A Note from Bonnie Jacobs~Who Will Lead LAST CHILD
"A sense of wonder and joy in nature should be at the very center of ecologicalliteracy." -- page 221-- Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv, copyright 2005
The first part of this book asks, Why? Then Louv wants us to decide, How?
1. Why?
Why we need nature ~ for health, creativity, stress-relief, spirituality, finding future stewards of nature.
Why children are not outside more ~ time constraints, fear, changes in education, criminalization of nature.
2. How?
How to reunite children with nature ~ nature as teacher, camp revival, decriminalizing natural play.
How to build a movement ~ think green, believe in seeds, help good works take root.
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Questions for you: Choose one or more of these questions and post your comments by clicking on the "comments" below.
1. What direct experiences with nature did you have as a child?
2. Have the places for these experiences disappeared?
3. Are our children and grandchildren spending less time outdoors? Why?
4. Why is direct experience with the natural world so important for children?
5. What would be a good way to get children back to nature?
6. Do you have any ideas for fostering awareness of the human need for nature?
7. What hopeful things do you see happening in your own town or neighborhood?
8. How does direct experience with nature provide spirituality and promote sustainability?
posted by John Bailes | Wednesday, January 31, 2007
1 Comments:
Answers: 1. My direct experience with nature as a child was great. I grew up on a 100-acre farm with three chicken houses (total of ~30,000 chicks every few months), beef cattle, horses, pigs, and the usual dogs, cats, skunks, raccoons, etc. Bobwhites sang outside my window on weekend mornings. (I haven't heard one in ages.) I vividly remember after rains I'd go down to the first chicken house and dig in the mud to find crawdads. They're no longer there. I would walk through the woods with my grandmother and there was a great place to play house where fallen trees lay perfectly to make rooms with tables and chairs and beds. We always had a garden and harvested plenty for a winter pantry. Such wonderful memories.
2. Our farm is still there, but it is different now. The creek has dried up, the springs need dug out, and it's in need of maintenance.
3. Our children ARE spending less time outdoors because, a) parents are spending more time working at desk, retail or other jobs not in the outdoors and b) somehow, people have come to associate country life with being poor and city (or subdivision) life with prosperity. This is very distorted in my view.
4-8. I could write a book...
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