Publication Day: The Nature Principle by Richard Louv

“The more high-tech our lives become, the more nature we need.”

Richard Louv changed how we view and interact with nature in the New York Times bestseller Last Child in the Woods, which sparked an international movement to reconnect children with nature and introduced the term “nature-deficit disorder.” Publishing today, his new book The Nature Principle (read an excerpt at bottom) is a call to action for the rest of us to also reconnect with the natural world.

Does your daily nature intake include running on the treadmill with a forest scene on the TV monitor in front of you? Or perhaps playing WII tennis with your kids – instead of playing outside in a real tennis court? We all – kids and adults alike – are suffering from “nature-deficit disorder.”

In The Nature Principle, Louv discusses how we can create a healthier balance between technology and nature, so that we can experience the best of technology and nature in our lives. He shows us how tapping into the restorative powers of the natural world can boost mental acuity and creativity; promote health and wellness; build smarter and more sustainable businesses, communities, and economies; and ultimately strengthen human bonds. As he says in his introduction, The Nature Principle is “about the power of living in nature—not with it, but in it. We are entering the most creative period in history. The twenty-first century will be the century of human restoration in the natural world.”

Cities, communities, and organizations around the country are embracing this movement. In fact, May 6^th has officially been declared the Richard Louv and Children and Nature Day in the city of San Diego! Louv is giving a call to action to change the way we live, and how much better off we’ll be for it. Check out Richard’s website and the Children & Nature Network on how to join the movement.

To celebrate the publication of The Nature Principle, we’re giving away three copies. Leave a comment here or on our Facebook page telling us about your favorite outdoor activity and you’ll automatically be entered.

Praise for THE NATURE PRINCIPLE:

“Deprive an individual of everything that nurtured them — and you’re going to have a mess.  Deprive a species of everything that nurtured us — you have 21st century Americans.  We grew up in the wild, and when we moved from the African veldt to the European and North American forests, the wild went with us.  Now we have set up an elaborate society designed to strip us of the environment that made us — and Richard Louv is speaking out, inspirationally, on why it doesn’t have to be this way.”–Carl Pope, Chairman, The Sierra Club

“Put the remote down and get outside. Richard Louv’s new book is a refreshingly personal and eloquent case for building nature-smart communities that will not only protect the diversity of life on the planet, but also sustain our communities and ourselves.”—David Yarnold, President & CEO of The National Audubon Society

“Richard Louv seeks through his latest book to inspire a new social network that ensures nature is an essential and everyday part of modern life, community, and business. This is an important and powerful vision that offers us a blueprint for a better world and happier, healthier inhabitants.”–Sally Jewell, President & CEO of REI

“Wonderful! The Nature Principle is a splendid synthesis, gathering abundant evidence for a truth that should be achingly obvious to all, but has somehow been hiding behind the gleam and flash of our contemporary concerns: our health, our creativity, and our basic sanity depend upon regular contact and interchange with the living land around us.”–David Abram, author of Becoming Animal and The Spell of the Sensuous

“Our alienation from the rest of Creation represents a fundamental shift in human evolution. Louv has eloquently documented our schism from nature and the very real physical and psychic consequences. This book provides a way back to where we belong, a world full of reverence, joy and discovery.”–David Suzuki, author of Sacred Balance

Excerpt From the Nature Principle

Tags: Children and Nature Day, Children and Nature Network, Last Child in the Woods, Nature Deficit Disorder, Richard Louv, San Diego, The Nature Principle