JAMES HALL
›› FEATURE
Nah,
wilderness
Nature children are becoming
an endangered species—
here’s how to save them...
I t was a Christmas I’ll always remember. I had just explained
the true meaning of the holiday season to my young son
and told him that practicing kindness and nonviolence in
our homes empowered us to take these peaceful ideals to our
schools, communities and the world. All was very joyous in our
sunny, little bubble until we went shopping and strolled past the
electronics aisle at Target. There we innocently happened upon
a father and son obsessively playing a video game demo of what
appeared to be a displeased person on a random shooting spree.
“Silent Night” was playing on the store’s sound system and in
between each Silent night…holy night were gunfire blasts and
bomb explosions. Silent night. Bang, Bang! Holy night. Bang,
bang, bang! Sleep in heavenly peace. BOOM!
“How Christmassy,” I thought to myself.
I asked the salesperson if he could kindly turn down the vol-
ume just a tad and he replied, “No.” I then asked if he could
change the demo to a less-violent game. He looked at me in-
credulously as if I were cuckoo, and explained that the gaming
industry had paid for the high exposure of their new game and
there was nothing we concerned parents (chumps) could do
about it. I stood under the glittery, vinyl PEACE ON EARTH
holiday banner and watched other parents passing by with chil-
dren in strollers. No one seemed to notice the gunfire or the
irony. I began lightly tapping shoppers on the shoulder one at a
time, asking, “Why is it OK to have graphic violence blaring on
a large screen while you’re shopping? Could you file a complaint
14 PACIFIC SUN APRIL 10 - APRIL 16, 2009
by Annie Spie ge lman
with the manager? If we all speak out, we can change this.” KA-
BOOM! They stared at me and walked faster as if I were the one
armed and dangerous. So I stood there in my big, brown, fake-
fur Mama-bear coat and roared down the center aisle, “Don’t
you get it, people? Children exposed to repeated acts of violence
will assume that violence is an acceptable behavior. Your brains
have been captured! You’ve been desensitized. The pod people
have gotten to you!”
That’s when the security guard asked me to leave.
He gave me the corporate address to file a formal com-
plaint. I went home and wrote a letter to the store headquar-
ters and the video-game company in my most passionate
native New York tongue.
● ● ● ●
BY THE TIME our children leave elementary school, it is
estimated they will have seen 8,000 murders and 100,000 other
acts of violence on television. Gun-related violence takes the
life of an American child every three hours. Nearly a half-
century of psychological research has proven that violence is a
learned behavior, often learned when a child is young. Eighty
percent of the most popular video games on the market
involve violence and/or senseless destruction by cute little
cartoon characters. Add the deluge of inappropriate content
‘Here is this vast, savage, howling mother of ours,
Nature, lying all around, with such beauty, and such
affection for her children... and yet we are so early
weaned from her breast to society—to that culture
which is exclusively an interaction of man on man.’
—Henry David Thoreau
on the Internet, cell phones and iPods, and parents may as well
quit their day jobs so they can be on kid screen-patrol 24/7.
Parents are blamed and told it’s their responsibility to protect
their children in their homes. Parents are told it’s not the fault
or the problem of the government or the media or Hollywood
or the video-game makers.
All I’m asking is could ya work with us parents just a little?
If we give you bus fare and a doughnut, would you go away?
“Parents and other adults in the lives of children need
to limit children’s exposure to electronic media,” says Julia
Silva, director of the American Psychological Association’s
Violence Prevention Office and national director for the
ACT/Parents Raising Safe Kids program. “Too much screen
time means less time for free, unscripted, imaginative play
and creative activities. These are all important for a healthy
brain and for learning problem-solving skills and practic-
ing leadership. Studies indicate that children who play and
have contact with nature do better and have fewer behavior
problems in the classroom as well.”
In his best-selling book Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our
Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder, author and journalist
Richard Louv writes, “Children of the digital age have become
increasingly alienated from the natural world, with disastrous
implications, not only for their physical fitness, but for their
long-term mental and spiritual health.” Outdoor, unstructured
play is not just fun, it is also profoundly important in raising

‘Teaching children about the natural world should be treated as one of the most important events in their lives’—eco-theologian Thomas Berry
children who are physically, mentally and emotionally healthy. and frogs appeared in nearby ponds.
Last year three organizations—the Yale University School of
Medicine, the National Institutes of Health and California
Pacific Medical Center—reviewed 173 quantitative studies
from 1980 to the present, examining the relationship between
media exposure and seven health outcomes: childhood obe-
sity, tobacco use, drug use, alcohol use, low academic achieve-
ment, sexual behavior and ADHD. In 80 percent of the studies, disorder [a term coined by Louv in Last Child in
greater media exposure was associated with negative health
outcomes for children and teens. Sixty-nine percent found an
ANNIE SPIEGELMAN
to bring to their school or favorite community center. The
curriculum is modeled after California science standards
so students and teachers can work and learn together while
meeting their curriculum standards.
