ON THE IMPORTANCE OF NATURE

"The future will belong to the nature-smart - those individuals, families, businesses, and political  leaders who develop a deeper understanding of the transformative power of the natural world and who balance the virtual with the real. The more high-tech we become, the more nature we need." - Richard Louv 

"Everyone is entitled to a home where the sun, the starts, open fields, giant trees, and smiling flowers are free to teach an undisturbed lesson of life." - the great Chicago landscape planner, Jens Jensen 

I just finished reading Richard Louv's book Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder (2005). Despite the title, the insights presented in the book apply to all of us, children and adults alike. Louv uses research from various fields, such as neuroscience, ecology, biology, psychology, sociology, and urban planning, to explain the invaluable connection between our well-being and nature in all its complexity.

Someone recently asked me "What is one of the main points of the book that stuck with you?" This book does a great job of empowering the reader to do something to contribute to the creation of a more green, healthier and sustainable society for ourselves and future generations. It made me realize that over the last century, we, humans, have encouraged and developed a society that is separate from nature. Our schools, housing, businesses, and entertainment/leisure areas have been built as concrete jungles with little to no concern for access to nature. An important driver of this is the car industry that benefits from sprawl, disconnection, and the "busyness syndrome." While it may seem like there is no turning back, I'm even more optimistic about our capacity to live healthier and more sustainable lives as a result of reading this book. Why? Because the same way we created this concrete jungle society over the last century, we now have the knowledge and capacity to create a a different kind of lifestyle for ourselves - one that is in harmony with the natural world that sustains our spirits, minds and bodies. 

Because this book is a treasure trove of research and insights, here are some other illustrative quotes/excerpts from the book organized into the following topic areas:  

1. Nature-deficit disorder
2. Call to action
3. Benefits of nature
4. Local and urban development (solution and problem)

Source

NATURE-DEFICIT DISORDER

• I like to play indoors better 'cause that's where all the electrical outlets are. - a 4th-grader in San Diego (opening pages)

• Today's young people are, as we've seen, growing up in America's third frontier. This frontier has yet to completely form, but we do know the general characteristics. Among them: detachment from the source of food, the virtual disappearance of the farm family, the end of biological absolutes, an ambivalent new relationship between humans and other animals, new suburbs shrinking open space, and so on. In this time of quickening change, could we enable another frontier to be born - ahead of schedule? - page 230

CALL TO ACTION

• Those children and young people who now hunger to find a cause worth a lifetime commitment could become the architects and designers and political force of the fourth frontier, connecting their own children and future generations to nature - and delight. - page 280

• Passion does not arrive on videotape or on a CD;passion is personal. Passion is lifted from the earth itself by the muddy hands of the young; it travels along grass-stained sleeves to the heart. If we are going to save environmentalism and the environment, we must also save an endangered indicator species: child in nature. - page 158

• "This is what connects us, this is what connects humanity, this is what we have in common. It's not the Internet,  it's the oceans."  - Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. page 198

• "We're part of nature, and ultimately we're predatory animals and we have a role in nature, and if we separate ourselves from that, we're separating ourselves from our history, from the things that tie us together." - Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. page 198

• We can conserve energy and tread more lightly on the Earth while we expand our culture's capacity for joy. - page 280

This excerpt from page 271 describes my partner's and my aspirations and mission during our lifetime: 

• A sane civilization "would have more parks and fewer shopping malls; more small farms and fewer agribusinesses; more prosperous small towns and smaller cities; more solar collectors and fewer strip mines; more  bicycle trails and fewer freeways; more trains and fewer cars more celebration and less hurry..." Utopia? No, says Orr. "We have tried utopia and can no longer afford it." He calls for a movement of "hundreds of thousands of young people equipped with the vision, moral stamina, and intellectual depth necessary to rebuild neighborhoods, towns, and communities around the planet. The kind of education presently available will not help much. They will need to be students of their places and competent to become, in Wes Jackson's words, 'native to their places.'" - page 271

