Culture Artist

Culture Artist Column, January 6, 2008: Nature Deficit Disorder

Tue, 08 Jan 2008 14:04:34 GMT

by Chuck Hall

If you grew up in a rural environment like I did, you probably remember the joys of playing in the woods. Building forts, taking hikes or collecting plants not only allows children an opportunity for fresh air, it also stimulates their imagination and curiosity. But as video games and television become more important in the lives of our children, they have less and less time to spend in nature.
Author Richard Louv thinks that our children are suffering from Nature Deficit Disorder. In Louv’s book, Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder (2005, Algonquin Books), he argues that kids are so plugged into television and video games that they've lost their connection to the natural world. Louv believes that the hunter/gatherer is still very much a part of our collective psyche, and that people need nature in order to develop fully as human beings.
While video games and television may have some educational purposes, they do not allow for full use of the senses. The sights, sounds, smells and textures of the woods allow children to experience the world in ways that video games cannot. There is a growing body of evidence that children with Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD), a disorder in which children misinterpret signals from their senses, may benefit from sensory integration training. SPD can lead to symptoms like lack of coordination, difficulty in concentrating, and behavioral problems. A growing body of evidence suggests that allowing children to experience nature stimulates all of the senses, and therefore facilitates sensory integration, decreasing symptoms of SPD.

Parents may be fearful of visiting state or national parks, due to perceived dangers of abduction or assault, but those fears are probably exaggerated and exacerbated by the media. John Winters supervises 350 safety officers for the Department of Natural Resources. These safety officers are the uniformed rangers who oversee 96 state parks and recreation areas and 600 boating access sites. According to Ranger Winters, of about 1,000 incident reports that visitors filed with rangers last year, just 16 were technically classified as assaults. Compare that to the estimated 10,000 annual assaults that occur in homes, towns, and city streets, and you can easily see that the woods are a far safer place to be!
You don’t have to take the kids to Yosemite to reap the benefits of nature. Most cities and towns have parks. You can even find nature in your back yard. An Ecotherapy exercise I do with my children in therapy is called ‘A Closer Look.’ I mark out a six-foot in diameter circle on the ground, then have them sit in it with a notebook and record what they see inside that circle for fifteen minutes. Many tell stories of insects interacting. Others describe blades of grass or leaves in great detail. Some talk about the wind and the sun. In every case, they use their imagination to examine the world around them more closely.
The opportunities to help your children overcome ‘Nature Deficit Disorder’ abound. The possibilities are only as limited as your imagination, so teach your kids to put down the X-Box and explore the world around them!
Chuck Hall’s latest book, Green Circles: A Sustainable Journey from the Cradle to the Grave, is now available at the Culture Artist Web site at www.cultureartist.org. You may contact Chuck by email at: chuck@cultureartist.org.

Culture Artist Column, December 2, 2007: Wind Farming

Sat, 01 Dec 2007 04:41:38 GMT

by Chuck Hall

As the demand for alternative forms of energy continues to increase across the nation, American farmers are discovering a new ‘crop.’ All across America, farmers are now harvesting wind energy and reaping the rewards.
As of today, wind power is the fastest growing form of alternative energy in the world. Between 1998 and 2002, wind power grew at an average rate of 32%! According to a study by the Department of Energy (DOE), since 1980 the cost of producing electricity using wind power has dropped as much as 90% as turbines have become more efficient and less expensive. If current trends continue, wind power will be less expensive than electricity from conventional power plants by the year 2010.
The ‘Wind Powering America’ initiative, sponsored by the DOE, hopes to produce 5% of America’s electricity with wind by 2020. To do this, the DOE will be providing $60 billion in investment capital to rural locations across America. Of this capital fund, $1.2 billion will go to farmers and other rural landowners to help establish wind farms across the United States.
There are three basic methods that a potential wind farmer may use to generate income from farming the wind. The first and easiest is to allow a developer to install a large wind turbine on the property. This requires no up-front costs to the wind farmer, and can generate royalties of up to $5000 per year, per turbine, depending on the size of the generator.
The second basic method is to connect your wind turbine to the grid. In this arrangement, you can either check with the local utility company to see if they’ll help you pay for the turbine, or you can finance the turbine yourself. Federal law then requires that the power company buy any surplus electricity from you.
The third method is to buy the turbine yourself, then sell the electricity generated to the highest bidder. The end user in this case doesn’t have to be a power company. You could sell your power to factories, to homes, or to rural subdivisions.

