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Has your kid had their dose of Vitamin N today?
Kids need time in Nature to develop into healthy and happy people, but today's kids are increasingly indoors. Fewer swing from branches, catch butterflies, or splash in streams. Richard Louv first coined the phrase "Nature Deficit Disorder" or a lack of "Vitamin N". Now, overwhelming evidence shows that not just kids, but all humans benefit from time in Nature. As an ecologist and wilderness explorer, I know that the future of our wilderness areas depends on connecting kids with Nature. Children who value Nature will make decisions to protect wild lands when they're tomorrow's leaders. Talk about a win-win! Kids need Nature and Nature needs kids, creating a synergy in bringing kids and Nature together. This is why I write. And this is why I develop nature field programs for under-served urban kids. |
The global initiative to connect kids with nature: some links...
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Richard Louv. 2005, 2008.
Last Child in the Woods: Saving our children from Nature-deficit disorder. Algonquin Books. Florence Williams. 2017. The Nature Fix. Why Nature makes us healthier, happier and more creative. WW Norton. “A beautifully written, thoroughly enjoyable exposition of a major principle of human life now supported by evidence in biology, psychology, and medicine.” —Edward O. Wilson |