4 November 2014
High-tech life threatens alienation from nature
As peoples’ lives become increasingly high-tech, they need to actively connect with the outdoors or they could become
alienated from nature altogether.
That’s the stark message from a best-selling author who is coming to New Zealand as the keynote speaker at the ‘A Place
To Live’ conference in Whanganui and will also give a lecture at the University of Waikato.
Richard Louv’s free lecture on November 13 at Waikato is entitled “The Hybrid Mind: The more high-tech our lives become,
the more nature we need”. The lecture is being hosted by the Environmental Research Institute and Professor Bruce
Clarkson.
Richard is a journalist and writer whose work has helped launch an international movement to reconnect children and
their families to nature. He uses the term ‘nature-deficit disorder’ to describe what he sees as the human costs of
increased alienation from nature.
“These effects include diminished use of the senses, attention difficulties, higher rates of physical and emotional
illnesses, obesity, and Vitamin D deficiency, among other things,” he says.
While it may be hard to wean ourselves off televisions and computers, Richard says incorporating more nature into our
lives is worth the effort.
“Technology-fasting while spending time in the natural world is the most effective antidote to the downsides of
technology. Contact with nature can assist with recovery from mental fatigue and can also help reboot the brain’s
ability to think. Your kids may complain at first, but they - and you - will come back from the technology-fast feeling
better.”
He is the author of eight books about the connections between family, nature and community. His book “The Nature
Principle: Human Restoration and the End of Nature-Deficit Disorder” offers a new vision of the future in which our
lives are as immersed in nature as they are in technology. This future, available to all of us right now, offers better
psychological, physical and spiritual health for people of every age.
Richard has received numerous awards including the 2008 San Diego Zoological Society Conservation Medal, the 2008 George
B Rabb Conservation Medal from the Chicago Zoological Society, and the 2009 International Making Cities Livable Jane
Jacobs Award.
The Richard Louv lecture is being held at the Gallagher Academy of Performing Arts at the University of Waikato on
November 13 from 12 to 1pm.
ends