The best part about wind farming is that even large turbines have small footprints. This means that you may still use the bulk of your farmland for growing crops, while supplementing your income by harvesting energy from the wind!
If you would like to learn more about wind energy in general, visit the American Wind Energy Association at: http://www.awea.org. You may download a fact sheet about wind energy from the Union of Concerned Scientists at: http://www.uscusa.org/assets/documents/clean_energy/Agfs_wind_2003.pdf.
You may learn more about farming the wind at: http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/renewable_energy_basics/farming-the-wind-wind-power-and-agriculture.html.

Chuck Hall is a graduate student and author. His latest book, Green Circles: A Sustainable Journey from the Cradle to the Grave, is now available at the Culture Artist Web site at www.cultureartist.org. You may contact Chuck by email at: chuck@cultureartist.org.

Culture Artist Column, November 18, 2007: Living in the Woods, Part I

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 16:03:45 GMT

Last week I discussed some of the spiritual aspects of going off to live in the wilderness as a means of self-discovery and growth. Such experiences can be very rewarding, but many readers wonder about the practical aspects of survival during such a journey. This week’s column will examine how to prepare yourself physically and mentally so that there are no surprises when you set off on your adventure.

The first consideration is how isolated you intend to be, and for how long. Hiking deep into a national forest for a month or two will require different preparations than going on a primitive camping trip for a week at a campground. Both experiences have their values, and a little nature is better than none at all. It’s up to the individual to decide how much is enough.
If you’re planning a longer stay with more isolation, you’ll have to figure out how much you can carry and how much you can live off the land. In any case, you should never go off into the woods without letting someone know exactly where you intend to be and for how long. I’d recommend carrying a cell phone or some other type of GPS locator device in case of emergency. It’s also a good idea to scout the area you intend to stay in first so you can make sure your cell phone will work in a remote location.
If you plan to be in a remote location for an extended time, it’s a good idea to have a physical exam. Tell your doctor what you plan to do. You don’t want to be stranded alone in the woods during a major illness or other trauma. It might also be beneficial to engage in some sort of exercise program for a few months before you go. Hiking in the woods is a physically demanding activity, and it’s not easy if you’re not in shape, especially if you’re carrying a backpack full of supplies. Make sure your supplies include a first aid kit!
The next step is to become an expert on the local flora and fauna. It helps to know what is safe to eat and what is not. You can supplement your food supplies with fruits and vegetables that grow wild in nature. I wouldn’t recommend hunting unless you know that the animals you kill are free of diseases. And of course, if you plan to hunt, you’ll need the proper permits and weaponry. When I had my wilderness experience, I ate only vegetables and fruits. Buying meat at the grocery store is an entirely different experience from having to kill and field dress an animal yourself. Going through such an experience makes becoming a vegetarian a lot easier!
If you own the parcel of land you plan to camp on, you might want to clear an area for a small garden in the early spring, plant some fruits and vegetables, and return during the summer for an extended stay. That way you can be reasonably sure that you will have enough food for your adventure.
The most important consideration is having a fresh supply of water. There's plenty of online info about where to find fresh water and how to purify the water from streams or springs. Practice finding your own water and purifying it before you go.
Another consideration is the timing. It's better to make such an excursion in the spring, when most of the native plants are at their peak. Buy several field guides and prepare yourself for at least six months beforehand by studying the local plant life. Be careful that you know the difference between poisonous plants and edible ones. Stay away from mushrooms unless you've had at least a year of training from someone who's an expert in edible mushrooms.
Once you feel confident that you have mastered all the challenges of a wilderness experience, set off on your journey. Keep a diary or a journal so you may share your experiences later. If you make such a journey, I’d love to know how it turns out!
Chuck Hall is a graduate student and author. His latest book, Green Circles: A Sustainable Journey from the Cradle to the Grave, is now available at the Culture Artist Web site at www.cultureartist.org. You may contact Chuck by email at: chuck@cultureartist.org.

