Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better (Albert Einstein)
Does swimming in the ocean, bird watching, camping on a mountain side or going for a bush walk affect our behaviour? Most definitely it does. But, as part of my MSc in Education for Sustainability, I wanted to delve into this further, to find out if experiences in nature can influence the development of pro-environmental behaviour. These are the things we do to reduce impacts upon or enhance the natural environment: participating in a beach-clean up to curtail coastal and marine pollution or driving a car less to lower carbon emissions. Could there be a connection between climbing trees and the likelihood that someone would consider taking action to reduce their ecological footprint?
It turns out that generally our behaviour is pretty complicated. Many people have made models attempting to understand why we behave as we do (I won’t bore you with them here). Our knowledge, skills, personality and internal motivations as well as situational aspects can all influence whether we might do something good for the environment. Sometimes, we know our behaviour might not be optimal for saving the planet, but we do it anyway. Personally, I know single-use plastic isn’t great, but avoidance is difficult in Thailand – check out this BBC Thai clip (spoken in English) for a glimpse of what I’m up against here. Other times we might not be aware of the possible impacts of our behaviour, so we don’t take any steps to change it.
My research found that spending time in nature can influence the development of pro-environmental behaviour, but usually indirectly. Remember when I talked about how frequent interactions with the outdoors, especially during childhood can help build connections with nature? Well, this helps foster respect and appreciation of the natural world, which when coupled with other factors can make us more likely to undertake an environmentally friendly action. These factors include having opportunities to directly interact with environmental issues and their impacts which can link to our emotions and to knowledge of environmental issues we’ve learnt previously. We know that emotions are a BIG driver of our behaviour and knowledge can be too.
I spent last weekend on a nearby beautiful island. Sea eagles and hornbills loitered around the coast, vibrant flowers framed the pathway to our bungalow and we woke to the peaceful sound of waves jostling over rocks. This paradise was contrasted by the vast quantities of trash littering some of the beaches. Seeing this in reality, linked to both my emotions (I felt sad) and knowledge (of pollution and its sources). It strengthened my resolve to help educate others on environmental problems such as this.
Time spent in nature is not time spent at all, in fact it is time gained. Time gained for the planet and also for us. Nature experiences are vital to help cultivate the kind of people that will nurture and nourish both the earth and themselves. How might you seek more time in nature for yourself and the planet?
An Ethical Yarn 
Hmm… What about the environmental impact of travelling to these places? What about the effect on others of sharing photographs of one’s travels to gorgeous destinations, in this neoliberalism-dominated world of inequality-induced competition and insecurity? If those who see these photographs are unable to go they may feel sadness, envy and lowered self-esteem which could fuel consumption in one form or another. If they can go, they might do so, flying around the world, spewing out vast amounts of greenhouse gases. Are these topics not the (poached) elephant in the room here, Aleisha? I am not disagreeing with the other things you say, but these points should surely also be explicitly considered if you are to present a comprehensive analysis.
On the main topic, I highly recommend you see this very relevant and extremely moving film, if you haven’t already: https://www.tawai.earth/ Bruce Parry makes the point (amongst others) that experiencing/learning how egalitarian hunter-gatherers relate to nature is far more powerful than just simply spending time in nature. There’s also some fascinating content on the left vs the right brain. I am pretty sure that this film will in some way influence your work.
Bringing some of these points together is David Erdal’s work on the origin of co-operation in hunter-gatherer societies and its erosion in competitive, unequal ones. See what he found out when he compared two towns in Italy. Search ‘communities in Italy’ on this page: https://biowrite.wordpress.com/2011/07/12/beyond-the-corporation/ . In order to understand the point here, it’s helpful to understand the characteristics of employee-owned companies, which are explained by him in a TEDx talk: https://biowrite.wordpress.com/2012/07/03/erdal/ .
Cheers
Eric
LikeLike
Thanks @biowrite – great to hear from you Eric. Thanks for your comments. You have touched on some important points, which I didn’t have enough room to consider in my 500 word blog. I don’t actually believe we need to be travelling all over the world to seek out nature. Nature exists in some form even in urban environments. Even interactions with this ‘urban’ kind of nature can be beneficial. Seeking out more wild experiences may require some travel, but often in and around our cities there are gems to be found. This of course depends on where you live and transport options, etc.
Seeing photographs of things you can’t easily experience can of course conjure negative emotions. Many of the migrant children I work with here in Thailand have never left the small city we live in, which makes their world and range of experiences rather tiny. I think nature and the outdoors should be accessible to everyone regardless of socio-economic/cultural background. This is something I’ve thought about, but not researched as yet.
Thanks for the links – I will take a look. Tawai looks interesting. As does the David Urdal book you reviewed. I’ve read The Spirit Level, which I found fascinating.
All the best,
Aleisha
LikeLike