Chapter 1: The Foundation of Nature Connection

The connection to nature is something we are born with, but how do we maintain it?

By Prof. Miles Richardson

Childhood is often regarded as the crucial time to foster a bond with nature. Much emphasis is placed on encouraging children to engage with the natural world, creating positive experiences, and building this essential connection. But rather than focusing solely on building this bond, shouldn't we prioritize ensuring that young children do not become disconnected from nature? After all, our most profound connection with the natural world may occur at the moment of birth—a time when we are at our most natural.

The essence of this discussion is somewhat speculative but grounded in logic. Many readers might be familiar with the chart illustrating nature connectedness throughout a person's life. Various researchers have identified a similar trend, often referred to as the ‘teenage dip.’ Such charts typically omit data from early childhood, where the highest levels of connection are often seen. Revealing this data highlights two critical points: the low levels of nature connectedness in the broader population and the significant gap during early childhood, where measuring this connection proves challenging.

Nature Connection Trends Across a Lifetime

The growing consensus is that the root cause of our environmental crises lies in our relationship with nature—an idea encapsulated in the concept of nature connectedness. The distance from the maximum score of 100 underscores the severity of the issue. To elevate the population's connection to around 75—linked to more meaningful pro-nature behaviors—requires significant transformation. Ensuring that young children maintain a strong connection could be a viable strategy, although it may take decades to manifest any observable effects, ultimately benefiting adults as well.

While the idea that our connection peaks at birth may seem overly simplistic, can it be defended? Our disconnection from nature is a modern issue with historical roots. Our relationship with nature has been disrupted by revolutions in agriculture, industry, and technology. Despite the vastly different lifestyles of our hunter-gatherer ancestors, physiologically, a newborn today is no different from one born in the past. It is our technology and societal constructs that have evolved.

Birth is a natural event, and a newborn is oblivious to technology and societal norms. Initially, a baby's sensory experiences and emotions focus on its caregivers, fostering a profound emotional attachment. As time progresses, these sensory experiences broaden to encompass various objects and technologies, as children slowly begin to interpret the world around them.

Children explore their surroundings through sensory engagement, forming emotional connections that allow them to derive meaning. Our contemporary perspective often views learning as the accumulation of knowledge, separating the object of interest from the observer. In educational settings, subjects are frequently dissected into components for better understanding—children might label the parts of a flower to grasp its essence. A baby, however, understands an object through interactive experiences, observing how it responds to their actions, thus learning through relational experiences which form the foundation of love and care.

Understanding the World Through Interaction

Children exhibit this animistic thinking in various ways, often attributing life-like qualities to objects—such as believing that stars twinkle when they are happy or that teddy bears have feelings. In our rationalist society, however, such beliefs are often dismissed as errors instead of being nurtured and understood. Nature, consequently, becomes silent.

The Sentiments of a Teddy Bear

The animistic worldview was likely prevalent among our hunter-gatherer ancestors and is still found in many modern indigenous cultures, where understanding ‘the other’ is crucial for coexistence, rather than merely accumulating facts. In these cultures, wildlife, flora, rivers, and landscapes are seen as spiritual co-dwellers. Animism promotes a philosophy of living harmoniously with others, contrasting sharply with the modern view that treats these entities as separate objects to be controlled or studied. When animals and plants are reduced to mere subjects of research—as was the case during the agricultural revolution—the human-nature relationship begins to deteriorate. Our contemporary understanding often misconstrues animism, simplifying it to a mere religion or outdated viewpoint while ignoring our own failing relationship with nature.

Thus, perhaps we enter the world as integral parts of nature, only to be schooled into disconnection. Childhood should not merely be about establishing a bond; it should also focus on preserving the innate joy derived from natural wonders, allowing wildlife and plants to remain as co-dwellers in our lives rather than mere objects of study. This sentiment echoes the words of Pablo Picasso: “Every child is an artist. The challenge is how to remain an artist once we grow up.”

Chapter 2: Nurturing Nature Connection Through Life

In the video "How to Improve Your Connection with Nature [for those feeling disconnected]," viewers are guided on strategies to enhance their bond with the natural world, especially during times of disconnection.

The second video, "The Benefits of Nature Connection for Wellbeing - Self Management Week 2023," outlines the various advantages of maintaining a strong connection with nature, emphasizing its impact on personal wellbeing.

About Miles

Professor Miles Richardson is an expert in Human Factors & Nature Connectedness, leading research aimed at uniting human and environmental wellbeing. He is the founder of the award-winning Nature Connectedness Research Group at the University of Derby. His work has been recognized as one of the UK's top 100 breakthroughs by Universities UK. He is the lead author of the IPBES transformative change assessment and the creator of the Biodiversity Stripes. His recent book, "Reconnection: Fixing our Broken Relationship with Nature," was published on April 25, 2023, and is available from various booksellers.

Originally published at http://findingnature.org.uk on March 13, 2023.