Response to:
The Geography of Childhood Why Children Need Wild Places
By: Gary Paul Nabhan & Stephen Trimble
Written by: B. Chantal Potvin
Nabhan and Trimble’s book entitled The Geography of Childhood Why Children Need
Wild Places adopts a narrative-like way to tell what they have to say.
They write from the
perspective of young fathers and nature lovers when they express their ideas about building
relationships with the Earth, how varieties of organisms help to teach about self-worth and
esteem as well as tolerance. The book is divided into chapters on different aspects and
examples demonstrating the importance and desperate need for us, and especially our children, to
connect or reconnect with nature. Throughout the book, each author, in turn, emphasized the
urgency and need for both young and old to get out and explore nature.
This book is the first book that I have read on the environment and its significance to
living healthily. Being out in nature does not require lush gardens and forests, according to these
authors. In fact, children actually quite enjoy locals not far from their homes (p.7). On many an
occasion while reading, I found myself remembering my own childhood spent partly in the city
during the school months and then in the country, on the farm and in the fields with my
grandparents during the summers. I would then think about the children in the bustling industrial
city of Kaohsiung, Taiwan, the community in which I live, and contemplated how different our
childhood environments are or were. Before reading this book, I had never really given much
thought to getting into nature and all that it entails. In this sense, The Geography of Childhood
has opened up my eyes to a world to which I first believed I did not know, but soon realized it
was one I did know it to a certain extent, but which I had long forgotten.
The book is written in a style that lacks lengthy scientific details and elaborations.
Nevertheless, the importance of what the authors state throughout the book is not lost. In fact, by
adopting this style, the authors successfully grasp the reader’s attention and s/he can focus on the
message rather than deciphering through complicated numbers, dry dissertations, and large,
unfamiliar terminology. Do not be mistaken; this work is not merely for leisurely bedtime
reading. Nabhan and Trimble do present numbers and facts but they are accompanied by
concrete, real life examples. For example, they state that, “over 60 percent of the children we
talked with say that they learn more about plants and animals at school than at home” (p.91).
This is alarming. The amount and extent to which schools are able to cover material is limited.
Without a doubt, good teachers can excite and nurture students’ interest in a topic, such as
nature; but it is very unlikely that they will be able to create an on-going interest without
anything upon which to build (p.92).
Before reading this book, I had never given much thought to the significance of getting
outdoors. It was only once I read about people wanting to get away from it all and going
camping that I thought that I, too, say almost those exact words! I am forever rushing from one
appointment to the next, filling my days with more than can be reasonably accomplished, toiling
away until the next holiday. Once again, thoughts of the Taiwanese and their lifestyle come to
mind. They would work, and some do, seven days a week. But what effects does this have on
our spirits, our health and our sense of balance?
Along these lines, I think of the anecdote in the book of launching the lizard and having it
explode in mid-air.
This is a disgusting story demonstrating great insensitivity.
Similar
atrocities occur on a daily basis here in Kaohsiung. I have never been able to understand how a
person can treat an animal, whether perceived as ugly, such as a lizard or snuggly, such as a dog,
without care or concern.
The authors mention Piaget and his well-accepted views that a child must create and
construct things in order to understand and to learn (p.27).
They also claim that by not
interacting somehow, someway, with animals, a person is not able to, “recognize their [animals’]
vitality and dignity or the continuity between them and us” (p.154).
By being outdoors and
sharing experiences with creatures large and small, a person – young or old — can make a shift
from wanting to dominate and to own her/his environment to observing, learning and
appreciating it (p.26).
Part and parcel of the urgency that Nabhan and Trimble address in this book refers to the
number of children being raised in slums and never knowing or having direct experience with
habitats that are not dominated by humans. If 57% of children are growing up in slums in
developing countries and never have any direct contact or knowledge of where their food comes
from (p.11); and in other parts of the world where the children who tend to experience nature or
who listen to elders’ stories only do so because they come from the poorest of neighborhoods
and cannot afford a television set (p.88), there is no denying that there exists an urgency for our
children to connect with the world, develop some humility and to realize what a small part of it
they really are.
Since World War II with the transition from rural to urban living and wage economy in
many places in the world, life has taken a different form. Moreover, in many instances, priorities
have also changed. By moving into cities, people do not have as much contact, if any, with
nature; and in turn, “ the percentage of children who have frequent exposure to wild lands and to
undomesticated species is smaller than ever before in human history” (p.85). Generations are
beginning to grow up learning about plants and animals mostly by what they see on The
Discovery Channel, National Geographic or other similar television programs.
Although
enriching and informative, they cannot serve as a substitute for what a person observes,
witnesses and feels during an afternoon playing by a pond or in a park or going for a walk along
a trail and experiencing nature for one’s self.
It is imperative that our children and adults who have not a had chance to connect with
nature or perhaps who need to re-connect, to get out and explore the little niche, nook and cranny
in the backyard, neighborhood or even nearby park. They need to take the time to look at and
watch their surroundings. Only then, they will truly see that diversity is actually the norm;
organisms work within a system (p.23); and that each one affects and influences the existence of
others. They need to take a leisurely stroll with their elders and learn first-hand the things that
cannot be taught in a book. After all, elders, who have rich, irreplaceable hands-on knowledge,
will not be around forever and neither will the Earth, if we do not do what we can to take care of
it. It is imperative that parents, and educators, in light of the limited time parents tend to spend
with their children nowadays, act as matchmakers between nature and society’s youth. There
exists a dire need for the creation of possibilities for children to bond with the Earth (p.172). The
simple yet harrowing truth of the matter is if children do not do this, how will they develop
appreciation, respect and care for the planet and help to sustain life for generations to come?
Nabhan and Trimble’s The Geography of Childhood Why Children Need Wild Places
addresses other issues, such as gender roles and perceptions and how being out in nature
influences their formation. Regardless of the particular issue or topic that is raised in the
individual chapters in the book, the sense of urgency for action and connection to nature is
paramount.
Reference
Nabhan, G.P. & Trimble, S. (1994). The Geography of Childhood – Why Children Need
Wild Places. Beacon Press. Boston.