Imagine a Newer World: Especially in these times, we need the courage of our idealism

Six years ago, I gave a speech to high school and middle school students (a tough audience) in La Crosse, Wisconsin. When I finished, a young woman stood up in the front row and challenged me to do what I had just asked them to do — paint a verbal picture of a future in which the human relationship with the rest of nature was a central organizing principle.

“Well, I’ve written two books about that,” I said. She did not accept my answer. “I don’t want to read your books,” she said. “Tell me, right now.” I sputtered out a shotgun response, which later became the essay appearing in the 2012 paperback edition of “The Nature Principle.”

Recently, I posted a version of it on the website of the Children & Nature Network, the nonprofit I co-founded after the publication of “Last Child in the Woods.” Here’s a link to the essay. It imagines a very different future of nature-rich schools, homes, neighborhoods, and cities for children and for adults. I hope you’ll give it a read, and pass the link on to friends and colleagues.