Finding Nature

The Great Theft is a free chapter from Reconnection: Fixing our Broken Relationship with Nature which was published by Pelagic 25 April. Reconnection is split into three parts, the first covering the need for reconnection with nature, the second on the benefits of reconnection with nature and the third on creating a new relationship with nature.

The Great Theft is the second chapter and covers the Enlightenment, Scientific and Industrial Revolutions and a revolution in the way we think that separated humans from the rest of nature – ‘a single, underlying fault upon which the entire edifice of Western thought and science has been built – namely that which separates the “two worlds” of humanity and nature’, as described by Tim Ingold. A fracture so profound that it seeps into our everyday language bringing a powerful belief in the self and individuality we see throughout Western culture.

Language and folklore is powerful

Before having a read of The Great Theft, it’s worth knowing what the first chapter, A Broken Relationship with Nature covers. It opens asking whether we are a nation of nature lovers? Demonstrating how the current state of nature suggests we are not and that our relationship with nature is broken. To understand how this happened the opening chapter considers ‘the letting go’, how the human bond with nature loosened as we progressed from hunter-gatherers to farmers.

Reconnection: Fixing our Broken Relationship with Nature has been published by Pelagic. The formal summary and selection of reviews are below, but first a few reflections.

Writing started in a notepad on the East Neuk of Fife coast between Elie and St. Monans on August 1st 2021. Mapping out the story, a book about our relationship with (the rest of) nature, why it’s failing, why it matters and how we might fix it. A week’s leave to make some solid progress later that month was filled with walks and cycle rides. Yet, after seven months of weekends and evenings in our shed overlooking a field (often powered by Funky Radio to keep me on the one while writing about the one) the first full draft was completed spring 2022. Then, from summer ’22, into winter the final text was completed. It’s left quite a hole and at times I find myself wondering what to do with myself!

Writing Reconnection

Before the official blurb and the thoughts of others, some of my favourite parts of the book are, the working title, Nature Lovers? And writing the opening chapters, A Broken Relationship with Nature, The Great Theft, The Technological Ape and Hidden Connections with Nature. And the Preface, so far everyone seems to like the Preface!

And a few of my favourite lines:

“Whereas this tree of life has flourished to many billions of lives for humans and their livestock, it is withering for other species as we extend our use and control of nature. In the forest of life, the human tree casts much shade.”

“Nature is on the sidelines – quite literally at times, in the cracks beneath the billboards. Nature does not have a marketing budget. Nature has no new styles; this year’s robin is the same as the previous years.”

“I see trees as the ever-present foundations of a new relationship with nature, birds as our hope – a thread back to the dinosaurs, angels from an extinction. We should listen to their calls.”

And the analogies about visits to the fridge and taking a slice through a mystery cake!

But more formally…

Reconnection asks, how did our relationship with nature become broken, why does it matter and how can we fix it? From a past in which we were embedded in the natural world, revolutions in farming, science and industry have seen the human bond with nature eroded with the promise of prosperity offering happiness and meaning in life. This mindset may have delivered comfortable living for many, but there is growing recognition that the root cause of wildlife loss and the warming climate is people’s disconnection from nature, which is also an important factor in our mental health. Yet solutions focus on technical fixes to treat the symptoms of that damaged relationship, such as reducing carbon emissions and increasing habitat. What we urgently need is a whole new way of thinking.

Reconnection explores our hidden links with nature and through the science of nature connectedness, sets out ways to revivify the relationship across society. Here is a route to a meaningful life that unites both human and nature’s wellbeing for a truly sustainable future. What’s more, everybody has a role to play. From business leaders to conservationists, teachers to medics, from drivers to walkers, we can all reduce the damage we do and find new ways to bring nature into our lives. Reconnection considers the problems scientifically, then offers simple, practical, positive steps for how we can all work towards a better world.

