“A generation of children is not only being raised indoors, but is being confined to even smaller spaces. Jane Clark, a University of Maryland professor of kinesiology . . . calls them “containerized kids”–they spend more and more time in car seats, high chairs, and even baby seats for watching TV. When small children go outside, they’re often placed in containers–strollers–and pushed by walking or jogging parents. . . Most kid-containerizing is done for safety concerns, but the long term health of these children is compromised. (35)” ~ Richard Louv
“The woods were my Ritalin. Nature calmed me, focused me, and yet excited my senses.” ~ Richard Louv
“Quality of life isn’t measured only by what we gain, but also by what we trade for it.” ~ Richard Louv
“Unlike television, nature does not steal time; it amplifies it. Nature offers healing for a child living in a destructive family or neighborhood.” ~ Richard Louv
“There’s no denying the benefits of the Internet. But electronic immersion, without a force to balance it, creates the hole in the boat — draining our ability to pay attention, to think clearly, to be productive and creative.” ~ Richard Louv
"A child who is allowed to run free in a place that is natural will very quickly begin to look around for a special shelter. The interior framework of bushes is inspected and judged for it’s suitability to act as a fort. Trees, especially mature ones, provide towering castles, and the best climbing branches are claimed as “rooms.” ~ Richard Louv
“Nature-deficit disorder describes the human costs of alienation from nature, among them: diminished use of the senses, attention difficulties, and higher rates of physical and emotional illness. This disorder can be detected in individuals, families, and communities.” ~ Richard Louv
“The physical exercise and emotional stretching that children enjoy in unorganized play is more varied and less time-bound than is found in organized sports. Playtime—especially unstructured, imaginative, exploratory play—is increasingly recognized as an essential component of wholesome child development.” ~ Richard Louv
“IT TAKES TIME—loose, unstructured dreamtime—to experience nature in a meaningful way.” ~ Richard Louv
“Nature is often overlooked as a healing balm for the emotional hardships in a child’s life.” ~ Richard Louv
“In nature, a child finds freedom, fantasy, and privacy: a place distant from the adult world, a separate peace.” ~ Richard Louv
“For the young, food is from Venus; farming is from Mars” ~ Richard Louv
“In an agricultural society, or during a time of exploration and settlement, or hunting and fathering–which is to say, most of mankind’s history–energetic boys were particularly prized for their strength, speed, and agility. […] As recently as the 1950s, most families still had some kind of agricultural connection. Many of these children, girls as well as boys, would have been directing their energy and physicality in constructive ways: doing farm chores, baling hay, splashing in the swimming hole, climbing trees, racing to the sandlot for a game of baseball. Their unregimented play would have been steeped in nature.” ~ Richard Louv