Richard Louv

Helping children connect with nature to improve their mental and physical health is a growing movement that will take form at the NCE in the person of keynote speaker Richard Louv, the force behind the theory of nature deficit disorder.

Louv, the author of Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder and chairman of the Children & Nature Network, will speak October 2, during the NCE Opening Plenary Session.

"I'm careful not to represent nature-deficit disorder as a known medical diagnosis." Louv said. "But the phrase has proven to be useful shorthand for what many of us felt was going on, but had no words for, which is the generational disconnection with nature.

"This has implications for our children's mental and physical health, their ability to learn and our future relationship with the natural world — in terms of our willingness to care for it."

Louv defines nature deficit disorder as the impact of human alienation from nature, adding that it is a condition of society, not of individual children. In the last 10 years, an increasing number of studies have linked improvements in children's health to discovering the great outdoors.

"It is a terribly under-researched arena, but the research that is coming forward suggests some very interesting things," he said. "The University of Illinois has done studies of children with the symptoms of attention deficit disorder, and reports that those symptoms get much better with just a little bit of contact with nature. Recent studies at the University of Washington and the University of Indiana looked at inner-city neighborhoods and found that the greener the neighborhood, the lower the rate of obesity — independent of population density."

More research is needed about the impact of nature experience on human health and well-being, Louv said, and he quoted Howard Frumkin, MD, MPH, DrPh, special assistant to the director for climate change and health at the Centers for Disease Control, who said, "Yes, we need more research, but we know enough to act."

"Pediatricians are especially important," Louv said. "I do hope pediatricians as individuals will use their best judgment when suggesting to families that they go outside and spend time in nature, for health and happiness."

To learn more, visit the Children & Nature Network website, www.childrenandnature.org/, which offers a research section with abstracts of 120 studies, including links to the original research.