Reviews

• Reconnection is a joy to read! It’s a thought-provoking, inspiring book which highlights the ever increasing need to step outside and re-embrace the natural world into our lives. For the benefit of individual wellbeing, for communities and for the health of our environment, I sincerely hope everybody reads this and seeks a closer relationship to nature.
  —Megan McCubbin, zoologist, conservationist and TV presenter
• It’s so valuable to see all the studies brought together and clearly explained – not only as evidence for the instincts we already have about how much connection to nature matters, but also to dispel some myths about how that connection works (or doesn’t), and how it might be improved. I found it absolutely fascinating and I can see it making an important contribution to so many sectors.
  —Melissa Harrison, author of All Among the Barley
• Fascinating, poignant and hopeful. Reconnection should be mandatory reading for us all.
  —Dr. Mya-Rose Craig, author of Birdgirl
• This is a book with muscle. Not a softly aspirational book about belonging and nature but an incisively written work that examines the needs that humans have for seeing themselves as part of the natural world. Reconnection is an important book that moved me, made me think and, made me smile.
  —Sir Tim Smit, Co-founder and Vice Chairman of the Eden Project
• Reconnection has the makings of a game-changing classic: hugely sophisticated thought and ideas framed within the most direct and simple language. Any schoolchild could understand it. In fact, all young people and everyone else concerned for the future of life on Earth should read it, if we want to end the nature crisis in our midst.
  —Mark Cocker, author of One Midsummer’s Day
• This book is both authoritative and personal, warm and carefully scientific. It busts myths, challenges assumptions and presents truths we can no longer ignore. And crucially, Richardson offers a compelling and practical vision of what we need to do – and why – to change our relationship with Nature. This is the how-to manual and a must-read for anyone searching for the tools to improve human lives and Nature’s future.
  —Mary-Ann Ochota, broadcaster and anthropologist
• As Miles Richardson says; nature makes sense. After reading his book you too will be in no doubt.
  —David Lindo, The Urban Birder
• Nature Connection is such an interesting topic. Aside from the physical adventures and mental joy that nature brings, that relationship is vital for our world and it is vital that we care enough to acknowledge the damage we are doing and take urgent steps to fix it.
  —Alastair Humphreys, author of Microadventures and The Doorstep Mile
• We’re all increasingly aware of how important our relationship with Nature is for our own good and for the good of the natural world. Instinctively we know we are not where we need to be. This book sets out in an accessible and thought provoking way the science that underpins that growing understanding and what we can all do as individuals and as a society to rebuild that relationship before it’s too late.
  —Beccy Speight, CEO, RSPB
• Richardson has produced a rich, timely and painstakingly researched account of what’s gone wrong in our relationship with nature and most urgently, how it might be fixed. It’s never mattered more, has it? I wish every policy maker, educators, economists and land managers would read and act on this book.
  —Amy-Jane Beer, naturalist and author of The Flow
• Miles Richardson expertly balances threat with hope in this timely and brilliant book. A must-read for anyone who values the natural world and our connection to it.
  —Hilary McGrady, Director General at the National Trust
• Reconnection is a timely, clear plea to understand just how disconnected we have become from nature. Until it is spelled out, it is easy to assume things are not so bad, that reconnection is just a matter of being more aware. This book shows that the fracture lines go deeper and are more damaging than they might appear on the surface, but it is ultimately a hopeful book, offering solutions that make a greener future seem vibrant and joyful – worth striving for.
  —Mary Colwell, author of Beak, Tooth and Claw
• Thought provoking, brilliantly researched, and surprising in some of its findings. Also extremely readable which, given the importance of its subject, is helpful for those of us without academic backgrounds. A must-read for educators, policy makers, and anyone else trying to raise awareness of the benefits and importance of Nature Reconnection.
  —Brigit Strawbridge Howard, author of Dancing with Bees
• A widening separation of people from nature threatens our physical health, our mental wellbeing and the very survival of our civilisation. In Reconnection, Miles Richardson poetically and expertly explores this monumental issue of our time and how we might go about fixing it.
  —Ben Goldsmith, philanthropist and environmentalist

Available from booksellers large (you know the ones) and small, such as:

• Pages of Hackney
• Five Leaves Bookshop
• Little Green Bookshop
• October Books
• Scarthin Books

Spring is a time of new relationships, between parents and their young, as new growth emerges from old. Spring also sees anniversaries for two environmentalists who emphasized people’s relationships with nature. John Muir, born April 1838, shaped people’s appreciation for wild nature. Rachel Carson, who died April 1964, highlighted the dangers of pesticides in Silent Spring, one example of a controlling relationship with nature. Despite their work, and the efforts of countless others, over two-thirds of wildlife populations have been lost since 1970 [1]. Spring has grown quieter.

Spring is a time of new relationships, but only a new relationship with nature can prevent a silent spring.

Since the early 1990s, no country has met the basic needs of its population without overconsuming natural resources [2]. The destruction of habitats and wildlife, together with climate change, show that the human-nature relationship is broken. It is dominated by use and control.

