Last Child in the Woods (Chapters 1-5) PDF

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The student will be responsible for independent reading and pursuit of understanding of the narrative, as well as compose summary pages of quotes of importance for later presentations.
Professor Dr. Randall Burtz...

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Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv Saving our children from nature deficit disorder.   “There was a child went forth every day, And the first object he look’d upon, that object he became, And that object became part of him for the day or a certain part of the day, Or for many years or stretching cycles of years. The early lilacs became part of this child, And grass and white and red morning glories, and white and red clover, and the song of the phoebe-bird, And the Third-month lambs and the sow’s pink-faint litter, and the mare’s foal and the cow’s calf…” -Walt Whitman  “I like to play indoors better ‘cause that’s where all the electrical outlets are.” -A fourth-grader in San Diego  “Reducing that deficit–– healing the broken bond between our young and nature–– is in our self-interest, not only because aesthetics or justice demands it, but also because our mental, physical, and spiritual health depends upon it” -Richard Louv (page 3)  “...many people now of college age–– those who belong to the first generation to grow up in a largely de-natured environment–– have tasted just enough to intuitively understand what they have missed. This yearning is a source of power. These young people resist the rapid slide from real to the virtual, from mountains to the Matrix. They do not intend to be the last children in the woods.” -Richard Louv (page 4)  “Nature offers healing for a child living in a destructive family or neighborhood… Given a chance, a child will bring the confusion of the world to the woods, wash it in the creek, turn it over to see what lives on the unseen side of that confusion.” -Richard Louv (page 7)  “‘When I’m in the woods,’ she said,’I feel like I’m in my mother’s shoes.’” -Richard Louv quoting a fifth-grade girl who wanted to be a poet when she grew up (page 13)  “A severance of the public and private mind from our food’s origins; a disappearing line between machines, humans, and other animals; an increasingly intellectual understanding of our relationship with other animals; the invasion of our cities by wild animals (even as urban/suburban designers replace wilderness with synthetic nature);

and the rise of a new kind of suburban form.” -Richard Louv (page 19)  “More young people may be vegetarians or consume food from the health food store, but fewer are likely to raise their own food– especially if the food is an animal.” -Richard Louv (page 21)  “The animal-rights movement has taught them about the conditions within, say, poultry factory farms. It’s probably no coincidence high school and college students are adopting vegetarianism in increasing numbers. Such knowledge, however, does not necessarily mean that the young are personally involved with their food sources.” -Richard Louv (page 21)  “In 2003, the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Protection Agency funded researchers to develop a tree capable of changing colors when exposed to a biological or chemical attack. And the University of California promoted ‘birth control for trees,’ a genetically engineered method of creating a ‘eunuch-tree that spends more of its energy making wood and not love.’” -Richard Louv (page 23)  “‘You look at these kids [in the animal-rights movement], and you largely see urban, disaffected, but still privileged people,’ says Mike Two Horses, of Tucson, founder of the Coalition to End Racial Targeting of Native American Indian Nations... ‘They’re disconnected from the sources of their food–– even from the sources of the soy and other vegetable proteins they consume.’” -Richard Louv (page 24)  “After ethnically cleansing the natives, they set about the extermination of bears, mountain lions, coyotes and wildfowl… but mountain lions adapted. Los Angeles may be the only city on earth with mountain lion victim support group.” -Richard Louv (page 25)  “Countless communities have virtually outlawed unstructured nature play, often because of the threat of lawsuits, but also because of a growing obsession with order.” -Richard Louv (page 28)  “However, in some communities, young people who try to recreate their parents’ childhoods may face misdemeanor charges or see their parents sued.” -Richard Louv (page 29)  “As open space shrinks, overuse increases.” -Richard Louv (page 30) 

“Eight of the nation’s ten highest-density metropolitan areas are in the West.” -Richard Louv (page 30)  “ ‘We tell our kids that traditional forms of outdoor play are against the rules,’ says Rick. ‘Then we get on their backs when they sit in front of the TV–– and then we tell them to go outside and play. But where? How? Join another organized sport? Some kids don’t want to be organized all the time. They want to let their imaginations run; they want to see where a stream of water takes them.” -Richard Louv (page 31)  “‘We also don’t know if there is any geographic or class divide, in terms of which kids spend time in nature.’” -Louise Chawla (page 32)  “Good longitudinal studies that span the decades are missing. ‘We don’t have older data to compare. No one thought to ask these questions thirty or fifty years ago.’” -Louise Chawla (page 32)  “How could something so timeless change in such a short time?” -Richard Louv (page 32)  “‘And that an indoor, sedentary childhood is linked to mental health problems.’” -James Sallis (page 32)  “I asked him what he had learned about how children use woods, fields, canyons, and vacant lots–– in other words, unstructured natural sites. ‘We don’t ask about those places,’ he said.” -Richard Louv (page 32)  “‘One of the great benefits of unstructured outdoor recreation is that it doesn’t cost anything,’ Sallis explained. ‘Because it’s free there’s no major economic interest involved. Who’s going to fund the research? If kids are out there riding their bikes or walking, they’re not burning fossil fuel, they’re nobody’s captive audience, they’re not making money for anybody… Follow the money.’” -(page 33)  “Either indoor spaces have become more attractive, or outdoor spaces have become less attractive–– or both.” -Keiki Haginoya (page 33)  “Some researchers have suggested that nature deficit is growing fastest in English-speaking countries. That may be true, but the phenomenon is occurring in

developing countries in general.” -Richard Louv (page 35)  “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 illnesses.” -Richard Louv (page 36)  “She believed people are unlikely to value what they cannot name. ‘One of my students told me that every time she learns the name of a plant, she feels as if she is meeting someone new. Giving a name to something is a way of knowing it.’” -Elaine Brooks (page 41)  “Biophilia–– the urge to affiliate with other forms of life.” -page 43  “‘Digging in the soil has a curative effect on the mentally ill.” -page 45  “In 1955, Michigan State University awarded that first graduate degree in horticultural/occupational therapy.” -page 45  “The obesity epidemic coincides with the greatest increase in organized children’s sports in history.” -Richard Louv (page 48)  “You’ll likely never see a slick commercial for nature therapy, as you do the latest antidepressant pharmaceuticals.” -Richard Louv (page 49)  “For the first time, spending on such drugs, if medications for attention disorders are included, surpassed spending on antibiotics and asthma medications for children. Although countless children who suffer from mental illness and attention disorders do benefit from medication, the use of nature as an alternative, additional, or preventative therapy is being overlooked.” -Richard Louv (page 50)  “I really believe that there is something about nature–– that when you are in it, it makes you realize that there are far larger things at work than yourself.” -page 52 

“‘There are countless possibilities for moving ads out the virtual world and into the real one. Sponsorship-wise, it’s time for nature to carry its weight.’” -page 62  “More important, why do so many people no longer consider the physical world worth watching?” -Richard Louv (page 63)  “‘What I see in America today is an almost religious zeal for the technological approach to every facet of life.’” -Daniel Yankelovich (page 65)  “Instructors in medical schools find it increasingly difficult to teach how the heart works as a pump, he says, ‘because these students have so little real-world experience; they’ve never siphoned anything, never fixed a car, never worked on a fuel pump, may not even have hooked up a garden hose. For a whole generation of kids, direct experiences in the backyard, the tool shed, in the fields and woods, has been replaced by indirect learning, through machines.’” -Frank Wilson, professor of neurology at the Stanford University School of Medicine...