Richard Louv - Last Child in the Woods (2005)

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The times I spent with my children in nature are among my most meaningful memories-and I hope theirs.

Richard Louv
A natural environment is far more complex than any playing field.

Richard Louv
Numerous studies document the benefits to students from school grounds that are ecologically diverse and include free play areas, habitats for wildlife, walking trails, and gardens.

Richard Louv
All spiritual life begins with a sense of wonder, and nature is a window into that wonder.

Richard Louv
The dugout in the weeds or leaves beneath a backyard willow, the rivulet of a seasonal creek, even the ditch between the front yard and the road-all of these places are entire universes to a young child.

Richard Louv
This tree house became our galleon, our spaceship, our Fort Apache...Ours was a learning tree. Through it we learned to trust ourselves and our abilities.

Richard Louv
We can conserve energy and tread more lightly on the Earth while we expand our culture's capacity for joy.

Richard Louv
Children need nature for the healthy development of their senses, and therefore, for learning and creativity.

Richard Louv
There is another possibility: not the end of nature, but the rebirth of wonder and even joy.

Richard Louv
Quite simply, when we deny our children nature, we deny them beauty.

Richard Louv
Each of us-adult or child-must earn nature's gift by knowing nature directly, however difficult it may be to glean that knowledge in an urban environment.

Richard Louv
Nature-the sublime, the harsh, and the beautiful-offers something that the street or gated community or computer game cannot. Nature presents the young with something so much greater than they are; it offers an environment where they can easily contemplate infinity and eternity.

Richard Louv
Nature is imperfectly perfect, filled with loose parts and possibilities, with mud and dust, nettles and sky, transcendent hands-on moments and skinned knees.

Richard Louv
What happens when all the parts of childhood are soldered down, when the young no longer have the time or space to play in their family's garden, cycle home in the dark with the stars and moon illuminating their route, walk down through the woods to the river, lie on their backs on hot July days in the long grass, or watch cockleburs, lit by morning sun, like bumblees quivering on harp wires? What then?

Richard Louv
To take nature and natural play away from children may be tantamount to withholding oxygen.

Richard Louv
Natural play strengthens children's self-confidence and arouses their senses-their awareness of the world and all that moves in it, seen and unseen.

Richard Louv
Being close to nature, in general, helps boost a child's attention span.

Richard Louv
By letting our children lead us to their own special places we can rediscover the joy and wonder of nature.

Richard Louv
Most people are either awakened to or are strengthened in their spiritual journey by experiences in the natural world.

Richard Louv
As one scientist puts it, we can now assume that just as children need good nutrition and adequate sleep, they may very well need contact with nature.

Richard Louv
Stress reduction, greater physical health, a deeper sense of spirit, more creativity, a sense of play, even a safer life-these are the rewards that await a family then it invites more nature into children's lives.

Richard Louv
In nature, a child finds freedom, fantasy, and privacy: a place distant from the adult world, a separate peace.

Richard Louv
Something else was different when we were young: our parents were outdoors. I'm not saying they were joining health clubs and things of that sort, but they were out of the house, out on the porch, talking to neighbors. As far as physical fitness goes, today's kids are the sorriest generation in the history of the United States. Their parents may be out jogging, but the kids just aren't outside.

Richard Louv
There is a real world, beyond the glass, for children who look, for those whose parents encourage them to truly see.

Richard Louv
Nature-deficit disorder describes the human costs of alienation from nature, among them: diminished use of the senses, attention difficulties, and higher rates of physical and emotional illnesses. The disorder can be detected in individuals, families, and communities.

Richard Louv
One of my students told me that every time she learns the name of a plant, she feels as if she is meeting someone new. Giving a name to something is a way of knowing it.

Richard Louv
A widening circle of researchers believes that the loss of natural habitat, or the disconnection from nature even when it is available, has enormous implications for human health and child development. They say the quality of exposure to nature affects our health at an almost cellular level.

Richard Louv
What if a tree fell in the forest and no one knew it's biological name? Did it exist?

Richard Louv
As the nature deficit grows, another emerging body of scientific evidence indicates that direct exposure to nature is essential for physical and emotional health. For example, new studies suggest that exposure to nature may reduce the symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and that it can improve all children's cognitive abilities and resistance to negative stresses and depression.

Richard Louv
We have such a brief opportunity to pass on to our children our love for this Earth, and to tell our stories. These are the moments when the world is made whole. In my children's memories, the adventures we've had together in nature will always exist.

Richard Louv