You didn’t have to be a psychologist to understand that Richard Louv was on to something. In 2005 in his book, “Last Child in the Woods,” he identified a condition caused by separation from nature. This separation from insects, bird songs, flowers, spiders… anything that could captivate a child’s mind and hold his or her attention, is common today and has potential psychological consequences. Too much staying indoors preoccupied with TV and electronic gadgets leaves so little time for exploring our world that it can erode mental and physical wellness and even intelligence. He called it, “nature deficit disorder.”
Millions of years of evolution have produced in us an innate affinity for nature, what Dr. E.O. Wilson calls “biophilia.” Under normal circumstances (surrounded by diversity) we are drawn to other species. While kids are kids, the world they’re born into has been transformed. This artifact we call civilization has produced countless benefits, but also immense collateral damage. What used to be “nature” is now farmed, driven on, built over, dug up, and… made inaccessible. We have de-natured our world, inadvertently relegating the wild to small remnant postage stamps known as parks and nature preserves. But even these places are generally not quite accessible. Not in the old fashioned way… exploring, building forts, catching things, collecting, sleeping out, climbing trees, etc.
Also missing is the contemplative side. It’s a rare child today who either has or spends an appreciable amount of time outdoors to gaze at clouds, experience sunsets, just listen, or find shooting stars… much less witness dramas like a snake swallowing a frog, or a spider wrapping up a grasshopper, or a tiger beetle pouncing on an ant. Watching this “yucky” stuff on TV doesn’t count. When it’s right there in front of you it’s real. Disconnected and disoriented, kids often react to living things with… “eewww.” We are becoming aliens in our own world.
The so-called information age is upon us. Now we have Facebook; texting; tweets; twitters; cell phones; email; etc. These rapidly developing and unprecedented connections lead to equal and opposite disconnections.
In his book, “Building for Life: Designing and Understanding the Human-Nature Connection,” Dr. Stephen Kellert of Yale University states, “Play in nature, particularly during the critical period of middle childhood, appears to be an especially important time for developing the capacities for creativity, problem solving, and emotional and intellectual development. … Unfortunately, during at least the past twenty-five years, the chances for children to directly experience nature during playtime have drastically declined.”
Kellert further claims in his conclusion that while children can endure and survive in our polluted environment and may even survive the death of many different life forms, it seems unlikely they will prosper.
Dwayne Sudduth maintains that “If Nature Deficit Disorder is real, then it may even affect adults living in the world now. Many do seem to live in a bubble, and do not believe anything in nature is necessary for the survival of the world. This type of disconnect will surely doom our planet. Restoring this balance between children and nature may be a key factor in saving our planet from pollution, habitat destruction, overpopulation and help restore the delicate balance of all ecosystems.”
To comprehend the implications of this, you need look no further than the political arena. With rare exception, politicians today exemplify Nature Deficit Disorder. Way too many view the environment as scenery and/ or commodity; and conservation as merely cosmetic. From slashing the budget of EPA, to bringing styrofoam back to the Capitol cafeteria, to overturning compulsory municipal recycling programs, Republicans, in particular, are chipping away at bi-partisan environmental gains of the past five decades. This stuff is clearly perceived as extraneous. At the last Republican convention, the solution to our energy problems was… “drill baby drill.” I’d like to coin my own word for this malady… “Infinite Environment Disorder.” This is characterized by the belief that the atmosphere and oceans can absorb all the pollution we can generate and we will never run out of fossils to burn.
Monetary wealth is a culprit. It is way overestimated as a measure of value. There is an inherent risk in assigning too much value to money. This was artfully expressed in a very old fable.
King Midas so loved wealth that he wished for the magical ability to turn things to gold by merely touching them. This would be an alchemist’s dream. One day, King Midas’s wish was granted, and indeed everything he touched turned to gold. He was so thrilled. Like our current crop of plutocrats in America, his wealth would be unsurpassed. But as things kept turning to gold, he began to realize that maybe this wasn’t so great. When his young daughter ran up to him, to his horror, she was turned to gold. There he was… surrounded by immense, mountains of wealth… but everything of real value was gone.
We’ve been able to turn many things to gold. The old growth forests of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota enriched lumber barons of the 19th century. Those complex ecosystems are essentially gone. There is oil beneath the soil… we pump it out and convert it to wealth. But we’re slowly coming to realize (for some, very slowly) that the resulting carbon polluting Earth’s atmosphere is destroying our climate. A few of us enjoy the wealth, but we all pay a dear price which, like Midas’s daughter, is irreplaceable.
If you are interested in clean air, water quality, or endangered species protection, don’t look to politicians like John Boehner (speaker of the house) or Mitch McConnell (senate minority leader). Though so-called conservatives, conservation is not their forte. Boehner got a 5 percent rating for his environmental voting record from the League of Conservation Voters. McConnell received a 0.
The solution is to reconnect by disconnecting. It’s really easy. Leave the electronic gadgets alone for a couple hours each day and encourage kids to spend time outdoors.