The Nature Principle

While conducting “high-carbon ecotourism,” Louv and his wife Kathy learned about “live fences” in Costa Rica, using natural plants and trees. Travel can help us to see our own world, a condition that Louv highlights as “Place Blindness.” Living in San Diego, he and his wife became bored with the natural habitat until they started exploring more nature venues and going on group hikes with knowledgeable guides. The danger with not appreciating your natural surroundings, apart from not finding peace and health in nature, is that “[w]e cannot protect something we do not love” (104). Nature is always in danger of human alteration, and if we don’t connect with it, we will not help to conserve it.

Louv is making a call to alternative solutions to save our connection to nature, solutions that don’t need to be as dramatic as moving to another town. The plants that Louv learned about on a local hike led by a botanist opened his eyes to the beauty in his own hometown, and the importance of working toward reconnecting with local nature. He calls his realization “plant sightedness” and cites some human cultures’ “plant blindness” for a lack of natural connection. 

Humans are social creatures that desire to be a part of a community. Taking the term social capital, or the social networks that we connect with, Louv extends this idea to human/nature social capital. This extension of social capital broadens the network to include animals and plants. Exposure to natural environments increases human value of, and connection to, their social community. One theory as to why this occurs is that people can be more “themselves” in nature. These findings have obvious implications for urban planning: “Adding more nature to our lives improves our civilization only in the context of personal, social, and economic justice” (114). It is not necessary to remove ourselves from our cities and urban environments to find experiences in nature. 

With our society becoming deeply disconnected with nature, it takes multiple levels of change for us to come back to it. For example, Las Vegas casinos advertise indoor activities when the region’s beauty is striking, and there are plenty of outdoor activities in the city area. It would take purposeful planning to change the tourism focus, but it’s necessary to hang on to the natural world around us.

Adirondacks Park in New York is an example of how people have revitalized nature and learned to live in harmony with it. More than three million acres of protected land is scattered between private land. It took planning, media, policy makers, and local support to make this restoration a possibility. Here, Louv points out the economic value of a bioregion, including its health benefits. Quantifying nature is a controversial issue, but Louv believes the benefits to policymakers trying to preserve nature outweigh the negatives.

Sustainable planning and architecture are the future of preserving nature and allowing humans to live in it. We can propel this by promoting regional identities and working to create citizen naturalists. Citizen naturalists are volunteer scientists who help to maintain and support local botany and zoology through tracking, counting, preserving, and activism. If we connect people to local nature, we are more likely to work toward conservation. It’s not about leaving the city; it’s about finding the nature within the city. 

Spending time alone is beneficial, especially in nature. Louv recounts positive memories of spending time on writing retreats in wilderness cabins. On one such occasion, his youngest son joined him, and the lack of electronics and the need for noise strengthened their relationship. Thus, pending time in nature with friends and family can open lines of communication and strengthen relationships. While there is little research in this area, one developmental psychologist states: “Time in nature helps both the child and the parent by building their shared sense of attachment and by reducing stress” (145). Being outside eliminates distractions that would prevent the parent-child bond from forming.

Louv presents many practical ideas for parents that may be hesitant or not motivated to find family outdoor activities (i.e. urban gardens, visiting berry farms, going on walks, connecting with local family hiking groups). Family nature clubs are a great resource for those who don’t have outdoor knowledge, want a sense of community, and need some extra motivation to go out on a cold day. Louv includes multiple narrative accounts of parents finding adventure and social connection with other adults and children. Using outdoor activity to spur social connection is beneficial for the parent-child relationship and for romantic and platonic relationships.