BENEFITS OF NATURE

• To increase your child's safety, encourage more time outdoors, in nature. Natural play strengthens children's self-confidence and arouses their senses - their awareness of the world and all that moves in it, seen and unseen. - page 184

• Nature introduces children to the idea -- to the knowing -- that they are not alone in this world, and that realities and dimensions exist alongside their own. - page 290 

• A sense of wonder and joy in nature should be at the very center of ecological literacy. - page 221

• Quite simply, when we deny our children nature, we deny them beauty. - bottom of page 186

• ...the elements that have always united humankind: driving rain, hard wind, warm sun, forests deep and dark - and the awe and amazement that our Earth inspires, especially during our formative years. - page 224

• In our bones we need the natural curves of hills, the scent of chaparral, the whisper of pines, the possibility of wildness. We require these patches of nature for our mental health and our spiritual resilience. Future generations, regardless of whatever recreation or sport is in vogue, will need nature all the more. - page 256 

• ...to be spiritual is to be constantly amazed..."our goal should be to live life in radical amazement." - page 285-6

• "To trace the history of a river or a raindrop, as John Muir would have done, is also to trace the history of the soul, the history of the mind descending and arising in the body. In both, we constantly seek and stumble on divinity..." - Gretel Ehrlich (page 285)

• Howard Gardner, professor of education at Harvard University...proposed seven different intelligences in children and adults, including linguistic intelligence, logical-mathematical intelligence, spatial intelligence, bodily-kinesthetic intelligence, musical intelligence, interpersonal intelligence, and intrapersonal intelligence. More recently, he added naturalist intelligence ("nature smart") to his list." - bottom of page 201

LOCAL AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT 

• "They paved paradise/ And put up a parking lot." - Joni Mitchell; Then they tore down the parking lot/And raised up a paradise. - page 264

The Solution

• We are no longer talking about retreating to rural communes, but, rather, about building technologically and ethically sophisticated human-scale population centers that, by their very design, reconnect both children and adults to nature. - page 270

• ...such settlements [new green towns], to be truly green, should be connected to employment centers by transportation mechanisms beyond just the automobile---eventually even beyond autos with hybrid engines. No single community design will suffice; numerous, simultaneous approaches will be required, including green-urban infill, green towns,  increased public transport options, and greater use  of telecommuting and teleconferencing. - page 279

• Future development should: 1) Conform to topography; 2) Use places for what they are naturally most fit; 3) Conserve, develop, and utilize all natural resources, aesthetic as well as commercial; 4) Aim to secure beauty by organic arrangements rather than by mere embellishment or adornment. - page 260

• Every school district in America should be associated with one or more wildlife-and-childhood preserves in the region. - page 227 

• ...with natural corridors for wildlife extending deep into urban territory and urban psyche, creating an entirely different environment in which children would grow up and adults could grow old - where the nature deficit is replaced by natural abundance. - page 241

The Problem

• The cumulative impact of over development, multiplying park rules, well-meaning (and usually necessary) environmental regulations, building regulations, community covenants, and fear of litigation sends a chilling message to our children that their free-range play is unwelcome, that organized sports on manicured playing fields is the only officially sanctioned form of outdoor recreation. - top of page 31

• Today, 47 million Americans live in homes ruled by condominiums, cooperative, and homeowners' associations, according to the Community Associations Institute. The number  of community associations burgeoned from 10,000 in 1970 to 231,000 today [2005]. These associations impose rules on adults and children (if children are allowed in them at all), ranging from mildly intrusive to draconian. - bottom of page 28 

• By any measure, the destruction of nature caused by hunting pales in comparison to the destruction of habitat by urban sprawl and pollution. Remove hunting and fishing from human activity, and we lose many of the voters and organizations that now work against the destruction of woods, fields and watersheds. - page 192

Happy reconnecting with nature! 

~Modern Akhmatova 

CELEBRATE!

