Finding Nature

A brief blog to quickly highlight a research paper just published in Perspectives on Psychological Science. The article opens with reference to the January 2015 letter to OUP protesting at the loss of nature words from the Oxford Junior Dictionary. The study analysed works of popular culture throughout the 20^th century, finding a cultural shift away from nature starting in the 1950s. The authors, Kesebir & Kesebir go on to consider what might explain the decline. Continue reading →

Over the last 15 years, nature connection has become a recognised and measurable psychological construct – one that describes an individual’s sense of their relationship with the natural world. That is our emotional attachment and beliefs about our inclusion within nature. These aspects affect our being – how we experience the world, our emotional response, our attitudes and behaviour towards nature. This blog accompanies the launch of the Nature Connections 2016 conference report which expands on why nature connection matters for wellbeing, summarises nature connection research and highlights key steps forward. Continue reading →

The Nature Connections conferences are now into their third year and this years event takes place at the University of Derby, Tuesday 27 June 2017. The headline theme this year is, ‘Beyond Contact with Nature to Connection’. Continue reading →

Human behaviour is the cause of the major threats to biodiversity and there is a need to recognise that conservation is not only about understanding animals and plants, but about people and their behaviour. Nature conservation organisations know this and increasingly look to social and human sciences for solutions. It is a great time for people to supplement their knowledge of the natural world with an understanding of human behaviour, and how to change it.

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Nature is good for us, but why? There’s plenty of evidence that exposure to nature is good for people’s health, well-being and happiness – with green spaces even promoting pro-social behaviours. However, less is known about why nature is good for us. Simply put, nature is good for us, because we are part of nature. We are human animals evolved to make sense of the natural world. This embeddedness in the natural world can often be forgotten and overlooked, mentally we can become disconnected from nature because we’re now deeply embedded in a human-made world. Emerging research is showing that knowing and feeling this connection with nature is also good for us, and it helps bring about the wider health benefits of exposure to nature. Knowing your place in nature brings meaning and joy! Continue reading →