Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder (43 page)

33   
The Netherlands, often associated with
J. Verboom, R. van Kralingen, and U. Meier,
Teenagers and Biodiversity—Worlds Apart?: An essay on young people’s views on nature and the role it will play in their future
(Wageningen, Netherlands: Alterra, 2004).

34   
In the United States, children spend
R. Clements, “An Investigation of the State of Outdoor Play,”
Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood
5, no. 1 (2004): 68–80.

34   
according to a study by Sandra Hofferth
S. L. Hofferth and J. F. Sandberg, “How American Children Spend Their Time,”
Journal of Marriage and Family
63, no. 3 (2001): 295–308.

35   
The Daily Monitor, published in Addis Ababa
Berthe Waregay, “Ethiopia: ‘No Child Left Inside,’”
Daily Monitor
, March 28, 2007.

35   
In the medical journal the
Lancet J. Reilly, D. Jackson, C. Montgomery, L. Kelly, C. Slater, S. Grant, and J. Paton, “Total Energy Expenditure and Physical Activity in Young Scottish Children: Mixed Longitudinal Study,”
Lancet
363, no. 9404: 211–212.

43   
“biophilia,” the hypothesis of Harvard University scientist
Edward O. Wilson,
Biophilia
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1984).

44   
modern psychology has split the inner life from the outer life
Theodore Roszak,
Psychology Today
(January/February, 1996).

44   
“Psychotherapists have exhaustively analyzed every form of dysfunctional family”
Lisa Kocian, “Exploring the Link Between Mind, Nature,”
Boston Globe
, May 30, 2002.

45   
significant decreases in blood pressure simply by watching fish
Peter H. Kahn, Jr.,
The Human Relationship with Nature
(Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1999), 15; citing Aaron Katcher, Erika Freidmann, Alan M. Beck, and James J. Lynch, “Looking, Talking, and Blood Pressure: The Physiological Consequences of Interaction with the Living Environment” in Aaron Katcher and A. Beck, eds.,
New Perspectives on Our Lives with Companion Animals
(Philadelphia: University of Philadelphia Press, 1983).

45   
The mortality rate of heart-disease patients
Peter H. Kahn, Jr.,
The Human Relationship with Nature
(Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1999), 16; citing Alan M. Beck and Aaron Katcher,
Between Pets and People: The Importance of Animal Companionship
(West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press, 1996).

46   
ten-year study of gallbladder surgery patients
Howard Frumkin, “Beyond Toxicity: Human Health and the Natural Environment,”
American Journal of Preventive Medicine
(April 2001): 234–240.

46   
people who watch images of natural landscape . . . calm markedly
Roger S. Ulrich, “Human Experiences with Architecture,”
Science
, April 1984.

46   
our visual environment profoundly affects our physical and mental well-being
Gordon Orians and Judith Heerwagen, “Evolved Responses to Landscapes,” in Jerome Barkow, Leda Cosmides, and John Tooby, eds.,
The Adapted Mind: Evolutionary Psychology and the Generation of Culture
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992), vol. 7, no. 1: 555–579.

47   
The childhood link between outdoor activity and physical health
Frederick J. Zimmerman, Dimitri A. Christakis, and Andrew N. Meltzoff, “Television and DVD/Video Viewing in Children Younger Than 2 Years,”
Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine
161, no. 5 (May 2007).

47   
Approximately 60 percent of obese children
Paul Muntner, Jiang He, Jeffrey A. Cutler, Rachel P. Wildman, and Paul K. Whelton, “Trends in Blood Pressure among Children and Adolescents,”
JAMA
291, no. 17 (May 2004): 2107–2113.

47   
While children in many parts
“Obesity and Overweight,” World Health Organization, Fact Sheet No. 311, September 2006,
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/
factsheets/fs311/en/index.html
.

48   
“Play in natural settings”
H. L. Burdette and R. C. Whitaker, “Resurrecting Free Play in Young Children: Looking Beyond Fitness and Fatness to Attention, Affiliation and Affect,”
Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine
159, no. 1 (2005): 46–50.

48   
“Play in natural settings”
R. C. Klesges, L. H. Eck, C. L. Hanson, C. K. Haddock, L. M. Klesges, “Effects of Obesity, Social Interactions, and Physical Environment on Physical Activity in Preschoolers,”
Health Psychology
9, no. 4 (1990): 435–449.

