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Richard Louv is a futurist and journalist focused on family, nature and community. He has a palette of many colors, nuances, interrelationships. He has written often about families and children, personal ethics, our national character, even fishing and our ties to the natural world. But with equal intensity, he has turned to the challenges of public leadership, urban design, how regions use their land and shape their communities.
His most recent book, Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder (Algonquin, 2005), has stimulated an international conversation about the future relationship between children and nature. Louv is the chairman of the Children & Nature Network (www.childrenandnature.org), an organization helping build the movement to connect children with nature. He is also honorary co-chair of The National Forum on Children and Nature, co-chaired by four state governors. He is currently a Visiting Professor at Clemson University. In 2008, Louv was awarded the Audubon Medal, presented by the National Audubon Society. Past recipients have been Rachel Carson, Aldo Leopold, E.O. Wilson, Robert Redford, and President Jimmy Carter. He is the 2007 recipient of the Cox Award, Clemson University’s highest honor, awarding “sustained achievement in public service.” The National School Board Journal chose Last Child in the Woods as a notable book in education for 2006. In 2005, Discover Magazine named Last Child in the Woods one of the top science books of the year. And Spirituality & Health magazine named it one of 50 Best Spiritual Books of 2005. The book has helped spawn a national movement that is now moving into the international sphere. Last Child in the Woods, in its 21st printing in the United States, has been translated into 9 languages and has been published or will soon be published in 12 countries. Louv’s first book, America II (Penguin, 1983) addressed the rise of the new urban form, private governments, and reinvented communities. Childhood’s Future (Anchor Books, 1993), described by the New York Times as “a passionate call for rebuilding community and family life,” was the subject of a Bill Moyers PBS program. Louv then authored 101 Things You Can Do For Your Children’s Future (Anchor, 1994), a guidebook for building supportive, family-friendly communities. Fatherlove (Pocket Books, 1994) helped refocus national attention on fathers’ role in American families. The Web of Life (Conari Press, 1996) explored the connections of family and community. Fly-Fishing for Sharks: An American Journey (Simon & Schuster, 2000) focused on our changing relationship with nature. Louv has written for the New York Times, Washington Post, Christian Science Monitor and other newspapers and magazines. He appeared on the CBS Morning Show, Good Morning America, the Today Show, CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News, NPR’s Morning Edition, Fresh Air, Talk of the Nation, and many other programs. Between 1984 and 2007, he was a columnist for the San Diego Union-Tribune; he was also a columnist and member of the editorial advisory board for Parents magazine, and served as an adviser to the Ford Foundation’s Leadership for a Changing World award program and the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child. He is on the board of directors of ecoAmerica. Louv speaks frequently nationally and internationally, having appeared before the Domestic Policy Council in the White House and at major governmental and professional conferences internationally. He is working on his eighth book, which is about the human relationship with the natural world. He would rather fish than write. He blogs for Psychology Today and the Children & Nature Network. Last updated January 7, 2009 |