Part Six: Wonderland: Opening the Fourth Frontier

18. The Education of Judge Thatcher: Decriminalizing Natural Play

Richard Louv describes in this section how the fear of liability has become a powerful deterrent to natural play. He is referring to how today’s society has become “sue crazy”. If a child is invited to or allowed to play on another person’s property, the owner of the property is liable to be sued if that child is hurt on their property. Because of this, restrictions on children’s play have occurred. Schools have also taken this into account. Louv uses the Broward County schools as an example, where they have posted “no running” signs, and merry-go-rounds and swings have been removed so the school won’t be held liable for the injuries that occur there. They have also removed cement crawl tubes because “the longer they are, the higher possibility that a vagrant could stay in them,” (pg. 241). However, Louv says not to give up hope. He says that “laws can be re-written; protections from litigation strengthened; new types of natural recreational areas invented,” (pg. 244).

19. Cities Gone Wild

Louv goes on to talk about the issues of cities, and how they are not very green environments. He explains a psychological need called biophilia, or the life-enhancing sense of rootedness in nature. This has been a problem in cities where architectures have been erecting buildings made of steel, and not taking into account of the human need for nature. Louv believes cities need to become “zoopolises”, or cities that have areas transformed into natural habitats through land-planning, architectural design, and public education.

This Zoopolis Movement started in the 1870s. In that time, nature was presented as health benefits for working-class Americans. The most notable of this movement is the creation of Central Park in New York City. But since that time, parks have not kept up with the expanding cities, and public places are domesticated and boring, and do not take wildlife into account.

20. Where the Wild Things Will Be: A New Back-to-the-Land Movement

Louv starts this section by saying that “if we hope to improve the quality of life for our children, and for generations to come, we need a larger vision,” (pg. 272). He has shown that making greener cities is possible through more public parks. He explains Village Homes, a green community where children show interest in the outdoors and wildlife without any motivation. Also, he explains that Chicago is making movements towards a greener city with more parks, rooftop gardens, and re-creating wildlife habitats.

If we can find ways to make our environment greener, it can help our children. The premise of this book shows that nature is essential for a child’s healthy physical and emotional development. But we still insist on removing areas of outdoor play for children because of expansion and the fear of liability. In the classroom, it is hard for students to concentrate when the classrooms are four white walls that bore the students. If the classrooms can fix this with a more nature-friendly environment, students would develop better. Music for students is a way of expressing themselves, which is hard to do in an environment where nature is not allowed. If we could use the examples mentioned in this chapter in schools, it could help a students’ development exponentially.

(Matt)