Against ‘Nature-Deficit Disorder’

Earlier this year, 28 authors wrote to the Oxford Junior Dictionary objecting to the disappearance of nature words from its pages: catkins and kingfishers were making way for chatrooms and broadband. The authors were worried that “disconnection from nature” leads to “social ills”—a concern loudly shared by nature writer Rob Cowen. His first book, Skimming Stones…