In nature, a child finds freedom, fantasy, and privacy: a place distant from the adult world, a separate peace.

There is another possibility: not the end of nature, but the rebirth of wonder and even joy.

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.

Now, more than ever, we need nature as a balancing agent.

Quite simply, when we deny our children nature, we deny them beauty.

Green exercise improves psychological health.

The dugout in the weeds or leaves beneath a backyard willow, the rivulet of a seasonal creek, even the ditch between the front yard and the road-all of these places are entire universes to a young child.