In Literature Appetizer, Ben gives you just a taste of a book. Not meant to replace the full meal, this is meant to whet your appetite. Bon appetit!
As a student, each of my Environmental Education teachers assumed we had already read “Last Child in the Woods” by Richard Louv. It was so core to Environmental Education, it must have been covered in another course, right? It wasn’t until April 2021, more than 10 years since becoming a student in Environmental Education, that I finally read this sacred text.
Except…it isn’t sacred. There are some problematic views in this book. If we do not address these issues, we will not be able to fully achieve our goal; show kids how to learn from the land. Below are the three points we need to address in Environmental Education if we are to fully educate the next generation of life-long learners.
Who Holds the Power?
Louv will consistently state facts of a problem, but then come to the incorrect source of that problem. For example, he states that children in America are spending more time indoors than any previous generation. Which is 100% true. But he incorrectly states this is because of two things: Parents being scared and kids playing too many video games and watching too much TV.
Let’s start with the parents. In Chapter 10 he dives into a nuanced look into how parents are influenced by the media and other parents to think that their kids are constantly in danger of becoming kidnapped. Parents therefore make very rigid schedules for their children who are also constantly supervised. The entire chapter takes into account parents’ fear as well as the societal pressures being thrown upon them. If you are to read only one chapter in this book, it would be this one.
Earlier in the book, however, he blames the current Childhood Obesity Epidemic on kids. He also blames kids for not wanting to go outside on their love for TV and Video games. Where is the nuance?! Louv did such an excellent job showing how difficult it is for parents, but fails to show the same care for children.
For the first half of this book I was fuming to anyone who would listen to me. He has such simplistic takes, instead of looking at the big picture. Sure, video games and TV can be addicting, but why are kids turning to these? Could it be that they are not being raised in communities that are walkable, so they have to be driven everywhere? Could it be that the food we are giving our kids is increasingly full of terrible stuff, because that is what makes the most money? Could it be that kids feel some sense of power in video games, due to them not feeling any form of power/control in their day to day lives?
Louv could have discussed so many factors as to why kids are not going outdoors. Instead of showing how kids have so little control of their lives, he blames them for what is happening. If we are to get kids excited about learning about this wonderful planet, we need to give them agency, instead of blame.
Back in my day…
Born in 1949, Richard Louv is both a boomer in age and mindset. It is no surprise he would write the below (first paragraph of chapter 11).
“David Sobel tells this story: A century ago, a boy ran along a beach with his gun, handmade from a piece of lead pipe. From time to time, he would stop, aim, and shoot at a gull. Today, such activity would be cause for time spent in juvenile hall, but for young John Muir, it was just another way to connect with nature. (Muir, it should be noted, was a bad shot, and apparently never killed a seagull.) Muir went on to become one of the initiators of modern environmentalism.”
Louv also tells a story about how when he was a kid he stole lumber from a nearby construction site to build a treehouse. Both of these come across as “well, back in my day we used to…” which is both alienating and insulting when he comments that local ATV riders are destroying the local environment and need to enjoy nature in the proper way.
Now, is there an interesting discussion to be had about how to properly ‘play in nature?’ Of course! Girty’s Woods was recently acquired by Allegheny Land Trust, and I’m sure will be a place folks from miles around will come to hike and enjoy the view from Pittsburgh. But ALT was only able to get it by working with the local Millvale residents who have used it illegally for years…as a dirt bike course. So while ALT will add some proper hiking trails, they agreed to work with locals to create usable dirt bike courses that minimize erosion and keep both bikers and hikers safe.
Who is to say what is the ‘proper way’ to enjoy the outdoors? If it was justified for John Muir to hunt seagulls because he was a bad shot, why is it not justified for folks to enjoy the outdoors on ATV? Or dirt bike? Of course this doesn’t mean every location needs to cater to everyone. Some places should remain out of human contact, as pure wilderness. But not every outdoor recreational area should just be for day hikes. We need to diversify what it is acceptable for people to do in our wild areas, so that they can learn at from the outdoors in the way that most connects to them.
All Technology is Bad
“One might argue that a computer, with its near-infinite coding possibilities, is history’s deepest box of loose parts. But binary code, made of two parts - 1 and 0 - has its limits. Nature, which excites all the senses, remains the richest source of loose parts.”
I almost threw the book across the room when reading that quote. It is a bad, reductionary argument to say “well, computers use binary, and nature doesn’t, so nature is limitless.”
Again, is there an nuanced conversation about how children use technology? Of course! I have been stressing for years the need to teach digital hygiene. We need to treat high technology as a tool, and not a replacement for how we should think. Let me describe to you this problem with something low-tech…
You see a child reading a book. How does that make you feel? Maybe indifferent but to a lot of parents and teachers, we are excited when kids “take learning into their own hands.” But what if that child reads all day? Maybe on a weekend, if they wanted to finish an excellent book or series. But if this child was reading a book when they should be in school? What if they were reading at the dinner table? What if they were staying up late at night to read instead of sleep? Reading, to that child, has become an addiction.
We have allowed ourselves, and our kids, to have constant access to the most addicting parts of the internet. It is the equivalent of having a constant supply of candy easily accessible, and free! Let’s have a conversation about social media sites using algorithms to keep people addicted. Let’s have a conversation about healthy ways to use technology. But to dismiss it all as limited due to being in binary is reductionary at best and harmful at worst.
I have kids excited about learning outdoors, because it “feels like Minecraft.” Again, we shouldn’t let our children become addicted to video games but games like Minecraft allow students to explore the outdoors and learn basic components of ecosystems. I would much rather have a student play Minecraft for 10 hours than I would have them scrolling Facebook for 1. Minecraft allow students to create, to make, to explore. While a social media news feed strives to keep people focused with minimal interaction.
So…should I read it?
With some hesitation, I think everyone in Environmental Education should read this book. It clearly is the foundation to the Environmental Education movement; both successes and flaws. We need to examine our own foundation to see where we as a movement can grow.
But those outside of the field may be turned away from EE due to the long-winded, yet simplistic arguments laid out by Louv.
If we are to bring children outside, we need to give them to space to explore and examine the structures that have made it hard for them to get outside in the first place.