#484: Nature connectedness

A recent piece in The Guardian by Patrick Barkham on some work by Miles Richardson on nature connectedness.

Nature connectedness is bad in Britain.

"We are seeing an ongoing “extinction of experience” with future generations continuing to lose an awareness of nature because it is not present in increasingly built-up neighbourhoods, while parents no longer pass on an “orientation” towards the natural world. Other studies have found parental nature connectedness is the strongest predictor of whether a child will become close to nature.

“Nature connectedness is now accepted as a key root cause of the environmental crisis,” said Richardson. “It’s vitally important for our own mental health as well. It unites people and nature’s wellbeing. There’s a need for transformational change if we’re going to change society’s relationship with nature.”

A newborn child is much the same as a child born in 1800. Children are fascinated by the natural world. It’s maintaining that through their childhood and schooling that’s essential, alongside urban greening. There’s policies starting to do that but we’ve got to think in transformational terms – not 30% but 1,000%.”

One particular statistic from the report was shocking...

A study found that people in Sheffield on average spent just four minutes and 36 seconds in natural spaces each day.

#214: The Battle for Sheffield's Trees

A Long Read in The Guardian from October 2023 focussed on the battle to save Sheffield's trees during a period when their removal had been contracted out to a company that had no issues with removing an excessive number of trees which were causing no harm to people's property and were not diseased and dangerous.

At the time, people were arrested and had their lives disrupted and faced a criminal record to protect trees which were not causing any problems.

We know that trees are essential in cities and Sheffield was famous for having perhaps more trees than any other European city.

They had already lost elms during the period when Dutch Elm disease ravaged the tree species and changed the landscape in many parts of the country.

Today's Guardian long read on the battle for Sheffield's trees https://t.co/7Ep6vMFoXS

— GCSE Natural History (@GCSENatHist) October 24, 2023