Showing posts with label nature education. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nature education. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Childhood Pastorale: Children, Nature, and the Preservation of Landscape

Why do we need trees? For cleansing the air, shading the ground, producing oxygen, housing the birds, insects and epiphytes ... yes. But also, to make the world nicer for children, who would otherwise suffer from the emergence of "nature deficit disorder." Nature deficit disorder is the complex of physical and psychological problems which includes obesity, ADHD, depression and behaviourial problems, sense of meaninglessness and disconnection from the rest of the biosphere. It's a complicated complex of issues, connected to the preservation of landscapes in cities and in the countryside. For an airing of the issues, check out:

CHILDHOOD PASTORALE: CHILDREN, NATURE, AND THE PRESERVATION OF LANDSCAPE,
by Barbara Julian,
Ninshu Press,
115 pages, ill., 18.95.

Order at naturalreviews@hotmail.com, or buy a copy at Overleaf Cafe-Bookshop, 1105 Pandora Avenue (at Cook), or other selected bookshops.

Childhood Pastorale weaves together interviews with seniors and youth, with a survey of research on "nature deficit disorder." It dips into the rich historic canon of nature poetry and prose, and also traces trends in greenspace conservation and outdoor recreation worldwide . It examines the relationship between children's health and their access to free play in natural surroundings, and will be of interest to naturalists, educators, parents, recreation specialists and city planners.

"... the more de-natured we allow childhood to become and the more divorced people are from other life forms, the less we will know what we are missing and the faster the disconnection will spread. It is not only a gift for individual children themselves to be given time in nature, it is an insurance policy for the sanity of our race and a boost for the likelihood of our protecting other species."
-- from Childhood Pastorale