"Nature Deficit Disorder" is not a medically-recognized illness; it is, rather, a term coined by author Richard Louv in his book, Last Child in the Woods, published in 2005. He argues that children are spending less time than ever out-of-doors and, when they are outside, they are in an industrial environment or in strictly-controlled athletic organizations with too little of the natural word surrounding them, and too few opportunities for imaginative play. Because of this absence of nature, children are subject to a decline in health and an increase in behavioral disorders and other emotional problems.
The chief culprit for nature deficit disorder, says Louv, is the "sensationalist" media and our litigious culture. In this environment, parents are frightened of everything from abduction to injury to being subject to criminal charges for "neglecting" their children in the great outdoors. He points to statistics such as a 1991 study indicating the radius children are allowed to roam outside their homes has shrunk to a ninth of what it was in 1985; and that the obesity epidemic has risen at the same time organized sports have grown significantly in the United States; as evidence that children's lives are overstructured and deprived of natural adventure.
How to foster green biodiversity
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