We Need Nature
It can be such a bother to get outdoors. We have to make sure everything in “real” life is put on hold for a few hours or maybe even a few days. There is the trip to an outdoorsy area since most of us do not live next to a forest. Then there we start the walk / hike / sitting / meditation… whatever finally lured us to the great outdoors. But so quickly we begin to find relaxation and invigoration. The activities that seemed so hard begin to make us feel better. We know we need Nature but it can be so hard to make that commitment.
“I think it becomes more of a hassle to get outside,” says Daniel Kouto, who lives in Toronto. He and his wife work full-time, so once a weekend they make a purposeful effort to take their dog and 1-year-old son out of the city to a forest, lake, or trail to “try to get some air.” But it’s often easier to just stay home.
That disconnect sits at the heart of a study published by the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) this fall, which shows that the nation that identifies deeply with the “Great Canadian Outdoors” is actually staying inside more than ever.
In the survey, carried out in partnership with polling firm Ipsos, Canadians say they feel happier, healthier, and more productive when they are connected to nature, with 94 percent saying they are aware of the benefits that time in nature brings. Yet 74 percent say it’s easier to stay indoors, and 66 percent say they spend less time outside than in their youth.
That mirrors the results of a study published last year which looked at nearly 12,000 American adults and children to understand the profound changes in the American public’s connections to nature and wildlife.
Researchers concluded that humans have the same innate affinity to nature and the living world (a theory known as biophilia, popularized by American biologist E.O. Wilson in the 1980s) as they’ve always had. But they’ve come to accept their looser bond with it, says David Case, whose firm, DJ Case & Associates, co-authored the report.
Source: Will increasingly indoorsy Canadians answer the call of the wild? – CSMonitor.com
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