People in countries like the US and Britain have some of the weakest relationships with nature [3]. Nations that have had particularly fast levels of growth and consumption since Muir’s birth. This growth, fuelled by the use and control of natural resources, has improved our lives in innumerable ways, but at a devasting cost to the environment and our bond with nature. Over time, the language used in the books, films and songs that reflect our preoccupations and tastes refers to nature less and less [4]. Instead, we increasingly celebrate ourselves. The use of the word ‘me’ has increased four-fold since 1990 [5]. It is being human, rather than of nature, that brings meaning to our lives. People are increasingly self-interested, and we focus on using our technology to ‘fix’ the symptoms of the broken relationship, such as targeting zero carbon.

The relationship with nature that is the root cause of the environmental crises is rarely seen as a tangible target for change. Yet it is that relationship that drives our behaviour towards the natural world [6]. Corporations have used the emotions and meaning that form relationships to drive consumer behaviour for decades [7]. The consumer world is also a battle for attention between brands, products and experiences, but nature doesn’t have an advertising budget. Yet it is noticing nature, the joy and meaning that it brings, that builds the close relationship that brings pro-nature behaviours [8]. Too often in our consumer world, nature is simply a resource for recreation, an opportunity for a selfie where we can celebrate ourselves.

Our efforts to form a relationship with nature are often misguided. Outdoor adventure, enjoyed by Muir, is often assumed to improve people’s bond with nature but has been found not to [9]. Excursions such as hiking have been found to have limited benefits when compared to simpler engagement with nearby nature [10]. Similarly, environmental education does not tend to increase nature connection and pro-nature behaviours [11]. Facts and figures don’t form relationships, they can strip nature of its joy and meaning.

The division of nature to understand hides surprising and real connections that are the basis of life. Our microbiome – the myriad of microorganisms that live on and inside us – plays a vital role in our wellbeing. Each of us is a community of half human and half microbial cells in a symbiotic relationship [12]. Our bodies have an innate and unseen union with the rest of nature, such that simply viewing flowers or touching oak can be detected in physiological changes that help manage our emotions [13]. Controlled, dissected, exploited, and ignored, nature disappears from our landscapes, our lives and Spring.

Unseen connections re-emerge in Spring and relationships can be rekindled. This can begin without excursions, simply by noticing nature close to home, finding wilderness in an individual flower. A simple act that repeated can build a relationship with nature that brings sustained benefits to mental wellbeing and feelings of living a worthwhile life [14]. A relationship that unites both human and nature’s wellbeing. A society that celebrates and realises its place within nature will prevent a silent spring – a positive vision, not just a future denied the use and control of nature’s resources.

[1] WWF (2022). Living Planet Report, https://livingplanet.panda.org/en-GB/

[2] Fanning, A. L., O’Neill, D. W., Hickel, J., & Roux, N. (2021). The social shortfall and ecological overshoot of nations. Nature Sustainability, 1–11; https://sustainabilitycommunity.springernature.com/posts/draft

[3] White, M. P., Elliott, L. R., Grellier, J., et al. (2021). Associations between green/blue spaces and mental health across 18 countries. Scientific Reports, 11, 8903. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-87675-0

[4] Kesebir, S., & Kesebir, P. (2017). A growing disconnection from nature is evident in cultural products. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 12(2), 258–69.

[5] Twenge, J. M., Campbell, W. K., & Gentile, B. (2013). Changes in pronoun use in American books and the rise of individualism, 1960–2008. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 44(3), 406–15; Twenge, J. M., Campbell, W. K., & Gentile, B. (2012). Increases in individualistic words and phrases in American books, 1960–2008. PloS One, 7(7), e40181; Richardson, M. (2022,). Me, myself and nature. Finding Nature. https://findingnature.org.uk/2022/08/31/nature-versus-me/

[6] Mackay, C. M., & Schmitt, M. T. (2019). Do people who feel connected to nature do more to protect it? A meta-analysis. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 65, 101323. Whitburn, J., Linklater, W., & Abrahamse, W. (2020). Meta‐analysis of human connection to nature and proenvironmental behavior. Conservation Biology, 34(1), 180–93.

[7] Holbrook, M. B., & Hirschman, E. C. (1982). The experiential aspects of consumption: consumer fantasies, feelings, and fun. Journal of Consumer Research, 9(2), 132–40.

[8] Sheffield, D., Butler, C. W., & Richardson, M. (2022). Improving Nature Connectedness in Adults: A Meta-Analysis, Review and Agenda. Sustainability, 14(19), 12494; Richardson, M., Hamlin, I., Butler, C. W., et al. (2021). Actively noticing nature (not just time in nature) helps promote nature connectedness. Ecopsychology. https://doi.org/10.1089/eco.2021.0023; Richardson, M., Passmore, H. A., Barbett, L., et al. (2020). The green care code: how nature connectedness and simple activities help explain pro‐nature conservation behaviours. People and Nature, 2(3), 821–39.