Studies are finding that students who participate in farm-
or garden-based nutrition education and school-garden pro-
grams double their overall fruit and vegetable consumption.
This is crucial information, especially considering pediatri-
cians now warn that because today’s children live a sedentary
lifestyle and are so chronically overfed, yet undernourished,
they may be the first generation of Americans since World War
II to die at an earlier age than their parents.
“As a volunteer garden mom at Lu Sutton Elementary
School’s garden [in Novato], I’ve seen a transformation with
students just by the simple act of sticking their fingers into
soil to plant a seed, to touch an earthworm or remove a slug,”
says Veronica Valero, executive director of Novato Live Well
Network, a nonprofit group working to educate the commu-
nity in sustainable living. “All of a sudden the children’s world
opens up just by the simple act of getting down on their hands
and knees to meet nature on its turf. It’s great to be outdoors
in the forest or fields and appreciate nature, but don’t un-
derestimate the power of a simple garden box at school or at
home to reconnect children to the wonders of nature. In our
“Doing this program for families lets the adults become edu-
fast-paced, in-your-face society, we need to re-teach them to
cated as well,” says Herlocker. One of his goals is to get nature-
stop and smell the roses. And, it’s not just children. Busy par-
hiking programs into schools. He feels this is where he can
ents also need to re-learn to slow down with their children. In
reach the kids whose parents are working full-time—and when
reconnecting with nature, we also reconnect with ourselves.”
they’re not working they’re not out in nature. “Those are the
For the last eight years, the Conservation Corps-North
ones who are really suffering from nature-deficit
Bay has been running Project Regeneration, a
four-week summer camp that engages junior
the Woods]. There is no other avenue to get to “In craning our
high and high school students in community
those kids,” says Herlocker. “I want to get them necks downward
service. “The idea is to get them outdoors and

CCNB
association between media exposure and increased attention outdoors where I can do a show-and-tell. They’ll
problems. The report also found that kids today are spending ask questions about virtually everything they see.
into our screens we on the land but also to get them to give some-
fail to recognize thing back to the community,” says Deputy
an alarming 45 hours per week with media, compared with 17 To me that’s the best thing I can do.”
Director Deborah Schoenbaum. “They carry
hours with parents and 30 hours in school. “We cannot cover A study conducted by the U.S.’s State Educa- that in looking
out projects all over the county. One day they
our kids’ eyes. We have to teach them to see. And the price for tion and Environment Roundtable found that
the freedom our kids enjoy is a bit of extra homework for par- schools with outdoor classrooms and other up and over those might be building owl boxes with WildCare
and another day they may be planting native
ents,” says Liz Perle, editor of Common Sense Media. “Parents forms of nature-based experiential education screens there’s a
plants at Point Reyes National Seashore. They
need to do their homework about what media content and were associated with significant student gains natural world out
go on field trips where they’re educated on
activities their kids are involved in. They need to teach kids in social science, social studies, language arts
16 >
and math. A 2005 review conducted by the there.”
their local environmental impact. They
how to use digital media responsibly and wisely.”
learn about climate change, reducing their
Last year U.S. Rep. John Sarbanes of Maryland and Sen. American Institute of Research studied three
carbon footprint, recycling and reusing.” Each
Jack Reed of Rhode Island co-sponsored the Reed-Sarbanes sixth-grade outdoor education programs in Southern Cali-
summer 350 children of very diverse upbringings apply to
No Child Left Inside Act, which would invest $500 million fornia and found that attending students raised their science
Project Regeneration and roughly half are chosen to partici-
to strengthen environmental education nationwide. The act testing scores by 27 percent.
pate in this popular program. “Sometimes they go out to work
would create environmental literacy plans in each state, provide Getting middle- and high-school kids out into nature can
with smaller kids and become ecological mentors for them.
teacher training in environmental education and offer oppor- be a challenge. Every time I suggest a hike or a mountain bike
Young ones listen to them. Not like parents and teachers!”
tunities to teach children outdoors. In September 2008, the U.S. ride to my sweet, electronic-gadget-worshiping 12-year-old
says Schoenbaum. “When kids write an essay at the end of the
House of Representatives approved the act by a bipartisan vote son, he rolls his eyes and asks what he did wrong to get me as
summer, the kids always write about the fact that they met and
of 293 to 109. It’s slowly making its way to the Senate. his mother. However, the enormous benefits of getting kids
had been exposed to kids that they otherwise would not have
outdoors far outweigh the risk of rolled eyes, sarcastic wise-
● ● ● ● met and what a powerful thing that is for them.”
cracks and exasperated drama queens. Marin Organic, an or-
WHAT CAN CONCERNED parents do, besides locking their ganization that provides local, organic food to 12,000 children Richard Louv writes: “It doesn’t matter what somebody’s
kids outside until the sun goes down—just as our parents politics or religion is; passionate memories of a childhood
in Marin every week, recently began taking young students, es-
did back in the good old days (the ’70s)? I decided to take a spent in nature are nearly universal. These memories are
pecially preteens and teenagers, out on “farm days.” The Farm
Sunday morning family hike with Marin Open Space District something we share in common. Except for younger people.”
