This lecture series, inaugurated in 1987, honors the memory of Cynthia Longfellow, SLC '72, Harvard Ed.D. '79, who devoted her professional life to bettering the lives of young children. The lecture is funded by an endowment established by family and friends.

2009 Longfellow Lecture

Richard Louv

Nature Deficit Disorder: The Movement to Connect Our Children, Ourselves, and Future Generations to the Natural World

Friday, March 13, 2009
4:30 p.m.
Reisinger Concert Hall

Richard Louv is an author and journalist focused on nature, family, and community. His most recent book, Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder, has stimulated an international conversation about the future relationship between children and nature. He serves as chairman of the Children & Nature Network, an organization helping to build the international movement to connect children with nature. He also serves as honorary co-chair of The National Forum on Children and Nature. He is the recipient of the 2008 Audubon Medal. Past recipients have included Rachel Carson, E.O. Wilson, Robert Redford, and Jimmy Carter.

Mr. Louv has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, and other publications. He has appeared on the "CBS Morning Show," "Good Morning America," the "Today Show," NPR’s "Talk of the Nation," and numerous other programs. He speaks frequently to audiences in the United States and abroad. He has 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 working on his eighth book.

To learn more about Richard Louv and the Children & Nature Network, visit: http://www.childrenandnature.org/ and http://richardlouv.com/. 

Previous Longfellow Lectures

• 2008:The Impact of Abuse and Neglect on the Developing Child: Relationships, Resilience, and Vulnerability
  Bruce D. Perry, M.D., Ph.D.
• 2007: Cultural Aspects of Learning: Observation, Collaboration, and Multimodal Conversation
  Barbara Rogoff, Ph.D.
• 2006: Teaching as Political Work: Courageous and Caring Teachers
  Sonia Nieto, Ph.D.
• 2005: America's Move to Universal Preschool Education
  Edward Zigler, Ph.D.
• 2004: Violence and Education: The Twin Crises Facing America’s Children
  Geoffrey Canada, M.Ed.
• 2002: In Schools We Trust: What Kind of Schooling Nourishes Democracy?
  Deborah W. Meier, M.A.
• 2001: Children on the Cultural Front Line
  Roger A. Hart, Ph.D.
• 2001: Eager To Learn: Educating our Youngest Children
  Barbara T. Bowman, M.A., D.H.L.
• 1999: Standards and Assessment vs. The Magic of Childhood
  Herbert Kohl, M.A.
• 1998: World View and Education Change in School
  Asa G. Hilliard, III, Ed.D.
• 1997: Leveling with Children in a Complex World: A View from a Feminist Scholar
  Peggy McIntosh, Ph.D.
• 1996: The Science and Politics of Child Poverty
  J. Lawrence Aber, Ph.D.
• 1995: Community and Kinship in the Classroom
  Vivian Paley, M.A.
• 1994: The Strains on American Families
  Benjamin Spock, M.D.
• 1992: The Unschooled Mind
  Howard Gardner, Ph.D.
• 1991: Educating for Humanity
  Kenneth B. Clark, Ph.D.
• 1990: Child Abuse and Truth Telling
  Albert J. Solnit, M.D.
• 1989: The Changing Faces of Fatherhood
  Ross Parke, Ph.D.
• 1988: "Food & Vitamins": Providing Language Environments for Children
  Courtney Cazden, Ph.D.
• 1987: Fifty Years of Seeing Children Around the World
   Lois B. Murphy, Ph.D.