48   
“Play in natural settings”
T. Baranowski, W. O. Thompson, R. H. DuRant, J. Baranowski, and J. Puhl, “Observations on Physical Activity in Physical Locations: Age, Gender, Ethnicity, and Month Effects,”
Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport
64, no. 2 (1993): 127–133.

48   
“Play in natural settings”
J. F. Sallis, P. R. Nader, S. L. Broyle, C. C. Berry, J. P. Elder, T. L. McKenzie, and J. A. Nelson, “Correlates of Physical Activity at Home in Mexican-American and Anglo-American Preschool Children,”
Health Psychology
12, no. 5 (1993):390–398.

48   
Recent studies describe tantalizing evidence
I. Fjortoft, “The Natural Environment as a Playground for Children,”
Early Childhood Education Journal
29. no. 3 (2001): 111–117.

48   
Recent studies describe tantalizing evidence
P. Grahn, F. Martensson, B. Lindblad, P. Nilsson, and A. Ekman,
Ute pa Dagis
. Stad & Land 145 (Hassleholm, Sweden: Nora Skane Offset, 1997).

49   
Adults, too, seem to benefit
J. Pretty, J. Peacock, M. Sellens, and M. Griffin, “The Mental and Physical Health Outcomes of Green Exercise,”
International Journal of Environmental Health Research
15, no. 5 (2005): 319–337.

49   
Adults, too, seem to benefit
M. Bodin and T. Hartig, “Does the Outdoor Environment Matter for Psychological Restoration Gained through Running?”
Psychology of Sport and Exercise
4, no. 2 (April 2003): 141–153.

49   
the rate at which American children are prescribed antidepressants
Thomas Delate, Alan J. Gelenberg, Valarie A. Simmons, and Brenda R. Motheral, “Trends in the Use of Anitidepressants in a National Sample of Commercially Insured Pediatric Patients, 1998 to 2002,”
Psychiatric Services
55 (April 2004): 387–391.

50   
spending on such drugs . . . surpassed spending on antibiotics
Linda A. Johnson, “Behavior Drugs Top Kids’ Prescriptions,”
Associated Press
, May 17, 2004.

50   
one of the main benefits of spending time in nature is stress reduction
Peter H. Kahn, Jr.,
The Human Relationship with Nature
(Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1999), 13; citing R. S. Ulrich, “Biophilia, Biophobia, and Natural Landscapes,” in S. R. Kellert and E. O. Wilson, eds.,
The Biophilia Hypothesis
(Washington, DC: Island Press, 1993), 73–137.

50   
a room with a view of nature can help protect children against stress
Nancy Wells and Gary Evans, “Nearby Nature: A Buffer of Life Stress among Rural Children,”
Environment and Behavior
35 (2003): 311–330.

51   
children and parents who live in places that allow for outdoor access
M. Huttenmoser, “Children and Their Living Surroundings: Empirical Investigations into the Significance of Living Surrounds for the Everyday Life and Development of Children,”
Children’s Environments Quarterly
12 (1995): 403–413.

51   
Nature also offers nurturing solitude
K. Korpela, “Adolescents’ Favorite Places and Environmental Self-regulation,”
Journal of Environmental Psychology
12 (1992): 249–258.

53   
“We have a small hill, a mound”
From an interview in the online professional journal
The Massachusetts Psychologist
,
http://www.masspsy.com
(1999).

58   
“Superficially, the world has become small and known”
Tony Hillerman, ed.,
The Spell of New Mexico
(Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press, 1976), 29–30; citing
Phoenix: The Posthumous Papers of D. H. Lawrence
, ed. Edward D. McDonald (New York: Viking, 1978).

61   
Such design emphasis now permeates malls
John Beardsley, “Kiss Nature Goodbye,”
Harvard Design Magazine
10 (winter/spring 2000).

62   
“countless possibilities for moving ads out of the virtual world”
Matt Richtel, “Nature, Brought to You by . . .,”
New York Times
, August 11, 2002.

66   
“Children live through their senses”
Robin C. Moore, “The Need for Nature: A Childhood Right,”
Social Justice
24, no. 3 (fall 1997): 203.

66   
Little is known about the impact of new technologies
Robert Kraut, Vicki Lundmark, Michael Patterson, Sara Kiesler, Tridas Mukopadhyay, and William Scherlis, “Internet Paradox: A Social Technology That Reduces Social Involvement and Psychological Well-Being?”
American Psychologist
53, no. 9 (September 1998): 1017–1031.