Day program brings students out to local farms roughly twice
naturalist David Herlocker to get some outdoorsy tips. Her- Sigh...whatever happened to kids building forts, sitting
a month during peak season—the spring and fall—to glean
locker is animated, warm and dedicated to getting kids excited food on the farm. “All this is an effort to get food to people in tree houses, skipping stones and chasing girls with
about the natural world. With his background working as a worms and frogs?
who need it and to get kids on the farms. But really, it’s about
zookeeper, as well as at the California Academy of Sciences and relationships—building intimate relationships between people “Our attention has been hijacked from what’s beyond
the National Wildlife Federation, Herlocker frequently leads the screen,” says Mickey Freeman, award-winning director
and the land, between kids and their back yards,” says Scott
kid-friendly hikes through the semi-pristine trails and some- of the illuminating documentary The Weight of Obesity.
Davidson, School Lunch and Gleaning Program manager.
times-beaten paths of Marin open space. On this mid-March “In craning our necks downward into our screens we fail
“The connection to the land is missing, so [nature-deficit]
outing, he held a group of young children (along with their to recognize that in looking up and over those screens
symptoms evolve. The remedy to nature-deficit disorder is
parents and grandparents) mesmerized and awed for four there’s a natural world out there. This world not only
to get kids back to the land. We want to encourage teach-
hours on the hiking trails behind Indian Valley College. Using re-energizes our physical bodies but nurtures. Its natural
ers and high school groups in particular to come out on a
scientific terms we could retain, such as “shloopy-moopy” to rhythms help neutralize the unhealthy, sped-up, high-sug-
consistent basis and become familiar with a farm, a farmer
describe an exceedingly gelatinous mass of tree-frog eggs or ared confections we’ve been led to believe will gratify us.
and the crops over many visits. That’s how relationships
“rubber-ball-bouncy” for newt eggs, Herlocker and our group Our connections as people strengthens when we’re able
become stronger.” A typical farm day may involve milking a
happily carried on as a treasure trove of tadpoles, salamanders to make eye contact, observe body language, share stories
goat, learning about compost and soil, and harvesting crops
and check in at the end of the day by sitting around a din-
APRIL 10 - APRIL 16, 2009 PACIFIC SUN 15

Encore
Marin's Finest Consignment Shop
Now
Accepting
Spring
Fashions!
Open
10-5 Mon - Sat
Consignment Hours
Tues-Sat 10-3
456-7309 Video games can teach a very different lesson than a quiet stroll through Muir Woods.
11 Mary Street San Rafael
(next to Whole Foods) < 15 Nah, wilderness
ner table to share food that is so elemental
to us all.”
This Top Ten list provides ideas for parents
to get their young ones unplugged:
Say You 1. The experts say the most effective way
to get children to connect with nature is for
Saw it in the their parents to enthusiastically connect with
nature. Off the couch you go, slacker!
2. Adopt the “sunny day rule.” If it’s cold
Sun
and rainy outside, some screen time is OK,
but if it’s a beautiful day, out they go. Go play,
build, imagine, create, wander, lie on the green
(pesticide-free) grass and dream.
3. Encourage kids to go camping in the
back yard during the summer.
4. Build a tree house or fort.
5. Plant a fruit tree and nurture it. Harvest
it. Or join a local food co-op or community
garden (www.communitygarden.org). Plant
a garden. Each child can have his or her own
section to grow a favorite food or a butterfly
garden (see www.pollinator.org).
6. Encourage older kids to become
citizen scientists and become one yourself.
Volunteer at a wildlife rehabilitation center
We Won Again!
8
Upcoming Marin
Open Space District walks
❁ Beautiful Spring Arrivals April 11: San Geronimo Ridge The ridge
❁ Easter Egg Colors in at the top of Gary Giacomini Preserve is
Crisp 100% Cottons one of the great gems in the county. Meet
at the Willis Evans Trailhead on Redwood
❁ Affordable Artsy Garments Canyon Drive. 9am to 2pm.
