Environmental Science Education vs. Nature-Deficit Disorder

photograph of people hiking a trail

Students hiking the trail at Tennant Creek Falls

with Tom Mowatt

Associate Professor of Biology

SUNY Adirondack

 

October 3, 2018

Old Chapel

Lecture at 5:30

Refreshments from 5:00

This event is free and open to the public.

 

Human beings, especially children, are spending less time outdoors resulting in a wide range of behavioral and physiological problems. Nature deficit disorder refers to the phrase coined by Richard Louv in his 2005 book Last Child in the Woods. “Human beings, especially children, are spending less time outdoors resulting in a wide range of behavioral problems… With the rise of technology and industrial growth, people have increasingly lost personal contact with nature.” Studies show that this distance has led to mental and physical health problems for many people, notably children in the U.S.

Tom Mowatt

Thomas Mowatt is an experienced environmental educator, Adirondack hiking and camping guide, and naturalist-artist living in a historic 1910 log cabin overlooking Lake Champlain. Adopted into the Ojibwa tribal culture, Tom is respected in First Nations culture as a traditional craftsman, researcher, and practitioner of medicinal ethno-botany. He has also worked for the U.S. Forest Service as a forest fire fighter and arson investigator; often requested by law enforcement agencies, working with search dogs in various capacities. Tom is an Associate Professor of Science at SUNY Adirondack, teaching Environmental Science, Forensic Science, Medicinal Ethnobotany and Biology.