Professor of Environmental Studies, Oberlin College, Author of The Nature of Design: Ecology, Culture and Human Intention
“What can we do to improve parenting? Most important, we must protect children and childhood, which means changing our priorities. As a society, that means such things as fewer shopping malls and more parks; less television and more family time; fewer roads and more trails. It means no child left behind…in every way.
That goal requires that we, parents and teachers, foster a sense of hope along with the competence to act faithfully. Hope and competence include old and durable standards of decency, compassion, and foresight but now extended to all life for as far out as we can imagine. But hope grows out of the practical necessities to:
1. love our children thoughtfully and consistently.
2. slow the velocity of life by eating together, playing together, reading together, working together.
3. eat well, which means mostly local, organic, and unprocessed foods.
4. engage the natural world—more accurately, to enjoy a love affair with it. The natural world is not an abstraction…yet.”From HEALTHY CHILD HEALTHY WORLD. Reprinted by arrangement with Plume, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. Copyright (c) 2009 by Healthy Child Healthy World.To read more from David and many others, pick up your copy of our book, Healthy Child Healthy World: Creating a Cleaner, Greener, Safer Home, today.
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