Nature is imperfectly perfect, filled with loose parts and possibilities, with mud and dust, nettles and sky, transcendent hands-on moments and skinned knees.
Natural play strengthens children's self-confidence and arouses their senses-their awareness of the world and all that moves in it, seen and unseen.
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
An environment-based education movement--at all levels of education--will help students realize that school isn't supposed to be a polite form of incarceration, but a portal to the wider world.
The woods were my Ritalin. Nature calmed me, focused me, and yet excited my senses.
We have such a brief opportunity to pass on to our children our love for this Earth, and to tell our stories. These are the moments when the world is made whole. In my children's memories, the adventures we've had together in nature will always exist.
Research suggests that exposure to the natural world - including nearby nature in cities - helps improve human health, well-being, and intellectual capacity in ways that science is only recently beginning to understand.
Quite simply, when we deny our children nature, we deny them beauty.
To take nature and natural play away from children may be tantamount to withholding oxygen.
Nature is about smelling, hearing, tasting, seeing.
Increasingly the evidence suggests that people benefit so much from contact with nature that land conservation can now be viewed as a public health strategy.
A natural environment is far more complex than any playing field.
Children who played outside every day, regrdless of weather, had better motor coordination and more ability to concentrate.
Nature is beautiful, but not always pretty.
If a child never sees the stars, never has meaningful encounters with other species, never experiences the richness of nature, what happens to that child?
Being close to nature, in general, helps boost a child's attention span.
Children need nature for the healthy development of their senses, and therefore, for learning and creativity.
We can conserve energy and tread more lightly on the Earth while we expand our culture's capacity for joy.
Nature is one of the best antidotes to fear.
What happens when all the parts of childhood are soldered down, when the young no longer have the time or space to play in their family's garden, cycle home in the dark with the stars and moon illuminating their route, walk down through the woods to the river, lie on their backs on hot July days in the long grass, or watch cockleburs, lit by morning sun, like bumblees quivering on harp wires? What then?
Each of us-adult or child-must earn nature's gift by knowing nature directly, however difficult it may be to glean that knowledge in an urban environment.
The times I spent with my children in nature are among my most meaningful memories-and I hope theirs.
Use all of your senses.
There is another possibility: not the end of nature, but the rebirth of wonder and even joy.
Most people are either awakened to or are strengthened in their spiritual journey by experiences in the natural world.
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