Nature-Deficit Disorder

Technocrat

Nature-Deficit Disorder

zogger

Fri Aug 01 20:49:00 -0700 2008

Science

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Nature deficit disorder is a somewhat whimsical but true enough term being given to children and younger people who have grown up or are growing up in the wired and wireless world of high tech and urbanized living, who just don't have much of an idea of what "nature" is all about. The closest they even get to it is viewing nature videos...sometimes.

So why does it matter that kids spend more time in their bedrooms staring at computer screens than playing outdoors? Well, apart from the growing problem of childhood obesity, we run the very real risk of bringing up a generation of children who simply have no understanding of - or connection with - the natural world. ed.z.: I'd like to say unbelievable, but it is probably more true than not.

How *could* kids grow up with an appreciation for nature when it is only once in awhile during planned trips? And then what, even more disconnect as they become adults? There's already a pretty obvious urban vs rural disconnect you can see in the media, which is far and away almost always presented in an urban centric viewpoint, one telling example I saw was some newsie commenting on barbed wire around some farm and calling the place a "compound", like in her head the only reason to have barbed wire was from a military or security angle.

But, maybe I am way off. Are younger people really getting away from outdoor/nature activities *that* much now? Where I live I can't see it, so what say you folks who live really urban, is interest in the natural world really dropping off?

Or is this just an extension of what might just be a regular evolutionary step, high tech man made living in big cities being the "new nature", so kids just explore what "nature" is to them, their environment? That's legitimate enough I guess, it qualifies as the natural environment for most people today, we passed that 50% or better level with people living in cities just a year or so ago I believe, on a global scale. I mean, it changes all the time, generation after generation, like you try to tell younger folks today about your pet sabre toothed badgers you had in ye olden days and so on and they think you are joshin' them or something ;)

Nature-Deficit Disorder

justin83

Fri Aug 01 23:33:23 -0700 2008
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i think this NDD is a valid disorder. at least as valid as ADHD or any of the other new disorders we have.
it's good that we are realizing that our disconnection from all the "other" things in the world harms us. there's a slew of new disorders and illnesses popping up -- most of which describe very real effects of our civilized lives. Solastalgia, SAmD (seasonally affected mood disorder), and so forth. they're real; just as real as PTSD.

And no, i don't think built environments qualifiy as "nature," at least insofar as humans relate to them. how could they? they are under the control of humans, and one very important quality of nature is that it is non-human. they may be a part of humanity -- and as a result, part of nature -- but when we think of "nature", it is as an other, as part of a duality. going to nature is a way to escape, to get another view of things. if the whole world is human (as it might one day be), how can we ever escape?

Nature-Deficit Disorder

Cob Beardtoungue

Sat Aug 02 05:10:38 -0700 2008
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I've gardened in the middle of inner city ghettos. People ask me if I'm not worried about the kids stealing the vegetables. The answer is no. I'm more likely to be hit by a stray bullet, since inner city kids just understand that vegetables grow in dirt. On the one hand, their ignorance is a good thing. The soil tends to be contiminated with lead and you have to use raised beds to eat the food with any safety. On the other hand, we've even poisoned the soil where NDD kids live. It's strangely like total warfare.

One good thing about the war on some drugs

zogger

Sat Aug 02 10:35:53 -0700 2008
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It is has pushed artificial indoor gardening to incredible technically advanced levels. For all practical purposes, those pirate gardeners are developing what we will need for space based farms for orbiting habitats, or farms on mars or the moon.

Once they get solar PV energy costs down to less than what commercial electricity rates are now, plus tuned LED or more advanced lighting, along with fiber optics "sun tunnels" and so on, solar tubes and good insulation for winter warmth and so on, true widespread urban farming can commence, just for normal food, at least the higher priced regular fruits and vegetables. They are already doing it with egg production, one of the largest egg farms in the US is in the middle of highly urban chicago someplace, a multi story building.

One good thing about the war on some drugs

Simon

Sat Aug 02 14:46:54 -0700 2008
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For all practical purposes, those pirate gardeners are developing what we will need for space based farms for orbiting habitats, or farms on mars or the moon.

We need genetically modified Cannabis for space exploration? ;)

One good thing about the war on some drugs

The Baron

Mon Aug 04 07:28:06 -0700 2008
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Damn straight. Those are going to be some long trips in many senses of the word. One way to manage the boredom.

Nature-Deficit Disorder

Champs

Sat Aug 02 14:58:30 -0700 2008
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I'd say that if kids will go so far as to steal fresh vegetables, then there is hope for the world.

Nature?

brouhaha

Sat Aug 02 12:29:49 -0700 2008
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I learned all about nature. That's cute animals like lions, zebras, hippos, giraffes, penguins, and lemurs all living together in peace and harmony. Remember, fish are friends, not food. Four legs good, two legs bad.