"The more you praise and celebrate life, the more there is in life to celebrate." - Oprah Winfrey

I'd like to dedicate this post to celebrating our life throughout the month of October!

My almost done
magical tree costume. :)

• First, how fun, creative, and exhilarating this Halloween has been for us! We planned and made our costumes from June to the beginning of October. We spent countless weekends sourcing and playing with all sorts of stuff while making our costumes. I was a magical tree and SO was a pyro magician. Basically, I was one giant, glowing, and eclectic tree, while SO set stuff on fire with propane gas. We also planned and choreographed a live performance for the family friends we visit in upstate NY every Halloween. We picked the music, choreographed the show, and practiced a number of times. All  of this anticipation and preparation led to a memorable and fantastic experience with our family friends who also had a surprise for us. They unveiled a ginormous spaceship in their garage, and played all kinds of awesome music while aliens, zombies and wolverines danced at the top of their driveway.

Beautiful fall leaves that I
found on one of the trails.

• Second, how wonderful it was to be camping and hiking in the Shenandoah National Park during autumn! After our long weekend in upstate NY, we worked 3 days and then left for a long weekend in Virginia. SO's parents came along too, since this camping trip has been a family tradition for them for many, many years. We hiked, cooked and hung out at the campsite, shared all sorts of stories, read together side by side in the tent, and had the pleasure to see and hear the one and only Charlie Maddox sing at the Big Meadows Lodge. SO has seen Maddox perform almost every year since he was a baby. Watching him and his parents sing all of Charlie's songs in unison was a beautiful and really fun experience. 

• Third, that I succeed in making creamed spinach taste just like my Mom's! Creamed spinach is one of my all-time favorite foods, but that's really only true if it comes out of my Mom's kitchen. So finally, I decided I was going to try to learn how to make it and it turned out great! It was so satisfying to breathe in the familiar aromas of cooked spinach and garlic, and to realize I could continue the Serbian recipe tradition! 

"Lifetime" compost tumbler

• Forth, we got a big, awesome COMPOST TUMBLER!! This is super exciting for us. In my earlier post on composting a few months back, I described the time-consuming and not-so-green way we were going about composting our kitchen scraps at the time. For a while my SO and I have been discussing getting a composter of our own. So we did some research about what works best for apartment dwellers, read customer reviews on Amazon about different compost bins and tumblers, and decided we were going to get one by November 1st. Between last month and a week ago, I had been tracking local ads on craigslist. Finally one showed up that looked good and voila, it's now sitting on our balcony. Loving it!

• And lastly, toasting to the 20 year anniversary of the California Desert Protection Act! The Joshua Tree National Park, Death Valley National Park, and the Mojave National Preserve were established in the California desert as a result of this Act that was signed on October 31, 1994.

And now I'd like turn to the whole idea of celebrating holidays and traditions, and why my SO and I decided to make up our own.  

So much of what we celebrate is prescribed by the society and culture we happen to live in. Most people follow along because they get a day off work, believe in (materialist) reciprocity, and/or because everyone else is doing it. Having realized all this, and primarily because we've come to despise the "biggest sham holiday of them all" - Xmas, my SO and I wanted to start celebrating things that we actually felt joyous about and that made a difference in our lives. 

Source

Along the way we also realized that in order to keep peace with the family we needed to make the best of all the consumerism-driven events such as Xmas and birthdays. That said, we've adapted by making homemade foods and crafts for Xmas gifts, and treating our friends and family with quality experiences. 

While we can't wait for the day when we no longer have to deal with the religious and retail tyranny of Xmas, we will go along to keep family peace by treating it like a family breakfast that we bring homemade treats to for our loved ones. 

On the other hand, we're big fans of Thanksgiving, which will get its own post at the end of this month. As far as we're concerned, and everyone we've every talked to about this, Thanksgiving is the best "official" holiday ever. 

Happy Celebrating!

~Modern Akhmatova