Connecting with nature - Chris Winson
On fostering greater connection with nature.
Chris Winson is one of the team behind the Neurons and Nature festival of connection happening in May 2024. In this blog post we take a look at nature connectedness and ways to deepen that connection.
It is often said that humans have an innate sense of connection to nature, which is often accredited to the biophilia hypothesis by E. O. Wilson (1984). There has been a lot of research around nature connectedness, from how it can help with making environmentally friendly consumer choices through to the influence it can have on our physical and mental wellbeing.
So what is nature connection?
Depending on your environmental perspective defining nature connection may perhaps sound slightly odd. If your perspective is that humans are part of the natural world then nature connection would seem obvious. However if you have a view that we are separate to nature although we may have a connection, nature is something at arms length and humans are different. This latter view is one that is perhaps more historical and has influenced words which we use to define areas and spaces - urban vs wild, manmade vs natural, garden vs park. In the era of climate change, loss of species and environmental degradation, there is also a perspective that we have become disconnected from nature, that the innate sense has been diminished.
“I think we need to be clear between connection and contact “ Chris highlights. “Contact with nature can occur in lots of ways, in a passive way such as walking along a street or a view from a window through to more active way such as a long walk in the countryside or paying attention to the birds that visit your garden”
Nature connection has been defined within psychological research as having various dimensions, including valuing nature not just as a consumptive resource, and involves cognitive and affective engagement with nature that provides experiential benefits (Ives et al., 2018). It has been extensively studied for its positive relationship to individuals’ wellbeing. Higher levels of nature connectedness within everyday informal activities have been found to correspond with improved well-being (e.g., Martin et al., 2020) and when used within formal health interventions appears to provide increased benefits (e.g., Choe et al., 2020). There are several well established nature connection measures, including the Connectedness to Nature Scale (Mayer & Frantz, 2004), Nature Relatedness Scale (Nisbet et al., 2009) and Nature Connection Index (Richardson et al., 2019).
Chris thinks it is really key to consider the engagement elements of nature connection. “There is the cognitive element, where time in nature can provide a restorative experience which can help address ruminative thinking, attention fatigue and sensory overload. There there is the affective element, where we can experience an emotional response to nature, from the more obvious things like a stunning sunset to the less obvious perhaps, of noticing the amazing structure of a spiders web”
Pathways to connection
“I think we come into contact with a lot of nature within our everyday lives but we do so passively and perhaps without noticing.”Chris suggests. “Take walking down the street - you may have a lot on your mind, busy getting somewhere or feeling tired. Perhaps just taking a few moments to notice a bit more of what is around you may reveal some unnoticed nature. Perhaps you may notice bird song, or a weed coming up in the pavement or some lichen growing on a wall.”
Knowing what the bird is that you can hear or what the plant is that you spot is not as important as allowing yourself to take a moment to simply notice and be aware of that experience of nature. It is more about the emotional response and awareness that the more active behaviour brings.
The Nature Connection Research Group at the University of Derby have suggested a number of pathways to help connect with nature (Lumber et al., 2017) that individuals and organisations can use. These pathways may also be applicable within supporting treatment and rehabilitation of neurological conditions. There are five pathways - senses, meaning, beauty, emotion, and compassion.”
Senses - this pathway involves experiencing our contact with nature through all of our senses. There are lots of ways to do this, from listening to birdsong, touching the bark of a tree, smelling the scent of flowers, looking closely at a leaf, or tasting a fruit. “For me this is about slowing down and paying attention “says Chris. “It’s being curious about what nature is around us and exploring it as a multi-sensory experience”. This has links into the forest bathing that Mary spoke about in our previous post.
Meaning - this pathway is about what exploring what nature means to us, at an individual level and at a cultural level. It can include the stories we have about animals and plants, as well as the specific events in the natural world, such as the spring blossom arriving. “There are lots of opportunities to reflect on nature and its meaning, and personally this is about really noticing the different seasons and what they bring” Chris shared. “For example the transition from summer to autumn and the autumnal colour change of tree leaves”.
Beauty - this pathway is about really noticing the beauty within nature and taking the time to reflect or record that. This could be supported by taking a photo of a flower or an insect, it could be visiting a viewpoint that provides a stunning landscape perspective. “I think when we stop to appreciate the beauty of nature we notice more about, both its wonder and its fragility.” Chris reflects
Emotion - nature can lead to many emotions, including some negative ones. Positive emotions that may result from nature include moments of wonder, joy and calmness. Taking time to notice what emotions a natural experience invokes can help feel part of nature and improve memories of the experience. “One of the best example of this for me is when the birds visit the bird table in the garden. Always makes me smile.” said Chris.
Compassion - looking at nature with a compassionate perspective, to be aware of the challenges the natural world faces and be involved in helping to address that can strengthen our sense of connection. This can include supporting nature conservation work or supporting campaigns to protect the natural environment. “For me this is about linking my personal choices and behaviours into what is going to be “helpful rather than harmful” to nature” Chris explained, adding “It can be as simple as not mowing the grass as often or planting flowers which supports bees and butterflies”
Taking the time.
Nature connection appears to offer additional benefits that may support treatment and rehabilitation as Mary and Claire have highlighted in previous posts. There is a lot of evidence from research on the benefits, along with suggestions on how we all can deepen that connection. This is regardless of whether that is part of daily life or as part of a more formal health treatment programme.
So why not spend a few minutes now looking out of the window and noticing, really noticing what elements of nature are around you. Hopefully you will spot something unnoticed before which brings a moment of joy.
This is a key topic that will be discussed at the upcoming Neurons and Nature festival of connection, nature and neuropsychology in May 2024. Subscribe to hear more about the team and the speakers at the event in future posts.
Full details of the event can be found on our Eventbrite page.
References
Choe, E. Y., Jorgensen, A., & Sheffield, D. (2020). Does a natural environment enhance the effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)? Examining the mental health and wellbeing, and nature connectedness benefits. Landscape and Urban Planning, 202, 103886. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2020.103886
Ives, C. D., Abson, D. J., von Wehrden, H., Dorninger, C., Klaniecki, K., & Fischer, J. (2018). Reconnecting with nature for sustainability. Sustainability Science, 13(5), 1389–1397. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-018-0542-9
Lumber, R., Richardson, M., & Sheffield, D. (2017). Beyond knowing nature: Contact, emotion, compassion, meaning, and beauty are pathways to nature connection. PLOS ONE, 12(5), e0177186. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0177186
Martin, L., White, M. P., Hunt, A., Richardson, M., Pahl, S., & Burt, J. (2020). Nature contact, nature connectedness and associations with health, wellbeing and pro-environmental behaviours. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 68, 101389. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2020.101389
Mayer, F. S., & Frantz, C. M. (2004). The connectedness to nature scale: A measure of individuals’ feeling in community with nature. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 24(4), 503–515. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2004.10.001
Nisbet, E. K., Zelenski, J. M., & Murphy, S. A. (2009). The Nature Relatedness Scale: Linking individuals’ connection with nature to environmental concern and behavior. Environment and Behavior, 41(5), 715–740.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0013916508318748
Richardson, M., Hunt, A., Hinds, J., Bragg, R., Fido, D., Petronzi, D., Barbett, L., Clitherow, T., & White, M. (2019). A measure of nature connectedness for children and adults: Validation, performance, and insights.Sustainability, 11(12), 3250. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11123250
Wilson, E. O. (1984). Biophilia (Twelfth Edition). Harvard University Press.