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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
National movement to address “Nature Deficit Disorder”
reaches Central Ohio
Contact: Alice Hohl, Camp Fire USA Central Ohio Council 440-6475
Multimedia opportunities:
Audio interview with summit planners, key participants
Photos of 9/28 summit
Video of 9/28 summit
SoundSlides of 9/28 summit (children singing, nature sounds, brainstorming)
(Columbus) Sept. 4 – A national movement that has sparked legislation, funding, events and high-level meetings has come to Central Ohio, as a local organization has volunteered to host the first Leave No Child Inside Central Ohio Collaborative Summit. Richard Louv’s book Last Child in the Woods has sparked a movement of concerned people who realize “Nature Deficit Disorder” is having a real impact on our children’s lives, behavior and development, from their eyesight to their social skills (www.cnaturenet.org).
Those vivid, emotional memories of catching frogs, getting lost in thought in the forest, or playing for hours with rocks and sticks are not just fond reminiscence; these are the moments that fuel imagination, teach compassion and wire our brains to be human, social, and a player in the larger world. In addition, children who sit alone, glued to a flickering screen, are more likely to have attention and behavior problems, not to mention poor physical health, according to new evidence.
In metro areas around the nation, community leaders are coming together to discuss how to help our children access, touch and love nature again.
Camp Fire USA’s Central Ohio Council and Central Ohio resident Jenny Morgan have successfully engineered a meeting of the minds in the Columbus area, with groups such as Metro Parks, COSI, Action for Children, The Columbus Zoo, Columbus Public Schools, ADAMH, Columbus Public Health, MORPC, and others sending their directors to spend a day in a natural setting discussing the problem in our area. The goal of the meeting is to launch an ongoing collaboration and to combine resources and knowledge to tackle this problem in Columbus and its suburbs; to maximize the use, capacity, funding, and publicity for nature programs in parks, camps and schools. The project is being supported by the JPMorgan Chase Foundation and AEP.
