Nature Deficit Disorder: A Plague On Our House (continued)

Taking Care of the Environment and our Kids

We all need to reassess how we live our lives in light of what scientists are telling us about resource depletion, environmental pollution, land degradation, accelerating species extinctions, and global climate change. Part of a rational response to the current environmental crisis is to better educate our children as to the reality of their connection to and dependency upon nature. We want those who take over next to be grounded in reality, not in TV-video game fantasy. As Hofferth and Sandberg (2001) point out, “Conservation will fail unless it is better connected to people, and people start out as children who need to revere their connection to nature from a personal rather than intellectual, viewpoint” (p. 222).

Tips From Parent to Parent

Our family lives in the small city of Salem, Virginia at the south end of the Great Valley between the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Appalachians. It is a beautiful area with easy access to the Jefferson National Forest, the Appalachian Trail, and nearby state parks and national monuments. The James and New Rivers are close enough for day trips paddling on white water. As parents we were able to spend time regularly hiking, biking and paddling with our three children and we have been able to afford to send them each year to a wonderful church camp farther up the valley at Orkney Springs, Virginia. On the flip side, we have always set limits on our kids’ screen time, and it is particularly restricted on school nights. Because we are consistent, we hear few complaints. From what I can tell, biophilia has indeed taken root in all three of them.

Even though we are surrounded by nature, our area is struggling with Nature Deficit Disorder. To combat budget woes, local churches are cutting summer camp programs and school districts are cutting field trips. Financing community programs is therefore difficult, but not impossible. Our local paper recently reported on a new organization, Kids in the Valley Adventuring (KIVA), which provides opportunities for kids in our area to get outdoors and explore. According to the article, the family that started KIVA received a $1,000 award from Disney and Family Fun Magazine. More than 100 families currently participate in the group’s hikes and other nature activities.

I hope you will take steps to ensure that the children in your family have an appropriate balance of screen time and leisure play outdoors in green settings. Perhaps the best gift in the world that you can give your children is your time helping them explore the workings and beauty of the natural world.

As you step out in nature, remember the sage advice of Stephen Jay Gould, one of the most influential and inspiring scientists of the 20^th century: “We cannot win this battle to save species and environments without forging an emotional bond between ourselves and nature, for we will not fight to save what we do not love . . . So let them all continue ­ the films, the books, the television programs, the zoos, the little half acre of ecological preserve in any community, the primary school lessons, the museum demonstrations, even . . .  the 6:00 A.M. bird walks. Let them continue and expand because we must have visceral contact in order to love. We really must make room for nature in our hearts” (p. 4).