71   
Ben Franklin lived a block from Boston Harbor
H. W. Brands,
The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin
(New York: Doubleday, 2000), 17.

72   
“The core of the naturalist intelligence”
Ronnie Durie, “An Interview with Howard Gardner,
Mindshift Connection
(Saint Paul, MN: Zephyr Press, 1996).

73   
“Were I granted another lifetime or two”
Howard Gardner, “Multiple Intelligences after Twenty Years” (paper presented at the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, Illinois, April 2003). © Howard Gardner: Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, MA.

77   
“Noses seem to make perfectly good perches”
Robert Michael Pyle,
The Thunder Tree: Lessons from an Urban Wildland
(New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1993), 147.

84   
Ben and his friends liked to hunt small fish
Brands,
The First American
, 18.

86   
“the natural genius of childhood and the ‘spirit of place’”
Bernard Berenson,
Sketch for a Self-Portrait
(Toronto: Pantheon Books, 1949), 18.

87   
“Natural spaces and materials stimulate children’s limitless imaginations”
Robin C. Moore and Herb H. Wong,
Natural Learning: Creating Environments for Rediscovering Nature’s Way of Teaching
(Berkeley, CA: MIG Communications, 1997).

87   
Early theorectical work in this field was done by . . . Simon Nicholson
Simon Nicholson, “The Theory of Loose Parts,”
Landscape Architecture
62, no. 1 (1971): 30–34.

87   
A typical list of loose parts for a natural play area
Simon Nicholson, “How Not to Cheat Children: The Theory of Loose Parts,”
Landscape Architecture
62, no. 1 (1971): 30–34.

88   
Researchers have also observed that when children played
Among the studies of creative play mentioned:

Mary Ann Kirkby, “Nature as Refuge in Children’s Environments,”
Children’s Environments Quarterly
6, no. 1 (1989): 7–12.

Patrik Grahn, Fredrika Martensson, Bodil Lindblad, Paula Nilsson, and Anna Ekman,
Ute pa Dagis
. Stad & Land 145 (Outdoor daycare. City and country), Hassleholm, Sweden: Norra Skane Offset, 1997.

Karen Malone and Paul J. Tranter, “School Grounds as Sites for Learning: Making the Most of Environmental Opportunities,”
Environmental Education Research
9, no. 3 (2003): 283–303.

Andrea Faber Taylor, Angela Wiley, Frances Kuo, William Sullivan, “Growing Up in the Inner City: Green Spaces as Places to Grow,”
Environment and Behavior
30, no. 1 (1998): 3–27.

Susan Herrington and Kenneth Studtmann, “Landscape Interventions: New Directions for the Design of Children’s Outdoor Play Environments,”
Landscape and Urban Planning
42, no. 2–4 (1998): 191–205.

88   
In Denmark, a more recent study
“Outdoor Kindergartens Are Better at Stimulating Children’s Creativity Than Indoor Schools,”
Copenhagen Post
, October 10, 2006.

89   
children were self-selecting the spaces in which they played
Andrea Faber Taylor and Frances E. Kuo, “Is Contact with Nature Important for Healthy Child Development? State of the Evidence,” in
Children and Their Environments: Learning, Using, and Designing Spaces
, ed. Christopher Spencer and Mark Blades (Cambridge, UK): Cambridge University Press, 2006).

90   
“During the winter months [Clarke] often cycled home”
Neil McAleer,
Arthur C. Clarke: The Authorized Biography
(Chicago: Contemporary Books, 1992), 4, 10.

90   
“I saw baby chickens come out of eggs”
Neil Baldwin,
Edison: Inventing the Century
(1995; reprint, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2001), 18–19.

91   
“The changes of the seasons, the play of the light”
Joseph P. Lash,
Eleanor and Franklin
(New York: Signet Press, 1971), 64, 66.

92   
The two siblings “smuggled home innumerable beetles”
Margaret Lane,
The Tale of Beatrix Potter: A Biography
(London: Penguin Books, 2001).

94   
inventiveness and imagination . . . was rooted in their early experiences of nature
Edith Cobb,
The Ecology of Imagination in Childhood
(New York: Columbia University Press, 1977).

94   
Cobb’s theory must be amended to allow for different degrees of experience
Louise Chawla, “Ecstatic Places,”
Children’s Environments Quarterly
3, no. 4 (winter 1986); and Louise Chawla, “Life Paths into Effective Environmental Action,”
Journal of Environmental Education
31, no. 1 (1990): 15–26.