Culture Artist Column, November 11, 2007: Living in the Woods, Part I

Sat, 10 Nov 2007 05:57:42 GMT

In my latest book, Green Circles: A Sustainable Journey from the Cradle to the Grave, I devoted a chapter to my experiences living in the woods of the Appalachian foothills. At that time I had gone into the woods on a quest of self-discovery. I built a small cabin on a three-acre parcel I owned, and lived off the natural resources around me. As I became adjusted to this lifestyle, I noticed that my perceptions about the world underwent several permanent and life-altering changes. I learned a great deal about myself, about the natural world around me, and about what it means to live as a spiritual being having a human experience.
A lot of people began their spiritual journeys by going off into the woods. Buddha did it, Jesus did it, Mohammed did it, Moses did it, the Native Americans did it, and so did most of the great spiritual leaders throughout history. There is something about seeing the wild places firsthand that awakens our deeper, more intimate and personal levels of awareness.
Science in recent years has begun studying the psychological aspects of wilderness experiences. In a 2005 study, van den Berg & Heijne researched some of these characteristics. The study, Fear versus fascination: An exploration of emotional responses to natural threats, explains that there are two basic types of attentional focus: focus and fascination. Focus is the type of attention we experience most often in artificial environments. Human hands make most of the things we see indoors. Since we evolved in the wilderness, but have only been living in artificial environments for a few thousand years, our brains are wired to be ‘on guard’ in unfamiliar surroundings. The more primitive parts of our brains recognize artificial places as somehow alien. Because of this, we tend to use more energy to focus our attention while indoors in order to avoid these man-made distractions. Fascination is the type of attention we tend to experience more outdoors. The deeper, older parts of our brains recognize natural environments as something familiar, so we tend to use less mental resources for focusing attention. This means that more mental energy is available to generate more meditative states. So unless a bear is chasing you, you’re calmer and more relaxed in the woods or on a beach. Serenity is a prerequisite to spiritual events, so experiencing nature is highly conducive to spiritual awareness.
While nature helps you to achieve serenity much more easily, it’s hard to be serene when you’re cold and hungry. Many of the people who’ve read my book have written to ask about the practical aspects of living in the wilderness. They want to seek their own spirituality in nature, but they’re not sure how they would manage to survive in the meantime, so I thought I’d address some of the more mundane tasks of having your own Walden experience. Next week we’ll look at how to prepare yourself for your own journey of discovery in the wilderness.
Chuck Hall is a graduate student and author. His latest book, Green Circles: A Sustainable Journey from the Cradle to the Grave, is now available at the Culture Artist Web site at www.cultureartist.org. You may contact Chuck by email at: chuck@cultureartist.org.

Culture Artist Column, November 4, 2007: A Year of the Culture Artist

Fri, 02 Nov 2007 16:56:58 GMT

The first Culture Artist column was published on November 9, 2006 in my hometown newspaper, The Press and Banner, in Abbeville, South Carolina. Only a year later, this column has grown from a readership of a little over 5000 to over two million readers in nearly seventy newspapers on three continents! It has succeeded beyond my wildest expectations. The fact that readership of this column has grown so quickly tells me that there is a great global hunger to live in more ecological ways.

As I’ve gotten feedback on the past year’s columns, I’ve noticed a trend developing among the readers. In addition to a desire to manage natural resources in a sustainable manner, many readers talk to me about managing their lives sustainably. I found this to be an interesting and intriguing idea. What if there is a sustainability of the soul? What would that look like?

