Richard Louv, the author of "Last Child in the Woods" is in town next week to launch the publicity tour for his newest book, "The Nature Principal" at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. His first one described the frightening prospect that our children are losing their connection with nature. His second is on "Human Restoration and the End of Nature Deficit Disorder." Hopeful words.
I talked to him earlier this week by phone. (The interview will run Tuesday in the Variety section.) But he said something that crystallized much of how I feel about the nature we see everyday in the city.
He talked about the meaning of social capital. Most of the time we assume that means other people -- our friends and community. But that presumes we are somehow disconnected from nature. Louv lives in San Diego. (He used to be a columnist for the San Diego Tribune.) This is what he said:
"My backyard is filled with lizards that I watch as I work. They are hilarious when you watch for a while. There is more posturing among those lizards than there is in the U.S. Congress. They make me laugh. That's part of my social capital. When we think of our neighborhoods this way they become richer places to live. There is something about being in nature that we don't fully understand. That we need. "
I have a friend who is in love with the young foxes that are living in the patch of woods in her yard. I don't have lizards in my Minneapolis yard. But I do have this red squirrel who entertains me almost every day. I never thought of him a social capital, but there are days when he's pretty good company.
Louv will be at the Minnesota Arboretum on Monday night to sign books from 6 to 9 p.m. The event costs $40. On Tuesday morning he will be the keynote speaker at a conference on how interaction with nature improves the health of humans and the earth. That costs $65. For more information go to the Arboretum web site.
