your kids and get outside.

How does time in nature support your well-being?