Last Child in the Woods

Last Child in the Woods - Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder, by Richard Louv

Book: ISBN-10: 156512605X, published by Algonquin Books, pick up the book at your local bookstore, or order it online.

Richard Louv’s best-selling 2005 book, Last Child in the Woods, has inspired a worldwide movement to reconnect children and families to nature. The Child and Nature Alliance emerged out of the need for a deliberate effort in Canada to formalize this movement.  The Alliance is excited to have Richard Louv as our Honourary Board Chair and we continue to work closely with the Children and Nature Network, Louv’s organization that is leading the worldwide effort to mainstream the children and nature movement.

“I like to play indoors better ’cause that’s where all the electrical outlets are,” reports a fourth grader. But it’s not only computers, television, and video games that are keeping kids inside. It’s also their parents’ fears of traffic, strangers, Lyme disease, and West Nile virus; their schools’ emphasis on more and more homework; their structured schedules; and their lack of access to natural areas. Local governments, neighborhood associations, and even organizations devoted to the outdoors are placing legal and regulatory constraints on many wild spaces, sometimes making natural play a crime.

As children’s connections to nature diminish and the social, psychological, and spiritual implications become apparent, new research shows that nature can offer powerful therapy for such maladies as depression, obesity, and attention deficit disorder. Environment-based education dramatically improves standardized test scores and grade-point averages and develops skills in problem solving, critical thinking, and decision making. Anecdotal evidence strongly suggests that childhood experiences in nature stimulate creativity.

In Last Child in the Woods, Louv talks with parents, children, teachers, scientists, religious leaders, child-development researchers, and environmentalists who recognize the threat and offer solutions. Louv shows us an alternative future, one in which parents help their kids experience the natural world more deeply — and find the joy of family connectedness in the process.  The 2008 edition of the book is updated and expanded to include 100 suggested actions to build the movement - for familes, governments, businesses, and educators.  This invaluable resource is a must for anyone interested in being part of this movement!