Planet Earth on Earth

Today was a lazy Sunday—discussed the upcoming LA concerts with my roommates, scarfed down a plate of fish tacos with extra guac, and then watched four episodes of Planet Earth. 


Roommate #1: This nature stuff is CAH-RAYZEE


Roommate #2: I know. I can’t believe this actually exists.


Roommate #3: Yeah, it’s all in like ridiculous places—
—No! Wait, no you can find it…


Unfortunately I was in too much of a food coma to actually refute my roommates’ claims, so I will type it out instead. But, before writing my spiel about getting out into the wild, I did some web surfing about this issue and I found something shocking: there is now an official name for the current lack of wilderness in our lives— Nature-Deficit Disorder


Coined by Richard Louv in his bestselling novel, Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder,he discusses the lack of “direct exposure to nature which is “essential for healthy childhood development and for the physical and emotional healthy of children and adults.” Is this too bold a statement?   I think not.  Nature provides a place to explore, to wander, to discover that which can’t be found within the four walls of the classroom or office building. 


In an article in Psychology Today, they discuss this issue and stress it’s importance, “A growing movement will continue to make the case that a meaningful human relationship with nature, shaped in children’s formative years, is crucial to our society’s practice of stewardship, its sense of community, and the strength of family bonds.” He goes on to further discuss the growing rate of obesity—we’ll save this fitness issue for another blog. 


Why is it that parents will readily drive their children to a soccer game, or buy the new “educational”  video game—what happened to the wild game?  And trips to amusement parks don’t count.  Yes you are getting in your daily thirty minutes of walking from one rollercoaster to the next, but Magic Mountain’s metal structures don’t exactly compare to the natural beauty of Mother Nature’s household.


In an interview with NPR host Steve Inskeep, Richard Louv discusses his novel: parents’ fear of letting their kids in nature, the benefits of getting kids into the wilderness, and a few small things parents can do to get their kids off the couch and into the wild.


So let’s take Louv’s advice and find some nature in the backyard of Los Angeles. Where else to begin but the big, blazing white Hollywood sign tacked into the side of Mount Lee? According to Guidespot's blog on Mt. Lee and Griffith Park, this is the largest publicly owned park in the United States, spanning over 4,000 acres.  There are over thirty hikes and fifty miles of trail one can take in this natural treasure but the one I recommend for LA lovers is the trek up Mt. Lee; it’s a solid workout which provides an up-close view of the Hollywood sign and a stunning panoramic view of Los Angeles county. 


So let's start slow as Angeleans...we'll take a walk to that Big White sign and start curing that Nature disease.