Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder, Louv, Richard [best free novels txt] 📗

in the New York State College of Human Ecology at Cornell. “And the protective impact of nearby nature is strongest for the most vulnerable children—those experiencing the highest levels of stressful life events.”

Wells and colleague Gary Evans assessed the degree of nature in and around the homes of rural children in grades three through five. They found that children with more nature near their homes received lower ratings than peers with less nature near their homes on measures of behavioral conduct disorders, anxiety, and depression. Children with more nature near their homes also rated themselves higher than their corresponding peers on a global measure of self-worth. “Even in a rural setting with a relative abundance of green landscape, more [nature] appears to be better when it comes to bolstering children’s resilience against stress or adversity,” Wells and Evans reported.

One reason for the emotional benefits of nature may be that green space fosters social interaction and thereby promotes social support. For instance, a Swedish study shows that children and parents who live in places that allow for outdoor access have twice as many friends as those who have restricted outdoor access due to traffic. Of course, no one would argue that nature’s solace is entirely dependent on the social interaction that nature may encourage.

Nature also offers nurturing solitude. A study of Finnish teenagers showed that they often went into natural settings after upsetting events; there, they could clear their minds and gain perspective and relax. After a classroom discussion I conducted at the University of San Diego about nature and childhood, Lauren Haring, a twenty-year-old student, described the importance of nature to her emotional health:

Growing up [in Santa Barbara, California], I lived in a house that had a fairly big back yard and a creek across the street. It was when I was by myself that the environment meant the most to me. Nature was the one place where, when everything in my life was going bad, I could go and not have to deal with anyone else.

My dad died of brain cancer when I was nine. It was one of the most difficult times for my family and myself. Going out into nature was one outlet that I had, which truly allowed me to calm down and not think or worry.

I really believe that there is something about nature—that when you are in it, it makes you realize that there are far larger things at work than yourself. This helps to put problems in perspective. And it is the only place where the issues facing me do not need immediate attention or resolution. Being in nature can be a way to escape without fully leaving the world.

Richard Herrmann, a nature photographer, also understands the healing qualities of nature, which helped him through a tragic time. He told me:

My first memories of being affected by the natural world were from my youth growing up at Pacific Grove, not far from the burned-out cannery of Cannery Row. I remember being four years old, and looking into a tide pool, and being mesmerized by the tiny fishes swimming through the shimmering water, and the anemones and crabs scurrying about. I was transfixed; I could have looked at the same pool for days. To me, the tide pool represented perfection, and calmness. I also remember my father returning from fishing in the bay with sacks of colorful rock cod . . . I found them beautiful. They represented special treasures from the sea.

I was a kid who could not sit still for more than a few minutes, so school was painful for me. But nature always gave me this incredible calmness and joy. I could literally sit and fish, or crab, for hours without getting bored, even if I wasn’t catching anything.

Later, I needed this calmness again when my father was killed in a car accident when I was fourteen. I was lost, and the temptations and distractions were many in the late sixties. Drugs were everywhere. I remember being absolutely in pain and stress most days, but I would find solace by walking by myself to an area of coast oak woodland—just walking, looking at the undercover of poison oak . . . seeing salamanders, colorful mushrooms, and lichens. It all made sense to me. I experienced great calmness there that I could not find anywhere else.

As an adult, giving presentations at local high schools, I noticed that I can get teenagers to focus and calm down by showing images of the natural world. Being close to nature saved my life.

Herrmann’s own experience helped him encourage his fourteen-year-old daughter—who is dyslexic—to employ nature to balance her life and reduce her stress. Finding solace raising lambs in a 4-H program has, he says, “really turned her around in school.”

Elsewhere, in Wellesley, Massachusetts, the Institute for Child and Adolescent Development’s Therapeutic Garden won the President’s Award for Excellence from the American Society of Landscape Architects. In an interview with the online professional journal the Massachusetts Psychologist, Sebastiano Santostefano, director of the institute, explained his view that nature has power to shape the psyche, and that it can play a significant role in helping traumatized children. He found that playing outdoors, whether along a river or in an alleyway, “is how a kid works through issues.” “We have a small hill, a mound—and for one kid at a certain point in therapy it was a grave; for another, it was the belly of a pregnant woman,” he said. “The point is obvious: children interpret and give meaning to a piece of landscape, and the same piece can be interpreted differently. Usually, if you [use] traditional puppets and games, there are limits. A policeman puppet is usually a policeman; a kid rarely makes it something else. But with landscape, it’s much more engaging, and you’re giving the child ways of expressing what’s within.”

The Re-naturing of Childhood Health

With a sense of urgency, some health professionals say that we should act now on the available knowledge. For example,