[9] Williams, I. R., Rose, L. M., Raniti, M. B., et al. (2018). The impact of an outdoor adventure program on positive adolescent development: a controlled crossover trial. Journal of Outdoor and Environmental Education, 21(2), 207–36.

[10] Phillips, T. B., Wells, N. M., Brown, A. H., Tralins, J. R., & Bonter, D. N. (2023). Nature and well‐being: The association of nature engagement and well‐being during the SARS‐CoV‐2 pandemic. People and Nature.

[11] Otto, S., & Pensini, P. (2017). Nature-based environmental education of children: environmental knowledge and connectedness to nature, together, are related to ecological behaviour. Global Environmental Change, 47, 88–94; Barragan-Jason, G., de Mazancourt, C., Parmesan, C., et al. (2021). Human–nature connectedness as a pathway to sustainability: a global meta-analysis. Conservation Letters, e1285.

[12] Robinson, J. M., Mills, J. G., & Breed, M. F. (2018). Walking ecosystems in microbiome-inspired green infrastructure: an ecological perspective on enhancing personal and planetary health. Challenges, 9(2), 40; Sender, R., Fuchs, S., & Milo, R. (2016). Revised estimates for the number of human and bacteria cells in the body. PLoS Biology, 14(8), e1002533.

[13] Ikei, H., Song, C., & Miyazaki, Y. (2017). Physiological effects of touching wood. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 14(7), 801; Lee, J., Park, B. J., Tsunetsugu, Y., et al. (2011). Effect of forest bathing on physiological and psychological responses in young Japanese male subjects. Public Health, 125(2), 93–100.

[14] Pritchard, A., Richardson, M., Sheffield, D., & McEwan, K. (2020). The relationship between nature connectedness and eudaimonic well-being: a meta-analysis. Journal of Happiness Studies, 21(3), 1145–67; Martin, L., White, M. P., Hunt, A., et al. (2020). Nature contact, nature connectedness and associations with health, wellbeing and pro-environmental behaviours. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 68, 101389.McEwan, K., Richardson, M., Sheffield, D., et al. (2019). A smartphone app for improving mental health through connecting with urban nature. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(18), 3373.

Major environmental institutions around the world are realising that a sustainable future requires a new relationship with nature. Recognising that the human-nature relationship is a tangible target for change that drives behaviour. The latest example is ‘Exiting the Anthropocene? Exploring fundamental change in our relationship with nature’, a milestone briefing from European Environment Agency, which is informed by our nature connectedness research and the biodiversity stripes concept – pushing environment science-policy thinking beyond what has gone before. This recognition and progress is driven by research, as demonstrated by the UN commissioned Stolkholm+50 evidence review. The increase in nature connectedness research since 2001 is remarkable, with work in this area increasingly being published in the world’s leading journals. Keeping up with the research is a challenge and in the past few weeks alone several particularly interesting papers have been published. Covering whether nature connection is weakening over time, green space versus connection, nearby nature versus excursions, the link between connection and behaviour, urban nature connection and how, despite the evidence, designing for human–nature connection is yet to become mainstream.

There is a general belief that the human-nature relationship is getting weaker over time, people are becoming more disconnected from nature over the decades. As there haven’t been regular and consistent measures over the years this can be difficult to evidence. We can infer a growing disconnection from cultural changes, such as the fall in use of nature words in books and films. Or simply the rise in damage done to the natural world, such as the 69% decline in wildlife populations since 1970.  Handily, a paper published One Earth in February presents a global analysis of the changes in people’s psychological and physical connections to nature over time. This systematic review of over 70 articles and 100 case studies indicates that there has been a decline in human connection to nature over time. With this change varying by socio-economic and geographic settings. The work concludes that a better understanding of the human-nature relationship is crucial for a sustainable future. Such that researchers and policy makers should focus efforts on addressing this failing relationship.

A key aspect of work to address the human-nature relationship is that time in nature is different to nature connection. Time and visits are straightforward measures so get used in a great deal of research, but time and visits don’t necessarily indicate a close relationship. Several of my research papers and blog posts (e.g. here, here and here) cover the crucial difference between nature contact and nature connectedness. And a recent systematic review covering 832 independent studies provides an important summary on why the difference matters and the necessity to focus on psychological nature connection for a sustainable future. Some further work published in March adds to this.

