Nature and the Mental Health of Our Children

A remarkable study published in October 2021 in the journal Pediatrics has demonstrated how access to nature promotes mental wellness in children. A team of researchers collected and analyzed the results of nearly 300 studies that looked at the impact of green spaces on children’s welfare. They found a clear connection between regular access to nature and improved physical, psychological, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral health. Notably, the effect was especially strong for children of color and those from under-resourced communities who've been denied such access.

Based on what I’ve learned working extensively in public health and heard directly from parents, children, educators, I can confirm the accuracy of this mega-study. Children of color and in fact all children will truly blossom when given chances to enjoy natural environments and peaceful green spaces. Children suffer enormously when they remain trapped indoors for too long, or when the only “nature” they experience is stunted, neglected, or polluted.

In vast national parks and forests like those we're blessed to have in California and throughout this Country and in well-tended community parks, nature has an undeniable power to heal. Children belong in nature, they are its citizens and it is our responsibility as the adults who care for them to make sure they are granted this critically important birthright.