Latest Articles

On his book, Last Child in the Woods

This is the second part of my interview with Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder. The first part is here.

Louv is not just interested in healthier kids and families, though that's obviously his abiding passion. He also realizes in a way few other environmental leaders seem to that connecting kids with nature is vital for the future of the environmental movement and, well, the environment. As he says below, kids learn about environmental problems earlier and earlier these days, slowly coming to associate the environment with doom and hopelessness.

But this next generation has perhaps the greatest challenge ever faced by humanity: to remake society in a sustainable way. They need hope, and they need that sense of wonder and visceral connection that comes only from getting out into nature.

Dead ringers

Check out this BBC photo collage from the "Dead Ringers?" exhibit that opened yesterday at the British Science Museum. The exhibit explores the waste created by the oft-replaced mobile (Britspeak for cellphone!) and the impact of the coming WEEE legislation on industry and consumers. Displays on the latest mobile technology include biodegradable phone covers, the "first lasagne-based circuit board in the world" (!), and phones that will be able to take themselves apart for recycling (!!).

Bush admin unveils meek new fuel-economy standards for light trucks

The Bush administration yesterday raised fuel-economy standards for SUVs, minivans, and many pickup trucks — the most significant boost to efficiency requirements for the big vehicles in three decades. Exempt no more. Photo: iStockphoto. Of course, as enviros have been quick to point out, that’s not saying much. These final CAFE (corporate average fuel economy) […]

Perhaps it has less to do with material possessions and more to do with access

This week's New Yorker carries an excellent essay by John Cassidy discussing the history and evolving standards of poverty in the United States, and some of the different ways in which poverty can (and should) be measured.

Most interesting and relevant to some of our discussions is the idea of "relative poverty." If we hold most of what we call poverty in the U.S. up against the 1 billion dispossessed that Mike Davis writes about in his new book Planet of Slums, we find that most Americans are incredibly wealthy. Even if we compare poor Americans today with poor Americans in the 1960s when poverty was first "discovered" in this country, we find today's poor loaded up with stuff (most of America's poor own television sets and dishwashers and have running water and electricity, among other services).

But this kind of measurement may miss the point about poverty, Cassidy suggests:

Although many poor families own appliances once associated with rich households, such as color televisions and dishwashers, they live in a society in which many families also possess DVD players, cell phones, desktop computers, broadband internet connections, powerful game consoles, S.U.V.s, health-club memberships, and vacation homes. Without access to these goods, children from poor families may lack skills -- such as how to search the Web for help-wanted ads -- that could enhance their prospects in the job market. In other words, relative deprivation may limit a person's capacity for social achievement.

Bay City Tollers

San Francisco looks into congestion charging If you’re going to San Francisco, be sure to wear … a money clip. The city creatively known as “The City” plans to study the possibility of “congestion charges” — making drivers pay to enter downtown during business hours. Critics include some stores in high-traffic areas, which fear that […]

Left Behind

Pentagon aims to avoid cleanup costs by attacking EPA science Confused over who they’re supposed to be killing — their enemies? themselves? — the Defense Department in recent years has often defied U.S. EPA recommendations for environmental cleanups and toxicity standards. Case in point: A 2001 EPA draft report estimated that the chemical trichloroethylene (TCE) […]

Meet the New Boss, Slightly Less Irascible Than the Old Boss

New Exxon chair mouths same old wheeze in a breezier style Watch for new ExxonMobil Chair Rex Tillerson to lighten up the company’s communication style, but don’t expect any substantial changes in how the world’s largest publicly traded petro-corp responds to global warming. “We recognize that climate change is a serious issue,” Tillerson told The […]

Southern Land Do Need You Around, Anyhow

Big conservation deal will protect 218,000 acres of forest in the South Conservationists are celebrating the biggest sale of private land for preservation in the South’s history. The Nature Conservancy and the Conservation Fund have put up a combined $300 million for 218,000 acres of forestland owned by International Paper in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, […]

Does Richard Louv’s Last Child in the Woods say anything new?

OK, call me a crank, a malcontent, a hypercritical reviewer with a small, crabbed heart. But despite all its earnestness, despite its heartfelt message, which an environmentalist and concerned parent like me should embrace — in brief, that nature is good for children — Richard Louv’s plea to reengage our children with nature left me […]

An interview with Richard Louv about the need to get kids out into nature

Richard Louv is an anecdote machine. As we milled about near the door of a Seattle cafe awaiting lunch-hour seating, he kept up a constant stream of witty, telling stories — about “no running” signs on playgrounds, clueless environmental leaders, suffering outdoor-gear execs. I started fumbling for my recorder. Richard Louv. It’s no wonder Louv’s […]