A UK study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health also studies exposure to nature and connection with nature in tandem, therefore exploring how each explain wellbeing. After controlling for age and gender, the researchers found that greater nature connection significantly predicted lower depression and stress and improved well-being. Whereas the percentage of local green space did not significantly predict any mental health outcomes. There are many ways to measure green space and the quality and access to it matters. However, the work supports findings that indicate that nature connection is a significant component of the nature–health relationship – specifically that nature connection is linked with decreased depression, anxiety, stress and increased well-being.

Similarly, a US study published in People and Nature in February found more evidence on the benefit of nature connectedness for mental health and the need to move beyond access and excursions into nature towards engagement with nearby nature. The findings showed that nature connectedness was associated with less loneliness and greater mental health, but different types of nature engagement brought different results. In line with a previous work on simply noticing nearby nature, it was engagement with nearby nature that was linked with better mental health. While nature excursions such as camping and backpacking were linked to worse mental health. Similarly, media-based nature engagement wasn’t linked to positive benefits.

It is clear that engagement with nature, rather than simple provision of green space, is important to deliver the greatest benefits – especially the benefits important for a sustainable future. Those being increasing both human wellbeing and nature’s wellbeing through pro-nature behaviours. Supporting previous systematic reviews that have found a robust and causal link, a study published in March on pro-environmental behaviours across five countries found that a closer relationship to nature was linked to greater pro-environmental behaviour. However, further work published in Conservation Letters in March showed that priority actions for urban biodiversity conservation identified in the research, such as designing for human–nature connection, are yet to become mainstream in practice.

As the research supporting the importance of nature connectedness for a wellbeing and sustainable future increases, there is a need to understand nature connection, particularly in an urban context. Here, more recent work, again published in March, this time in Biological Conservation, explored the differences in nature connection across an urban population. Worryingly for a sustainable future, they found that it was students that exhibited the lowest nature connection. Importantly, amongst their findings was that less connected people stated that simply providing greater access to nature would not increase the nature engagement we’ve seen is crucial for building the close relationship that brings improved wellbeing and pro-nature behaviours.

The urban context is studied further in a paper published in Urban Forestry and Urban Greening in March. This study of urban green space use in Sweden found that nature connectedness was a key factor in green space use. With those people with weaker nature-connectedness more likely to perceive constraints such as danger from pests and therefore not wanting to visit green space. Conversely, those with greater nature connectedness perceived fewer constraints but wanted closer, higher quality and more peaceful green space.

Finally, February saw the publication of further research in PNAS that reminds us of the failing human-nature relationship. This work quantified the biomass of wild mammals in comparison to the mass of humanity and its livestock. The work helps dispel notions about the endless ubiquity of wildlife and provides a compelling argument for the urgency of nature conservation efforts – and a new relationship with nature.

The research above is a small sample of nature connectedness work published in the past month or so. It reflects an increasing interest from nature conservation journals, showing that the need to focus on a new relationship with nature for a sustainable future is being understood by more people, more widely. However, many still don’t see that relationship as a tangible target for change, perhaps unaware of the mounting evidence. There is though a discernible shift in science-policy thinking, going far beyond treating the symptoms of a failing relationship to seeing that improving the human-nature relationship as a tangible solution.

Soga, M., & Gaston, K. J. (2023). Global synthesis reveals heterogeneous changes in connection of humans to nature. One Earth, 6(2), 131-138.

Wicks, C. L., Barton, J. L., Andrews, L., Orbell, S., Sandercock, G., & Wood, C. J. (2023). The Impact of the Coronavirus Pandemic on the Contribution of Local Green Space and Nature Connection to Mental Health. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(6), 5083.

Phillips, T. B., Wells, N. M., Brown, A. H., Tralins, J. R., & Bonter, D. N. (2023). Nature and well‐being: The association of nature engagement and well‐being during the SARS‐CoV‐2 pandemic. People and Nature.

Soanes, K., Taylor, L., Ramalho, C. E., Maller, C., Parris, K., Bush, J., … & Threlfall, C. G. (2023). Conserving urban biodiversity: Current practice, barriers, and enablers. Conservation Letters, e12946.

Iwińska, K., Bieliński, J., Calheiros, C. S. C., Koutsouris, A., Kraszewska, M., & Mikusiński, G. (2023). The primary drivers of private-sphere pro-environmental behaviour in five European countries during the Covid-19 pandemic. Journal of Cleaner Production, 393, 136330.

