You probably wouldn’t be surprised to learn that studies indicate that children are spending half as much time outside as they did 20 years ago. Child advocacy expert Richard Louv directly links the lack of nature in the lives of today's wired generation—he calls it nature-deficit—to some of our most disturbing childhood trends, such as the rises in obesity, attention disorders, and depression. Louv, author of one of the classic books on fathering, Fatherlove: What We Need, What We Seek, What We Must Create (1993), has stimulated an international conversation about the future relationship between children and nature, and has helped spawn a movement that is now moving into the international sphere.  Check out the Children and Nature Network at www.childrenandnature.org.

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