Triple Threat: Changes in the Environment Directly Harm the Lives of the Future Generations
Lauv’s concept of Nature Deficit Disorder is the concept that children are no longer spending enough time outdoors. Lauv’s ideas have been backed up by multiple other sources explaining the causes of deficit disorder, which include the lack of natural play spaces which leads to health issues both emotionally and physically, as well as the way children are raised in a modern world, with less opportunities to explore the outdoors and being exposed to other activities that are considered “more interesting” than nature. For years, children have not been exposed to true nature and instead going to man made playgrounds and parks or in general just choose not to go outdoors unless directly required to, and in addition to the lack of outdoor exposure studies have also shown that a lack of exposure to nature is linked to multiple mental health issues.
Since the baby boomer generation, the amount of natural outdoor play from children has significantly decreased due to reasons such as the lack of physical space and opportunities to go outdoors. The parents or legal guardians role plays a large part in this concept.. Lauv explains in his writing that due to the increased amount of protectiveness over children has caused them to be, as he likes to call it, “containerized kids”. Essentially this concept is that children may still be going outdoors, but now they don’t have as much of a ‘free range’ and are kept on short leashes when they do have the opportunity to go outdoors. Lauv writes “They spend more and more time in car seats, high chairs, and even baby seats for watching TV. When small children do go outside, they’re often placed in containers — strollers — and pushed by walking or jogging parents.” but the main keypoint that was talked about was how “most kid-containerizing is done for safety reasons.” And as that last statement make sense, at the same time children today are living in a completely different world than the boomer generation grew up in. Lauv approached the younger generations and asked about their relationship with nature, and multiple younger kids were mentioning how their relationship with nature was restricted due to the safety concerns from their parents. Lauv quotes, “My parents don’t feel real safe if i’m going too deep in the woods’ said one boy. ‘I just can’t go too far. My parents are always worrying about me. So I’ll just go, and usually not tell ’em where i’m going — So that makes ’em mad. But i’ll just sit behind a tree of rsomething, or lie in the field with all the rabbits.” This quote really shows the increase in protectiveness, because this child is literally talking about such peaceful and stress relieving activities in relatively safe environments, and yet parents still worry much more than the boomer generation would have for those same activities. For example earlier in the text, Lauv quotes a powerful statement from a family saying “‘Kids haven’t lost anything, because they never had it in the first place. What we’re talking about here is a transition made by most of us who grew up surrounded by nature. Now, Nature’s just not there anymore.” With a constantly growing population we are often running of space to home these people, which eventually leads to corporate companies buying natural land, turning it into housing multiple housing units and at the same time creating multiple rules and restrictions in order to keep them legally safe from any harm etc.. Lauv continues with this concept by continues by explaining now children are constantly being encouraged to stay indoors due to community rules. “One source of constriction is private government. Most housing tracts, condos, and planned communities constructed in the past two or three decades are controlled by strict covenants that discourage or ban the kind of outdoor play many of us enjoyed as children.” And although the lack of housing is becoming a large issue, at the same time, they are supporting physical needs without contemplating how it would affect the mental health for the people living there.
In addition to Lauv’s concepts and work, similar issues have been brought up by scientists, parents, as well as other adults who have noticed significant changes in behaviors and the overall health of everyday people. Heather Toney who was very involved in the Environmental Protection Agency came to a realization about how dangerous global warming and how the world has and is being affected. Even when it comes to unborn children, due to the difference in climate change, those children are already at risk for diseases. Toney notes how concerning, even ones everyday job could become a potential danger for children. She says “The idea that my unborn son may suffer from something like the Zika virus, a harm likely made worse because of climate change, made every insect an enemy. I met with farmworkers in Florida who went through great pains to make sure they didn’t bring home pesticides on their clothing.” As well as covering how the environmental issues are dangerous to one’s health, she also gives multiple tips on how the younger generations can grow to learn to take care of the earth. She suggests teaching children about routine things such as recycling and reducing single use plastics and most importantly she suggests that children go out into nature and play rather than sit in a room. Similarly to Lauv she writes “Listen, if kids can figure out how to use your contact lens fluid and good dishware for slime, they can surely plant a flower or a vegetable. Find a small space and let them plant something, preferably something edible. Growing food and herbs is a great way to teach sustainability and even save a few dollars at the grocery store.” She primarily focus on how it is beneficial to their learning as well as she calls out the newer trends with redirect a child’s focus to be inside rather than outdoors.
In addition to Toney, Victoria Knight a journalist wrote an article about Andrew Bryant, a therapist, and discussed his findings on how environmental issues have been affecting the mental health of his patients. Bryant noticed patterns throughout his patients such as an increase in anxiety as well as depression. Writing on behalf of Bryant, Kright says “Often these patients want to do something to reduce global warming but are overwhelmed and depressed by the scope of the problem and difficulty in finding solutions. And they’re anxious about how the Earth will change over the rest of their or their children’s lifetimes.” This shows that similarly to other articles, the change in the environmental issues are causing significant impacts on mental health, especially in younger children since they constantly need to worry about their future.
Lauv and these other authors all cover such important topics when it comes to how the environment is changing and how it’s constantly affecting the lives of younger children. Lauv chooses to explain how the environmental changes are directly affected by the changes in the modern world and how land owners are building housing everywhere and at the same time destroying natural play areas. Lauv also explains how the decrease of natural land has caused children to spend less time outdoors, which directly relates to Toney’s claims on how children are not spending enough time outdoors or spending enough time creating routines for themselves to help decrease waste and environmental problems. In addition to Lauv and Toney’s claims relating to each other, both writers bring up similar points on how the environmental issues and effects on children are caused by a safety factor. Lauv points out how many parents and adults are so afraid of letting their children out into the world to explore. In one part of his writing, he talks about a boy whose parents got so concerned when the kid was literally sitting out in nature just relaxing and enjoying the environment. Toney has similar notes on how safety plays a part in how she reacts to the world around her, because in her article, she writes about how from a parental point of view, she sees how everything can be seen as a danger, such as viruses or environmental issues leading to health problems. Overall both Lauv and Toney cover the similar concept on how the environment is capable of causing many issues such as mental health as well as limiting the amount of outdoors. Bryant, the therapist, also brings into play how the rise in environmental issues has caused a rise in anxiety and other mental health issues throughout his patients.
For years climate change has been a growing issue and is constantly affecting the behaviors of children and adults. Lauv, Toney, and Bryant all agree that the changes in environmental issues directly affect the lives of future generations. Lauv brings in how environment has caused changes in how it is limiting a child’s ability to enjoy nature and feel the peace and relaxation it brought to past generations. Toney explains how in addition to the lack of a child’s exposure to nature has caused them to not be as aware of what they need to do to help the environment, but also gave suggestions on how to help future generations learn about ways to save the earth. And last, Bryant brings in one of the most important concepts on how environmental issues such as pollution or natural disasters are causing mental health issues throughout his patients. All of these authors discuss, how the environmental issues are causing harm and disrupting the lives of the children of the future.