❁ Organic Cottons & Bamboos April 13: Kent Pump Road The rushing
❁ Gifts–Jewelry–Shoes… stream in this gorgeous, shadowed can-
❁ XSmall to Plus Sizes yon will make you forget that the civilized
world is so close. Meet at Alpine Dam on
Bolinas-Fairfax Road. 10am to 2pm.
Get in here and check out
our Recession-Busting prices April 15: Nature for Kids at Cascade Can-
on GREAT CLOTHES. yon This preserve is home to lots of caterpillars, creek-dwelling insects, butterflies, lizards and
more. Meet at the Open Space District gate, end of Cascade Drive, in Fairfax. Parking limited.
See you soon, Karen
Karen Thompson, Owner Carpools recommended. 10am to 2pm.
April 17: Nature for Kids at Mount Burdell Focus will be on reptiles and insects in the forests,
meadows and wet places of Mount Burdell. Meet at the Open Space District gate at the end of
MONTECITO PLAZA San Andreas Road in Novato. 10am to 2pm.
(Next to Petco & Trader Joes)
4HIRD3Ts
sSAN RAFAEL April 19: Wildflowers and Waterfalls A short hike through the Cascade Canyon Preserve ending
with a chance to photograph one of Marin’s best waterfalls. Meet at Doc Edgar Park, Hickory Road at
Open Tues. - Sat. 10 am to 7 pm Cascade Drive, in Fairfax. 10am to noon. ✹
Sun. & Mon. 10-6
16 PACIFIC SUN APRIL 10 – APRIL 16, 2009
the beauty of a sunrise on a quiet, misty lake
under a turquoise sky is where their spirit
was silently nourished. If you’re an adult
who missed out on nature as a child, now is
your time to turn off the computer and go
build that tree house or take up fly-fishing
or become a beekeeper. Better yet, volunteer
at a school organic garden and harness the
wholesome, natural energy of young children
and the rejuvenating power of sun and soil.
As award-winning poet, novelist and farmer
Wendell Berry wrote in The Gift of Good
Land: “When going back makes sense, you are
going forward.” ✹
Contact Annie at annie@dirtdiva.com
Comment on this story in TownSquare, at
›› pacificsun.com
Just the facts: a few advocacy
or at a state park. groups working to save our
7. Go fishing! children from screens:
8. Take the kids food shopping at farmers
markets to meet their local farmers (www. Common Sense Media
marinfarmersmarkets.org). Teach them www.commonsensemedia.org
to cook real, unpackaged food. (Join a kids’
cooking camp at www.Operationchef.com.)
This is an outstanding national organi-
zation—based in the Bay Area—led by
concerned parents and individuals with
9. Read outside. Reading stimulates the
ecology of the imagination, especially if it’s
done outside, like in a park or a garden or a
experience in child advocacy, public
policy, education, media and entertain-
ment. CEO and founder James Steyer has
tree house. Yes, unplug the iPod first. created the nation’s leading nonpartisan
10. Go for a family walk when the moon organization dedicated to improving the
is full. Take a flashlight and listen for animals media lives of kids and families. Parents
calling. Owls and bats are out. Look up at of young children should check the Com-
the stars and acknowledge the fact that the mon Sense Media film or game reviews
earth was spinning just fine before e-mail and before taking kids to a film or purchasing
Twitter-Face popped up on the scene and a game they’re not quite sure about. It’s
just common sense.
engulfed our minds.
Remember, even if your children com- The Act Against Violence Program
plain about being outdoors instead of sitting www.Actagainstviolence.org
on a couch with their BFFs, eating Doritos, The American Psychological Associa-
blasting Green Day and playing sports-on- tion and the National Association for the
a-screen, the fact is that when kids grow up Education of Young Children have joined
and reminisce about their childhood, they together on a project called “ACT” (Adults
most often mention outdoor adventures as and Children Together). The ACT mission
their best memories. Cycling past a field of stresses teaching nonviolence in the
home especially during the early child-
purple and orange wildflowers or witnessing
hood ages of 0 to 8 years and encourages
parents to be the best role models for
ANNIE SPIEGELMAN
nonviolent problem-solving.
The Lion & Lamb Project
www.Lionlamb.org
The Lion & Lamb Project works to reduce
the marketing of violent toys, games and
entertainment to children in two distinct
ways: working with parents and other
concerned adults to reduce the demand
for violent products, and with industry
and government to reduce the supply of
Naturalist David Herlocker, left, tries to prevent Marin kids such products. The group believes it can
from developing nature deficit disorder. Sadly, he’s too late help forge a national consensus that vio-
for the dad at top with the cell phone.
lence is not child’s play and just like pol-
luting and littering has become “uncool,”
so can the tolerance and acceptance of
manufacturing and marketing violent
toys and entertainment products.
Richard Louv’s Children
and Nature Network
www.cnaturenet.org
“Building a movement to reconnect
children with nature.” ✹