Sunday Evening Reads
If Nature Is So Good For Us, Why Do We Keep Destroying It?
“Access to nature has also been found to improve sleep and reduce stress, increase happiness and reduce negative emotions, promote positive social interactions and even help generate a sense of meaning to life… ‘The evidence is very solid,’ says psychologist Marc Berman at the University of Chicago.”
Read more: https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24933270-800-green-spaces-arent-just-for-nature-they-boost-our-mental-health-too/#ixzz7DYqHrjwY
Why do we cut down, take down, build over and pollute the very thing that gives us life? I’ve been pondering this question since I was a child, and I still can’t think of a reasonable answer, unless humans simply don’t care as much about the future as they do short-term financial gain… Hey, that’s it! We call it “progress”, but you could have fooled me.
Speaking of trees, Forest Schools and Forest Bathing are two activities that recently have become “a thing”, although the concepts have been around since, well, humans and trees have been cohabitating on our planet (about 300,000 years if you start with humans most modern iteration, Homo Sapiens).
I love the idea and practice of “forest schools” for young children, not as a total replacement for a traditional curriculum, but as a regular adjunct to it. The unstructured outdoor classroom allows children to follow their curiosity to learn, rather than a guided tutorial or “worksheet” provided by the teacher, and perhaps most importantly, encourages some risk-taking which builds confidence and resilience at an early age.
Forest Bathing is another neat idea that involves immersing ourselves in nature by walking through a forest or other natural environment and “consciously connecting with what’s around you.” No need for a bathing suit, as one journalist sent to cover a story on forest bathing joked, just walking and using all of your senses to commune with nature.
I’ve put together a few articles for your Sunday Reads on both Forest Schools and Forest Bathing and added a few pieces, just to cheer you up, that discuss how and why we are taking down what we need to lift us up.
— A piece from The Guardian that helps us understand why an early and consistent connection with the outdoors is important for little humans.
“Forest schools, which centre around unstructured play, exploration and intrinsic motivation, arrived in the UK in 1993. Inspired by the outdoors culture – or friluftsliv – of Scandinavia, sessions are usually held either entirely or mostly outdoors and are intended to supplement, rather than replace, traditional education.”
— And here’s a bit of “myth busting” about forest schools from the Forest School Association. The occasional scout camp is not forest school.
“Myth 2: ‘If you take groups outside regularly for learning then you must be doing Forest School’”
https://forestschoolassociation.org/forest-school-myth-busting/
— Another well-researched article from The Guardian on the benefits to children’s IQ and social skills of just growing up with a decent amount of “green space”. It’s important to realize that the least green space is in low income urban areas and therefore impacts minorities and the poor at much higher rates.
“…I think city builders or urban planners should prioritise investment in green spaces because it is really of value to create an optimal environment for children to develop their full potential.”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/aug/24/children-raised-greener-areas-higher-iq-study
Let’s turn to Forest Bathing…
— An NPR piece that discusses the benefits of immersion in a forest…or even just a natural area.
“A forest guide "helps you be here, not there," says Amos Clifford, a former wilderness guide with a master's degree in counseling, and the founder of the Association of Nature & Forest Therapy, …It's my hope that the health care system will include [forest therapy] into the range of services they reimburse for," Clifford says.
Asking for a friend: That would be wonderful, but how about the basics like crowns for your teeth and hearing aids?
— National Geographic suggest five locations around the world to practice Forest Bathing.
“The term [Forest Bathing"] emerged in Japan in the 1980s as a physiological and psychological exercise called shinrin-yoku (“forest bathing” or “taking in the forest atmosphere”). The purpose was twofold: to offer an eco-antidote to tech-boom burnout and to inspire residents to reconnect with and protect the country’s forests.”
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/forest-bathing-nature-walk-health
By the way, if you’d like to just dabble in forest bathing from the warmth and comfort of your couch, you can have a faux forest immersion free with Amazon Prime.1
— And on a lighter note, here’s an excellent article from National Geographic that gives us the grim figures on deforestation around the globe.
“Forests still cover about 30 percent of the world’s land area, but they are disappearing at an alarming rate. Since 1990, the world has lost 420 million hectares or about a billion acres of forest, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations—mainly in Africa and South America. About 17 percent of the Amazonian rainforest has been destroyed over the past 50 years, and losses recently have been on the rise.”
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/deforestation
— This piece from The Independent discusses how humans wielding axes (and bulldozers) have not only halved the world’s tree population, but cut our own quality of life.
“We’ve nearly halved the number of trees on the planet, and we’ve seen the impacts on climate and human health as a result. This study highlights how much more effort is needed if we are to restore healthy forests worldwide…”
I’d love to hear your thoughts on all three of these issues: Would you send your child to an official “forest school”? Have you ever gone “forest bathing” or would you like to try it? And how can we stop the continued, rapid destruction of our forests?
Let me know right here!
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