I believe that if there is any such thing as the human spirit, it is a renewable resource just as valuable as any other. Everyone needs some time in a special quiet place to replenish their spiritual energy.

I believe that a truly sustainable society would respect the inherent worth and dignity of all of its members, encouraging human growth and development. We all have a favorite person or group we love to oppose, whether that opposition is based on race, religion, politics, favorite sports team, choice of musical taste, favorite ice cream, or any other label we choose to hang on that amorphous "they,” but a sustainable culture would work diligently to minimize such differences by focusing instead on the things we have in common.

Far too often clashes of beliefs and perspectives lead to misunderstandings, arguments, fights and even wars. To prevent such events, all we need to do is to keep talking to each other and trying to understand each other. By respecting the person behind the belief, we will come a lot closer to a peaceful world.

With that in mind, a group of people who are concerned for the environment have banded together to form the Culture Artist Organization. This organization will be a non-profit dedicated to being a positive force for change in educating the general public in the importance of nature, ecology, and sustainable living practices. The Culture Artist Organization will do this through working with the local community and the world at large to establish educational programs and practical solutions to environmental problems, guided by the philosophical principles of Deep Ecology and sustainability.

One of our long-term goals is the establishment of the Forest Moon Ecovillage. In addition to being a village modeled on the principles of sustainability, Forest Moon will also be a teaching community, allowing people interested in such communities to visit and gain hands-on experience in green living. By sharing with each other, we help to create not only a sustainable ecosystem, but a sustainable human spirit as well.

If you would like to learn more about the work of the Culture Artist Organization, please visit our website at: www.cultureartist.org.

Chuck Hall is a graduate student and author. His latest book, Green Circles: A Sustainable Journey from the Cradle to the Grave, is now available at the Culture Artist Web site at www.cultureartist.org. You may contact Chuck by email at: chuck@cultureartist.org.

Culture Artist Column, October 28, 2007: The Last Tree

Mon, 29 Oct 2007 14:53:17 GMT

by Chuck Hall

When Polynesian settlers arrived at Easter Island, they found a tropical paradise waiting for them. Archaeological evidence shows that when the Polynesians landed on that island, it was covered with a thick forest of abundant flora and fauna. A new study suggests that these settlers didn’t arrive until about 1200 C.E. At the peak of their civilization, the island supported nearly 7,000 people. Yet by the time Dutch colonizers arrived in 1772, all they found was the eerie stone statues that dominate the island to this day, and a few dozen starving survivors from the original Polynesian colonists. In less than six centuries, the original settlers turned the island into a wasteland. Today, the island is nothing but a barren field covered with grasses and those enigmatic stone statues.

I wonder what happened that would lead these islanders to think that their rapid and massive deforestation was a good idea? Surely at some point in time they must have realized what was happening to the forests around them. There are no trees at all on the island today. Someone had to have been the one to cut down the last tree. I wonder what went through his mind as he put the axe to the last tree trunk on the island? Did he look upon his action with regret and remorse for what once was, or did he just look at it as a way to squeeze the last ounce of productivity out of the last resource on the island? Did the islanders realize that the destruction of the forest meant their own destruction, or did they just think that the cutting of the last tree was “business as usual” and that anyone who objected was needlessly being an alarmist?

The sad story of Easter Island is not unique in history. For decades, historians wondered what happened to the Mayan civilization. The Mayans had a sophisticated urban culture that in many ways rivaled our own, and in some ways (astronomy, for example) exceeded ours. Yet in 900 C.E. they all suddenly abandoned their cities for the jungle. For years the reason for this abandonment had been a mystery, but archaeologists today have reached a general consensus on what they think happened.

The largest of Mayan cities had a population of between 10,000 and 20,000. All of those people had to be fed. The preferred style of Mayan agriculture was to slash and burn the jungle to create arable fields for planting. By planting the same crops year after year, the nutrients in the soil were quickly depleted. After a few decades of this practice, the soil within walking distance of all the cities had been exhausted. The fields had to be moved so far away from the cities that it was easier simply to abandon the cities altogether. In other words, the cities were abandoned because of an ecological disaster caused by non-sustainable agricultural practices.

