Nature Deficit Disorder and State Parks and Corps Recreation Areas 

The Lake Texoma Association is very encouraged by the recent state-wide funding support and election results for revitalizing State Parks in other conservative states and sincerely believes that the people of Oklahoma would act and vote in the same manner with effective communications and leadership. Revitalizing Oklahoma State Parks including the Lake Texoma State Park campground and related facilities would be a very positive step towards reducing Nature Deficit Disorder in children.

Nature Deficit Disorder, a term coined by Richard Louv in his 2005 book Last Child in the Woods, refers to the alleged trend that children are spending less time outdoors, resulting in a wide range of behavioral problems.  Louv claims that causes for the phenomenon include parental fears, restricted access to natural areas, and the lure of the screen. Recent research has drawn a further contrast between the declining number of National and State Park visits in the United States and increasing consumption of electronic media by children. http://www.thefuturesedge.com/ 

Richard Louv – San Diego Union-Tribune columnist and author "Last Child in the Woods wrote in January 2008,

“In the United States, Canada and overseas, we see growing concern among parents, educators, physicians and others. Children aren't playing outside much anymore—not even in the back yard or the neighborhood park. This change in our relationship with nature has profound implications for the mental, physical and spiritual health of future generations—and for the health of the natural world. Young people need opportunities to experience and learn from nature during their growing years in order to become citizens and future decision makers who will take responsibility for the stewardship of the Earth.

In April 2006, at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., Dr. Cheryl Charles and I called for a national campaign to “Leave No Child Inside.” With a small group of committed colleagues, we created the Children & Nature Network (C&NN), a non-profit organization dedicated to building the movement to reconnect children and nature. Our vision and mission is to give every child in every community a wide range of opportunities to experience nature directly, reconnecting our children with nature’s joys and lessons, its profound physical and mental bounty. www.cnaturenet.org

These are not new ideas. For decades, environmental educators, conservationists, and others have worked, often heroically, to bring more children to nature—usually with inadequate support from policymakers. Recently, a number of trends have brought the concerns of these veteran advocates before a broader audience—and have brought new allies to the cause. In a remarkably short time, the idea of a national movement has become a reality. In November 2006, USA Today reported in a page-one story: “A back-to-nature movement to reconnect children with the outdoors is burgeoning nationwide.” By June 2007, the movement had been reported in the pages of The Economist, and other European-based publications, and had reached the front page of the Washington Post.

 By the end of 2007, USA Weekly had published a cover story feature for its weekend supplement, reaching 47.5 million readers through 600 newspapers. The focus of that story was, appropriately, health—a theme that echoed The Nation’s Health, the official newspaper of the American Public Health Association, which reported in October, 2007: “For public health workers, the effects of sedentary indoor lifestyles are already evident among children: startling rates of obesity, the onset of one-time adult conditions such as diabetes and a shortened life expectancy. Thankfully, though, the movement to reconnect kids with nature has seen a rejuvenation in the last few years, and experts predict that good health will be a major motivator in bringing families back to nature.”

The movement is growing quickly—but it needs to accelerate. Without simultaneous dedicated action from many more of us, the window of opportunity could close.”