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Richard Louv

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Famous Richard Louv Quotes

“Prize the natural spaces and shorelines most of all, because once they're gone, with rare exceptions they're gone forever. In our bones we need the natural curves of hills, the scent of chapparal, the whisper of pines, the possibility of wildness. We require these patches of nature for our mental health and our spiritual resilience.”

NeedsSpiritualNaturalSpaceGoneForeverPossibilityMental HealthBonesResilienceHillsExceptionPrizeScentCurvesPatchesWildnessShoreline
Book:Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder
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“Unlike television, reading does not swallow the senses or dictate thought. Reading stimulates the ecology of the imagination. Can you remember the wonder you felt when first reading The Jungle Book or Tom Sawyer or Huckleberry Finn? Kipling’s world within a world; Twain’s slow river, the feel of freedom and sand on the secret island, and in the depths of the cave?”

WorldFeelsFirstsDoeBookRememberReadingFeltImaginationSecretWonderTelevisionRiversDepthSensesIslandsSandTomsEcologyCavesJungleSawyerHuckleberryKiplingJungle Book
Book:Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder
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“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.”

ChildrenPlayFoundSportsEnjoyEmotionalDevelopmentExerciseEssentialsBoundsOrganizedComponentsImaginativeStretchingChild DevelopmentPhysical ExercisePlaytimeOrganized Sports
Book:Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder
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“An indoor (or backseat) childhood does reduce some dangers to children; but other risks are heightened, including risks to physical and psychological health, risk to children's concept and perception of community, risk to self-confidence and the ability to discern true danger”

ChildrenDoeSelfNatureCommunityAbilityRiskChildhoodDangerPerceptionConceptsIncludingSelf ConfidencePsychologicalBackseatPsychological Health
Book:Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder
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“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.”

ThinkingForceAbilityPayAttentionCreativeInternetBalanceBenefitsHolesBoatPay AttentionProductiveDrainingImmersion
Book:The Nature Principle: Reconnecting with Life in a Virtual Age
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“In every bio-region, one of the most urgent tasks is to rebuild the community of naturalists - so radically depleted in recent years, as young people have spent less time in nature, and higher education has placed less value on such disciplines as zoology……The times are right for the return of the amateur, twenty-first-century, citizen naturalist. To be a citizen naturalist is to take personal action, to both protect and participate in nature.”

PeopleYearsFirstsActionYoungValuesCommunityCenturyReturnHigherCitizensDisciplineProtectTasksTwentiesRegionsUrgentHigher EducationNaturalistBiosZoology
Author:Richard Louv
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“Environment-based education produces student gains in social studies, science, language arts, and math; improves standardized test scores and grade-point averages; and develops skills in problem-solving, critical thinking, and decision-making.”

ThinkingArtProblemLanguageSocialNatureDecisionStudyEnvironmentStudentsProduceSkillsGainsTestsEnvironmentalAverageCriticalMathGradesScoreDecision MakingProblem SolvingCritical ThinkingSocial StudiesTest ScoresLanguage Arts
Book:Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder
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“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. The disorder can be detected in individuals, families, and communities.”

HumansUseIndividualCommunityAttentionEmotionalHigherCostDifficultyRateIllnessSensesDisorderDeficitAlienation
Book:Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder
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“It takes time--loose, unstructured dreamtime-- to experience nature in a meaningful way. Unless parents are vigilant, such time becomes a scarce resource, not because we intend it to shrink, but because time is consumed by multiple, invisible forces; because our culture currently places so little value on natural play.”

WayLittlesPlayValuesCultureForceParentNaturalResourcesMeaningfulInvisibleTake TimeMultipleShrinksConsumedScarceVigilantIt Takes TimeScarce ResourcesDreamtimeNatural Play
Author:Richard Louv
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“Now, my tree-climbing days long behind me, I often think about the lasting value of those early, deliciously idle days. I have come to appreciate the long view afforded by those treetops. The woods were my Ritalin. Nature calmed me, focused me, and yet excited my senses.”

ThinkingLongValuesViewsBehindsTreeAppreciateExcitedWoodsFocusedSensesLastingClimbingIdleRitalinTreetops
Book:Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder
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“The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reports that the number of overweight adult Americans increased over 60 percent between 1991 and 2000. According to CDC data, the U.S. population of overweight children between ages two and five increased by almost 36 percent from 1989 to 1999.”

ChildrenTwoAgeNumbersFiveDiseasePercentAdultsPopulationDataReportsOverweight
Book:Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder
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“A widening circle of researchers believes that the loss of natural habitat, or the disconnection from nature even when it is available, has enormous implications for human health and child development. They say the quality of exposure to nature affects our health at an almost cellular level.”

BelieveHumansChildrenNaturalLossLevelsQualityDevelopmentAvailableCirclesEnormousExposureImplicationsResearchersHabitatChild DevelopmentDisconnectionCellularHuman HealthNatural Habitats
Book:Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder
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“As the nature deficit grows, another emerging body of scientific evidence indicates that direct exposure to nature is essential for physical and emotional health. For example, new studies suggest that exposure to nature may reduce the symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and that it can improve all children's cognitive abilities and resistance to negative stresses and depression.”

MayChildrenBodyGrowsAbilityAttentionStudyExampleEmotionalEssentialsEvidenceNegativeDirectStressResistanceDisorderSymptomsExposureDeficitEmergingCognitiveEmotional HealthAdhdScientific EvidenceHyperactivity
Author:Richard Louv
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“Another British study discovered that average eight-year-olds were better able to identify characters from the Japanese card trading game Pokemon than native species in the community where they lived: Pikachu, Metapod, and Wigglytuff were names more familiar to them than otter, beetle, and oak tree.”

YearsCharacterAbleGamesNamesCommunityStudyTreeSpeciesAverageEightBritishFamiliarCardsNativeTradingOaksBeetlesOak TreeOttersPokemonPikachu
Book:Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder
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“From 1997 to 2003, there was a decline of 50 percent in the proportion of children nine to twelve who spent time in such outside activities as hiking, walking, fishing, beach play, and gardening, according to a study by Sandra Hofferth at the University of Maryland.”

ChildrenPlayStudyWalkingActivityPercentUniversityNineBeachProportionFishingTwelveGardeningDeclineHikingMaryland
Book:Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder
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“Nature is often overlooked as a healing balm for the emotional hardships in a child's life. You'll likely never see a slick commercial for nature therapy, as you do for the latest antidepressant pharmaceuticals. But parents, educators, and health workers need to know what a useful antidote to emotional and physical stress nature can be. Especially now.”

KnowsNeedsChildrenParentHealingEmotionalStressWorkersTherapyHardshipAntidoteEducatorOverlookedSlickAntidepressantsHealth Workers
Book:Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder
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“Stress reduction, greater physical health, a deeper sense of spirit, more creativity, a sense of play, even a safer life-these are the rewards that await a family then it invites more nature into children's lives.”

ChildrenPlaySpiritNatureCreativityGreaterStressRewardsDeeperInvitesReductionPhysical HealthStress Reduction
Book:Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder
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