There is evidence that other great cities of the past, such as Rome and Alexandria, had an element of ecological disaster in their falls as well. Throughout history, when civilizations have failed to live in a sustainable manner, the inevitable result has been the collapse of those civilizations.

We stand on the brink of another potential ecological disaster that would make the collapse of an ancient city-state pale in significance. In the past, when civilizations fell, the refugees could always move elsewhere and start over. The problem now is that we are a global civilization. There is nowhere else to go.

Are we, as a species, staring at the last tree with an axe in our hands?

Chuck Hall is a graduate student and author. His latest book, Green Circles: A Sustainable Journey from the Cradle to the Grave, is now available at the Culture Artist Web site at www.cultureartist.org. You may contact Chuck by email at: chuck@cultureartist.org.

Culture Artist Column, October 21, 2007: Sustainable Communities and Second Order Change

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 13:53:19 GMT

Ecopsychology is a fairly recent concept in mental health. It is a philosophy combining elements of psychology and ecology. The theory behind Ecopsychology is that mental health is contingent upon the health of the environment. In other words, humankind and the environment are part of an interrelated system.
I became interested in environmental issues in the late 1970s, largely because I grew up playing in the woods. The forest was my retreat when things got too stressful at home. I could take a walk down by the creek for an hour or so, and suddenly everything fell back into perspective. So when I entered graduate school for Marriage and Family Therapy, it was only natural that I would research nature’s impact on mental health. When I first learned of Ecopsychology, it was natural that I would become involved in research in the field.
There is a wealth of research demonstrating that nature and wilderness experiences are beneficial to mental health. Just a few examples:

Kaplan and Kaplan (1993): Study of over 1200 employees revealed that those who had a window overlooking a natural environment consistently performed better at work and gave higher overall job satisfaction ratings.
Antonioli & Reveley (2005) found that swimming with dolphins was more effective for treating depression than traditional treatments.
Therapy and educational activities conducted in outdoor settings reduces symptoms of ADD/ADHD (Kuo & Taylor, 2004).
Nature and outdoor activities reduce stress and restore energy (Sponslee et al, 2004).
Smith-Sebasto & Walker (2005) found that wilderness survival skills training gave adolescents increased self-esteem and self-confidence, skills necessary for a good education.
Lazar et al (2005) demonstrated that meditative states stimulate neural growth in the cerebral cortex. Nature experiences have been demonstrated in several studies to produce meditative states (fascination, relaxation, mindfulness).
Meyer (2001): A literature review of outdoor experiences as educational tools revealed that ‘outdoor classrooms’ enhanced many critical factors of the educational experience, including: enhanced retention, better focus, more attention to detail, less hyperactivity, more relaxation, increased confidence and self-esteem, and better cognitive functioning.

I am currently involved in research into how living environments influence mental health. Since nature has been demonstrated to have a positive influence on mental health, I was curious as to how incorporating nature into our living environments might affect our resiliency.
Sustainable communities are planned communities that make a conscious effort to live in a greener manner. Such communities often incorporate nature into their design. In theory, the more nature that a living space incorporates, the better off the people who live there should be in terms of mental health.
My current research project examines various living environments and the adaptability and resiliency of individuals who live in these environments to see if there is a correlation between the amount of nature in their living environments and their mental resiliency.
The title of the project is: Sustainable Communities and Second Order Change, and it is being conducted through Converse College in Spartanburg, South Carolina. This is an online research project. If you would like to participate, please visit: http://www.cultureartist.org/research/sustainablecommunitiesresearch.htm.
Chuck Hall is a Sustainability Consultant, graduate student and author. His latest book, Green Circles: A Sustainable Journey from the Cradle to the Grave, is now available at the Culture Artist Web site at www.cultureartist.org. You may contact Chuck by email at: chuck@cultureartist.org.