Some kids don't want to be organized all the time. They want to let their imaginations run; they want to see where a stream of water takes them.

The real cultural war is between the culture of narcissism and what might be called the culture of renewal.

The woods were my Ritalin. Nature calmed me, focused me, and yet excited my senses.

As the nature deficit grows, another emerging body of scientific evidence indicates that direct exposure to nature is essential for physical and emotional health. For example, new studies suggest that exposure to nature may reduce the symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and that it can improve all children's cognitive abilities and resistance to negative stresses and depression.

The pleasure of being alive is brought into sharper focus when you need to pay attention to staying alive.

Increasingly the evidence suggests that people benefit so much from contact with nature that land conservation can now be viewed as a public health strategy.

From 1997 to 2003, there was a decline of 50 percent in the proportion of children nine to twelve who spent time in such outside activities as hiking, walking, fishing, beach play, and gardening, according to a study by Sandra Hofferth at the University of Maryland.