Having parks, open space, river and creek ways, and parkways to play in when young or old is absolutely vital to the way of life we treasure, and this story is a good reminder and work in progress of promoting that.
An excerpt.
Tuning in call of the wild
Developer touts book as a guide to get kids outdoors.
By Mary Lynne Vellinga -- Bee Staff Writer Published 12:01 am PDT Monday, July 3, 2006
Growing up in a tiny village in Greece, Sacramento's biggest developer used a homemade slingshot to hunt birds for his family to eat.
Three decades later, his daughter picked wild asparagus spears along the Sacramento River.
Now, Angelo Tsakopoulos and his daughter Eleni Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis, who together run AKT Development, have become enthusiastic promoters of a book decrying the growing disconnect between modern, plugged-in children and the wild natural world.
Tsakopoulos has handed out nearly 200 copies. "Everyone who walks in our door gets a copy," Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis said.
The book, "Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder," is quickly catching on in local leadership circles.
First published in 2005, it recently came out in paperback. Its author, San Diego Union-Tribune columnist Richard Louv, who frequently writes about parenting topics, says the book has sparked a nationwide movement that he describes as "Leave No Child Inside."
Louv blames the increased tendency of children to stay indoors on a number of factors: the lack of accessible natural spaces in modern neighborhoods, parental fear of letting children roam outside, community restrictions on certain outdoor activities and the roping off of natural preserves.
Federal wildlife regulators are planning a national conference on the topic in September. Steve Thompson, regional head of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, has been pressing the book on developers and environmentalists.
