I finished (re)reading Richard Louv’s book, The Nature Principle, this week. Richard Louv founded the Children & Nature Network. I’ve written about his work before (for example). He’s the author of Last Child in the Woods (2005), and Vitamin N (N for Nature) which I was reading when I discovered Nature Principle (2011) is the middle book in what Louv refers to as a trilogy. I decided to reread it in that context and then jump back in to Vitamin N (2016).
As I was reading this very long book, overflowing with positive examples of people doing great work with children and young adults all over the world, I was struck by a story Louv told in the last chapter, Chapter 21…
“Not long ago, Arno Chrispeels, a science teacher at Poway High School in California, invited me to talk with his students about the changed relationship between the young and the natural world. I was prepared for twenty or so students to attend the talk. To my surprise, the auditorium was packed with over two hundred students. (They were given extra credit.) I braced for gum popping and note passing. But as I spoke, the students became intently curious, and not because I am a great speaker—I am adequate—but because of something else. I talked about two topics. First, the growing body of scientific evidence showing how outdoor experiences can enhance their ability to learn and think, expand their senses, and improve their physical and mental health. Their health, not an abstraction. Second, I talked about the fact that, because of climate change and the other crushing environmental problems that we face, everything in the coming decades must change. We’ll need new sources of energy; new types of agriculture; new urban design and new kinds of schools, workplaces, and health care. Whole new careers will emerge that have yet to be named.
As the students left the auditorium, I turned to Chrispeels and asked, ‘What was that about? Why were they paying such close attention? I didn’t expect that reaction.’
‘Simple,’ he said. ‘You said something positive about the future of the environment. They never hear that.'”
The Reading Table
On my reading table right now is this wondrous book…by author and illustrator Rachel Ignotofsky. Rachel wrote and illustrated the book Women in Science—Fifty Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World, a book Maria Popova of BrainPickings calls “one of the best science books of 2016.” The Wondrous Workings of Planet Earth—Understanding Our World and Its Ecosystems is written at a middle school level but is intended for everyone. I am savoring it. And sharing it with everyone I know.
You can click through some sample pages here on Rachel’s website.
And you can read a short interview with Rachel on The Verge here.
#FridaysforFuture #Climatestrike
SROCC, the IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere, 9/25/19
