Read'n'Seed 4: The Last Child in the Woods

For this week's Read'n'Seed, I read pages 132-222. These pages covered the last two sections of section III, section IV, and part of section V. This portion of the book covered many different, important topics. Some of the important topics were:

• Education, a barrier to nature
• Death of natural history
• Parks and historical sites
• Endangered environmentalists
• Attachment theory
• Boredom with nature

I learned many significant things. I want to start with education as a barrier to nature. School systems are focusing most of their time on math, language, and science instead of subjects like the arts. Also, like I discussed in last weeks Read'n'Seed many schools are trying to get rid of recess. Why would we try to permanently cut nature out of a child's life when it is already almost non-existent? Another topic was the death of natural history. This is a very scary topic. If kids stop learning about nature why would they care about it? According to Louv, most kids and their parents are able to name different types of ATV's but not animals or plants (140). When kids experience nature they relate it to riding ATV's or looking at sites through the car window.

Another interesting topic was the decline of visitation to state parks and historical sites. The number of people attending parks and historical sites is declining because of the fee of accessing the parks, kids are getting bored, and most importantly the declining relationship between the young and nature (Louv, 197). Attachment Theory was mentioned during the book. Attachment theory according to Louv is, "kids need an attachment to feel compelled to protect nature as an adult" (155). If you do not learn about something, how would you know or care about it.

The boredom with nature is kids are not finding it interesting. One of the most influential ways to get kids involved is to get the parents involved. Kids cherish the time they get to spend with their parents because of the time constraints that most families are under. Lets get kids to become NATURE SMART! Louv made a wonderful comment when he stated, "teach kids to pay attention, not to be careful" (178). The reason for this stems back to the bogeyman syndrome. Kids and their parents are so afraid of nature because of how media depicts it. It is important to be aware of crime or dangers but do not let it control your life.

A couple of terms I was unfamiliar with were:
Ecophobia: fear of ecological deterioration (Defined in the book, page 133)
According to Wikipedia, blasphemy is defined as an irreverence toward holy personages, religious artifacts, customs, and beliefs (Wikipedia, 2010).


If I have not stressed it enough nature plays an important role in everyone's lives. Incorporating nature into your everyday life will only help you in almost every aspect of your life. Think of when you are outside just laying in the grass, playing in water, or making a snow angel, don't you feel at peace? I know I do. Going outside to take a walk helps me clear my head and bring my stress level down dramatically. Hopefully in given time schools and colleges will start incorporating more of a nature environment to get students involved.