Free Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv Page B

bolstering children’s resilience against stress or adversity,” Wells and Evans reported.
    One reason for the emotional benefits of nature may be that green space fosters social interaction and thereby promotes social support. For instance, a Swedish study shows that children and parents who live in places that allow for outdoor access have twice as many friends as those who have restricted outdoor access due to traffic. Of course, no one would argue that nature’s solace is
entirely
dependent on the social interaction that nature may encourage.
    Nature also offers nurturing solitude. A study of Finnish teenagers showed that they often went into natural settings after upsetting events; there, they could clear their minds and gain perspective and relax. After a classroom discussion I conducted at the University of San Diego about nature and childhood, Lauren Haring, a twenty-year-old student, described the importance of nature to her emotional health:
    Growing up [in Santa Barbara, California], I lived in a house that had a fairly big back yard and a creek across the street. It was when I was by myself that the environment meant the most to me. Nature was the one place where, when everything in my life was going bad, I could go and not have to deal with anyone else.
    My dad died of brain cancer when I was nine. It was one of the most difficult times for my family and myself. Going out into nature was one outlet that I had, which truly allowed me to calm down and not think or worry.
    I really believe that there is something about nature—that when you are in it, it makes you realize that there are far larger things at work than yourself. This helps to put problems in perspective. And it is the only place where the issues facing me do not need immediate attention or resolution. Being in nature can be a way to escape without fully leaving the world.
    Richard Herrmann, a nature photographer, also understands the healing qualities of nature, which helped him through a tragic time. He told me:
    My first memories of being affected by the natural world were from my youth growing up at Pacific Grove, not far from the burned-out cannery of Cannery Row. I remember being four years old, and looking into a tide pool, and being mesmerized by the tiny fishes swimming through the shimmering water, and the anemones and crabs scurrying about. I was transfixed; I could have looked at the same pool for days. To me, the tide pool represented perfection, and calmness. I also remember my father returning from fishing in the bay with sacks of colorful rock cod . . . I found them beautiful. They represented special treasures from the sea.
    I was a kid who could not sit still for more than a few minutes, so school was painful for me. But nature always gave me this incredible calmness and joy. I could literally sit and fish, or crab, for hours without getting bored, even if I wasn’t catching anything.
    Later, I needed this calmness again when my father was killed in a car accident when I was fourteen. I was lost, and the temptations and distractions were many in the late sixties. Drugs were everywhere. I remember being absolutely in pain and stress most days, but I would find solace by walking by myself to an area of coast oak woodland—just walking, looking at the undercover of poison oak . . . seeing salamanders,colorful mushrooms, and lichens. It all made sense to me. I experienced great calmness there that I could not find anywhere else.
    As an adult, giving presentations at local high schools, I noticed that I can get teenagers to focus and calm down by showing images of the natural world. Being close to nature saved my life.
    Herrmann’s own experience helped him encourage his fourteen-year-old daughter—who is dyslexic—to employ nature to balance her life and reduce her stress. Finding solace raising lambs in a 4-H program has, he says, “really turned her around in school.”
    Elsewhere, in Wellesley, Massachusetts, the Institute for