Last Child in the Woods

Snyder is drawn to poet John Milton's phrase, “a wilderness of sweets.”

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

Unlike television, nature does not steal time; it amplifies it.

we can now assume that just as children need good nutrition and adequate sleep, they may very well need contact with nature.

but as the young spend less and less of their lives in natural surroundings, their senses narrow, physiologically and psychologically, and this reduces the richness of human experience.

” Learning to cope in wilderness and outdoor settings can enhance emotional and affective development, according to Kellert. “Some of these impacts include increased self-confidence, self-esteem, optimism, independence, and autonomy. Moreover, when these accomplishments depend on working with others, they can foster various interpersonal abilities including enhanced cooperation, tolerance, compassion, intimacy, and friendship.” These positive results persisted through many years. Earlier studies reported similar findings.

Unlike television, nature does not steal time; it amplifies it

During the research for this book, I was encouraged to find that many people now of college age—those who belong to the first generation to grow up in a largely de-natured environment—have tasted just enough nature to intuitively understand what they have missed. This yearning is a source of power. These young people resist the rapid slide from the real to the virtual, from the mountains to the Matrix. They do not intend to be the last children in the woods.

For a new generation, nature is more abstraction than reality. Increasingly, nature is something to watch, to consume, to wear—to ignore