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

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

Children need nature for the healthy development of their senses, and therefore, for learning and creativity.

Today's children are living a childhood of firsts. They are the first daycare generation; the first truly multicultural generation; the first generation to grow up in the electronic bubble, the environment defined by computers and new forms of television; the first post-sexual revolution generation; the first generation for which nature is more abstraction than reality; the first generation to grow up in new kinds of dispersed, deconcentrated cities, not quite urban, rural, or suburban.

There is a real world, beyond the glass, for children who look, for those whose parents encourage them to truly see.

It's easy to blame the nature-deficit disorder on the kids' or the parents' back, but they also need the help of urban planners, schools, libraries and other community agents to find nature that's accessible.

A natural environment is far more complex than any playing field.