June 21, 2005
6/22 - Does anyone mind that we're raising a generation that finds nature to be boring?
Yes, I know you have a son or daughter or niece or nephew who just loves nature. I'm talking averages here. The average American kid. Not the kids of ocean conservationists. The average American kids are changing. The video game addiction level in America's youth has reached the point where its effect on sports viewing is measurable according an article yesterday in the NY Times. If its that strong to make a dent in such a standard pastime of growing up in America, what's the effect on how much kids go out in nature? One first attempt to comment on this was provided by, "Last Child in the Woods: Saving our children from nature deficit disorder" by Richard Louv (btw, its about time for us to do a new top ten books list). Is anyone thinking about the consequences of living in a country where adults someday will find nature to be not sufficiently stimulating to bother preserving? How are the major environmental organizations responding to this growing crisis? (by printing more brochures, yea!)
Nature: better figure out a way to make it interactive, or else.