Selinske, M. J., Harrison, L., & Simmons, B. A. (2023). Examining connection to nature at multiple scales provides insights for urban conservation. Biological Conservation, 280, 109984.

Dawson, L., Elbakidze, M., van Ermel, L. K., Olsson, U., Ongena, Y. P., Schaffer, C., & Johansson, K. E. (2023). Why don’t we go outside?–Perceived constraints for users of urban greenspace in Sweden. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 82, 127865.

Greenspoon, L., Krieger, E., Sender, R., Rosenberg, Y., Bar-On, Y. M., Moran, U., … & Milo, R. (2023). The global biomass of wild mammals. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 120(10), e2204892120.

Childhood is often seen as a time to begin building connection to nature. A lot of attention is given to getting children out into nature, fostering positive experiences and establishing a connection with nature. Rather than attempting to build a connection, should efforts be directed at not disconnecting young children from nature? What if our closest connection with nature is when we are born? Birth and being new born is perhaps the most natural moment for us all.

The initial basis of this blog is somewhat speculative, based on a very simple extrapolation, but one that makes good sense. Many readers will have seen the chart below showing nature connection across the lifespan. Several other researchers have found a similar curve and ‘teenage dip’. Such charts tend to cover the data collected and cut off the early years and maximum nature connectedness scores. Restoring them reveals a couple of things. How low nature connectedness is in the population and a gap in the early years as measurement is difficult in that age group.

Nature connection across the lifespan

There’s growing acceptance that the causal issue of the environmental crises is the human-nature relationship, a union captured by the construct of nature connectedness. The distance of the line from the maximum score of 100 highlights the extent of the problem. Raising populations towards that, even to levels around 75 associated with more meaningful pro-nature behaviours requires transformational change. Keeping young children above it provides another approach. Although an approach that would take decades to have an impact, it could be essential, and the process would also affect adults.

The extrapolation of the line to a maximum connection at birth is simplistic, can it be justified? Our broken relationship with nature is a modern phenomenon with a long history. The human bond with nature can be seen to have broken through revolutions in agriculture, industry and technology. Clearly, our hunter-gatherer ancestors, led very different lives, but physiologically a baby born then is the same as it is now. It is our technology and culture that has changed.

Birth is a natural event. A new born is unaware of technology and culture. At first a baby’s sensory experiences and emotions centre on its parents. Developing attachment, a deep and enduring emotional bond. As time passes the sensory experience widens to objects, simple technologies and our culture and worldview is drip fed as they begin to find meaning in the world around them.

Children are getting to know the world, to explore the ‘other’ things around them, through the senses with emotional responses they find meaning. Our modern worldview sees learning as acquiring knowledge about these things; the object and the person are separate. At school the object of interest is often broken down into separate parts in order to know it – a child may label the parts of a flower to understand it. Knowledge comes through information. A baby tends to get to know an object through a two-way interaction with it. Noticing how it responds to actions and the accompanying changes in itself – it is understanding through relatedness – a relationship that is the basis of love and care. An animistic approach where we are in the world with other things, developing skills of awareness and ‘absorbing differences’ rather than highlighting them.

knowing through interaction

Children naturally demonstrate this animistic thinking in other ways, considering some objects to be alive for example – especially if they move. Objects can seem to have life, soul or agency – stars twinkle because they are happy, teddy bears have feelings. However, in our rationalistic world animism is typically framed as an ‘error’ rather than something to be nurtured and listened to. Nature falls mute.

How’s the teddy feeling?

The relational worldview of animism was likely a worldview of our distant hunter-gatherer ancestors and is still seen in indigenous cultures of modern times where a relational worldview is common. Where people know an ‘other’ in order to live with it, rather than simply knowing facts and figures of about it. Wildlife, plants, rivers and the landscape are co-dwellers with a spiritual essence. In animism, beliefs and actions focus on living mutually with others, a relational worldview that contrasts with our modern outlook where these others are separate objects we study or control. When animals and plants become objects of study and resources, through the agricultural revolution for example, the human–nature relationship can start to break down. Our modern minds often grossly misunderstand animism and see it as a simple religion or failed worldview. Yet it is our own relationship with nature is failing.

So, perhaps we are born fully part of nature, but are schooled towards disconnection. Rather than childhood being the time to begin building connection, it is the time not to lose it. Not losing the innate joy of natural wonders such that wildlife and plants remain co-dwellers rather than objects we study or control. This reminds me of something Pablo Picasso said: “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.”