Connecting with Nature; A Discussion

I feel compelled to discuss what seems to be a disconcerting and growing disconnect between the natural world and our every-day lives? Most of us agree that being outside in the great outdoors is a great thing to do. Yet, I wonder if there is an increasing disconnect between the value we place on being able to access green spaces regularly with ease and not even noticing that we no longer have simple opportunities to be outside.

We have long known that being outdoors is good for us, but the focus has usually been on being active and getting fit, or more mundanely, the number of steps we take per day. Have we lost the delight there is in immersing ourselves in a natural environment, like a park, garden, or even just being in a green space?

It is natural for a child to notice and wonder at the minutiae of the natural world; a leaf fluttering to the ground, butterflies flitting from plant to plant, a clump of bright dandelions growing out of a crack in the pavement, or a bird calling from a nearby tree. Hiding under a shrub, running along a winding path leading to a grove of trees, picking bunches of flowers (often ones we call 'weeds') to present as gifts are all the activities of a child experiencing a green space full of nature's delightful surprises waiting to be discovered.

There is a growing movement of educators who recognise the enormous benefits to a child's emotional well-being and intellectual growth as well as physical strength and dexterity. Nowadays these benefits are generally referred to as 'building resilience', a term I dislike. I don't believe we should just build an individual's ability to survive adversity, but rather focus on developing a sense of wonder, curiosity and an excitement about discovering new, interesting things in the natural world

around us. Immersing ourselves in nature comes with its own innate sense of 'resilience'!

Some of us are fortunate to have been exposed to these experiences as children, along with a safe, nurturing family. And as a result we have intuitively known that spending time in green spaces, even just sitting under a tree on a park bench, is not only good for us but refreshes and renews us; filling our cups up, so to speak.

But with our comfortable, device and entertainment driven lives, it seems that there is a growing disconnect between knowing the benefits of being out in green space, and acting on this knowledge.

I've talked on this Journal before about the benefits to our emotional well-being of surrounding ourselves on a regular basis with green spaces, whether that is a large park that we walk through on our way to work, or our own small balcony on which we grow plants. The size of the space is not as important as the act of deliberately allowing ourselves to engage with nature, even if it is just a few pots of herbs.

There are lots of ways to engage with the natural environment even in city and urban spaces. Simple things such as slowing down to actually see the trees in our neighbourhoods, to notice dappled sunlight shining through a tree canopy, touch the texture of the trunk, or simply stand beneath a tree and just 'be' for a moment. As we do, we will begin to notice small, incremental changes in our mood.

The sense of refreshing that we feel during and after being in a green space, a garden, a park, or wilderness, is achieved through no purposeful effort on our part. This is referred to in environmental psychology as 'soft fascination', where the brain essentially takes a breather from anxious cycling of thoughts. You might notice that while you're in this environment you become 'distracted' by a flower, a shrub, bird song, or even the pattern of fallen leaves on the ground and before you know it, you've slowed down or stopped to just 'look' or 'listen'.

The connectivity we feel as human beings with the natural world is referred to as 'biophilia', where our sense of feeling rested and perhaps even 'content' can be likened to 'feeling at one' with the world.

I wonder how many children these days have the free time just to run on grass barefoot, to sprawl out on soft grass, clamber up low lying tree branches, make cubbies under shrubs, and just generally 'run around' outside.

What a gift to our children and ourselves when we deliberately take time out to do these simple, ordinary, every-day activities regularly with no goal in mind, other than to just enjoy.

While community gardens in schools and other communal spaces where gardening vegetables and flowers is part of a collective activity, the overall benefit to individual and communal well-being is largely unquantifiable in terms of economic benefit. Yet, I would prefer that these types of activities are not just sanctioned via monetary benefits, but tabled as more valuable than any economic outcome in terms of well-being capital for individuals, families and ultimately whole communities.

This in turn would have, I believe, a flow on benefit in terms of retaining and/or reclaiming green spaces in our cityscapes and urban developments, where economic benefit is outweighed by the green capital input for our communities and environments now and into the future.

And while corporate and small business, and now at last, government, belatedly begin the work of mitigating climate changes that should have been actioned decades ago, we as individuals are not powerless to make our own changes that invest into future generations. The simple activity of going outside, even just watching a sunset, and recognising the beauty of green space around us, are reminders of the need to save and protect the natural world that can so easily be taken for granted.

Finally, with the rapid advance of climate change and its very visible impacts on our lifestyles, it is time we turned our concepts of economic advancement on its head and prioritised investing in 'green capital'. Although not a new idea, my take on this concept is where a greater value is ascribed to the benefits of protecting our natural environments for communities and eco systems. This includes prioritising biodiversity of flora and fauna in our urban and city landscapes, an investment that places greater value on green capital rather than profit by development; a type of greed that ultimately impoverishes human well-being as well as the environment. In short, mowing down 300 year old trees to make room for roof to roof urban development, as witnessed locally recently, is surely a short-term myopic view in terms of providing for future generations.

Recognition of the benefits to our collective sanity and well-being through valuing the intrinsic worth of our natural environments would, I believe, contribute to building a more compassionate community.

We have known for decades now that building gardens and involving communities in their planting and upkeep help lower crime rates and vandalism in lower socio-economic developments. And of course, planting green canopies of trees not only beautifies a built environment but help to mitigate the increasingly higher temperatures we are now experiencing in developed spaces.

Of course, the groundswell of individuals, families and communities recognising the value of engaging regularly with natural environments, and acting to protect them in and around where they live, is powerful.

I love that in countries such as England, there is a move toward encouraging the growing of small gardens, adding little pockets of green space throughout urban and city spaces. These tiny dots of green living areas add a multiplication effect that adds to the diversity and beauty of a densely populated area, exponentially providing habitat for wild life and increasing the livability of these places for humans too.

I know I'm not alone in voicing these values, and I'd love to know how others are taking up this challenge? After all, a gardener's ultimate goal is to develop a garden that not only to grow trees, shrubs, flowers and food, but to create a beautiful environment that also shelters and nurtures.

The generosity of gardeners, gardening to create habitat, food, shelter and beauty is one of the reasons I have hope for the future!

Happy gardening!