On the way out of town, I got the shakes. Well, not the shakes exactly, but I wasn't a happy pre-camper. My wife, Kathy, and I had committed to four days away from beeping gadgets, ringing phones, sawing neighbors, the on-demand life. It had been too long since our last...

In the wake of the Sandy Hook school shootings, we've talked about gun laws and mental health treatment, amid a host of other responses. But one potential additional tool has not been mentioned.

Now, let me say right off that I don't pretend nature is a paragon of peace. Writer...

"I recall my father's dark tanned neck, creased with lines of dust, as he tilled our garden. I ran ahead of him, pulling rocks and bones and toys from his path." -- The Nature Principle

In Last Child in the Woods, I focused on why children need nature. In...

"In South Carolina, a truckload of dirt is the same price as a video game!" reports Norman McGee, a father in that state who bought a small pickup-load of dirt for his daughter and friends.

McGee is turning consciousness into action. So is Liz Baird, who keeps a "wonder bowl"...