Michael F. Shaughnessy
Senior Columnist EdNews.org
Eastern New Mexico University

1. Please tell us about the Children and Nature Network.

The Children & Nature Network (C&NN) is a not-for-profit, non-partisan, educational and advocacy organization, founded in 2006. It was formed in part as a result of the tremendous response to a book by the author, Richard Louv, who wrote Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder (Algonquin, 2005).

No other organization has that sole purpose, focus and vision.  In 2006, we launched a campaign to Leave No Child Inside.  The mission of the Children & Nature Network is to give every child in every community a wide range of opportunities to experience nature directly—and to do whatever we can to see that those experiences occur.

2) What exactly are you trying to accomplish?

To re-connect children and nature, in their daily lives—where they live, play, go to school, and any place else they may be—with frequency, variety, and safety.

3) Why should parents take their kids for a walk in the woods, or to a lake or even better to the Grand Canyon? 

Connection with nature brings a host of benefits—peace of mind, creativity, cognitive flexibility, improved problem solving, self esteem, self-discipline and all the other obvious benefits if some exercise is associated with that time in the out-of-doors.  We have an obesity epidemic in the US.  Walking, hiking, swimming, fishing, camping, and simple “free play” in the out-of-doors and more can contribute to overall health and well-being.

4)  Why should kids be exposed to trees, nature, wild animals, rivers, mountains, streams, lakes and oceans?

There are many reasons.  Time in the out-of-doors, on a regular basis, yields a host of mental, physical, emotional and spiritual benefits.  When children get to know a “place,” from a backyard to a nearby woods to a place they might camp, and any number of other outdoor settings, that intimacy builds both love and knowledge.  When people get that foundation in childhood, no matter where their life path takes them, they will tend to be smarter, healthier, and more successful.

5) What happens to kids in the large urban cities who never get to sleep out under the stars, or wade in brooks?  

City kids can sometimes sleep under the stars and wade in brooks in the cities!  There are an abundance of simple, accessible, and magical outdoor places in many city and neighborhood settings.

  Certainly the grandeur of a night sky far from city lights is awe-inspiring—but we should not be thinking that the wild settings are the only place for inspiration.  In fact, for children, simply being able to play freely, in a safe place, in the out-of-doors, and on a regular basis is where it all begins.  So backyards, neighborhood parks, playgrounds, and undeveloped areas in towns and cities can be all that is needed to make the connection we are talking about.  There are things that need to be done, in many cases, however, to improve the safety and ecological richness of those settings.

6) So many kids spend so much time in front of the TV and playing video games. How do we convince parents to take them to the zoo or a park? 

Parents want to do what is best for their children.  What has happened in the past few decades—almost without anyone realizing it, until Richard Louv made it so apparent in Last Child in the Woods, is that well-intentioned parents have filled their children’s lives with scheduled events and activities that tend to take the children far from nature.  When you combine school, soccer, music and dance with television, IPods, and computers—all of which have value but are disproportionately consuming children’s time—the results overall are detrimental to many children.  Parents need to hear that getting outside is good for children.

7) Do you advocate for certain groups such as the Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts? Groups that foster nature, and hiking, camping and exploration?

The Children & Nature Network advocates for and encourages involvement with all responsible organizations and individuals that help children to re-connect with nature.

8)   What do you see as the benefits of communing with nature? 

There are a host of tangible benefits for people of all ages.  C&NN has published an annotated bibliography of 20 premier research studies on our web site.  Visit www.cnaturenet.org and you will find Volume 1 of the C&NN Research and Studies.  We will update this listing and add to it.

9) Where are you located and where can readers can more information? Do you
have a web site?


C&NN has a web site at www.cnaturenet.org. Anyone interested can sign up to be a member of the Children & Nature Network and the Campaign to Leave No Child Inside.  There is no cost—just register at the web site.  We update the web site regularly with a host of resources and stories of good works of many, many people and organizations.  And, if you sign up, you will also receive periodic newsletter and other resources from us.  Join us!

Published March 14, 2007