Richard Louv loves the outdoors.  He wishes we all spent more time there.  In fact his latest book, Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder poses America some tough questions educators and business leaders alike are beginning to ask.  Questions like why is childhood obesity rampant even though the last two decades have seen the largest increase ever in organized sports for children?

He'll be tackling such questions in his keynote address to the Outdoor Writers of America's annual conference on Sunday.

Louv spent more than a decade examining childhood development issues and noticed a fundamental problem was beginning to affect families; namely, children weren't getting to spend unstructured, quality time with nature.

 And Richard isn't alone in thinking that more 'nature time' holds the answer to America's growing problems with childhood development.

Yesterday, 40 civic leaders -- representing several governors, three big-city mayors, Walt Disney Co., Sesame Workshop, DuPont, the gaming industry and others -- stood together to launch a campaign to raise $20 million that will ultimately fund 20 initiatives across the country to encourage children to do what once seemed second nature: go outdoors.