Natural Environments and Human Health. Alan W Ewert
self and other, is an illusion imputed by the mind. Pema Chodron from No Time to Lose
Yet humans are not separate from nature even though a substantial portion of people around the world have changed their relationship with nature in ways that negatively impact health and well-being. Laws of science now recognize that all human activity is inherently embedded in the natural world, which sustains us. We are still connected through co-evolution, biological, psychological, and spiritual needs, emotions, and probably intuition. While we often are physically separate from nature, our disconnection is a perception of disconnection. As Chodron said, humans have a mistaken feeling of separateness; but this is not true of all humans.
Some indigenous people risk their lives and their culture daily in order to stay connected with nature. They have retained a WorldView that they are a part of nature and that nature is a part of them, and have maintained that perspective through to the present time. Their culture exhibits values-of-belonging and their members typically feel like they belong. For tens of thousands of years these indigenous cultures have taught a story about inherent goodness and the connectedness of a living universe. Following this ancient wisdom, science is now discovering evidence that humanity is hardwired for connection and compassion: from the vagus nerve, which releases oxytocin at simply witnessing a compassionate act, to the mirror neurons, which cause us to literally feel another person’s pain. Darwin emphasized that humankind’s real power comes in the ability to perform complex tasks together, to sympathize and cooperate; he did not say that human survival depended on competition (Shadyac, 2010).
These indigenous societies have been largely marginalized (Apelian, 2013). Cultures that have a close connection to the natural world have been mistreated and maligned, yet they exhibit the moral resolve to maintain interwoveness with nature. Those groups that are in remote areas and who have a deep positive relationship with nature have been less affected by the dominant society, but with the intense use of certain natural resources, including trees, oil, and gas, few people and areas are untouched by the dominant paradigm of greed and consumption. As we learn more about cultures that are rooted in their land and exhibit values-of-belonging—for example, Apelian’s (2013) work with the Nharo Bushman—we can continue to learn about living in harmony and connection with nature. For too long, the notion that power and material gain equals civilized has dominated globally, because until the deer have their historians, tales of the hunt shall glorify the hunter.
At the same time many people have recognized that we need to integrate and interweave our lives more with nature. Even within the dominant culture during the age of industrialism and growth people have championed a closer relationship with nature. As we moved into the 20th century, the leaders of environmental movements, including Rachel Carson, Dian Fossey, Jane Goodall, Aldo Leopold, Dana Meadows, John Muir, Ellen Swallow, and Howard Zahniser, were motivated to educate people that the world was facing an emerging environmental crisis. The environmental movement, sometimes criticized because nature can still be treated as other, has gained support and made progress in educating people about our dependency on the natural systems. Many individuals such as Julia Butterfly Hill performed radical acts to call attention to our need to connect with nature. In Hill’s case she climbed a 1500-year-old Californian redwood tree to make a point and ended up staying in the tree for 738 days. Her vigil ended with an agreement to leave a 200 foot buffer of trees in the logging operation and a US$50,000 donation to Humboldt State University to research sustainable forestry.
Religion remains an essential institution in shaping WorldViews, and many religious people work within the church to connect church ideology with environmental problem-solving and citizen action. Examples include Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies creating in 2006 the Forum on Religion and Ecology; the United Church of Christ commissioning a study in 1987 on environmental justice in the US; the Earth Ministry hosting a web page featuring creation care sermons; and Warren Wilson College holding an ‘eco-sermon challenge’ in 2008 to highlight the role of the church in the environmental movement.
Humans have the capacity for moral thinking and some people do not follow the herd, as exemplified by postconventional (Rest et al., 1999) thinkers and doers such as Mother Teresa and the four students from the all-black North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College, Clarence Henderson, Frank McCain, Josepha McNeil, and Billy Smith, who sat at the all-white Woolworth lunch counter (Woolworth changed its segregation policy to serve everyone at the counter after 6 months and a one-third drop in total overall sales), beginning a lunch counter movement that lasted years. The notion of independent moral thinking and therefore behavior is supported by neural research demonstrating that there is a great deal of diversity in how individual brains are wired and supporting the concept of multiple intelligences (Medina, 2008). Interfacing with philosophy, Hume (1739) cautioned people not to confuse ought with what we see as is. Just because warfare has been part of humanity for the past 7000 years or so does not mean that it ought to be part of the human experience or that it is natural or inevitable. It means that humans have to use the strength in their frontal cortex and executive functions to consciously make other choices of behavior that lead to a sustainable paradigm. Rooted in the circuitry of the brain is the ability to care for the well-being of self, offspring, mates, kin, and kith (Medina, 2008). In fact, recent research flies in the face of the flight or fight stress response in humans being the primary option.
As we moved from being hunter–gatherers to farmers, to city-dwellers, our relationship with the natural world changed. However, we need to reconsider what type of relationship with the natural environment would be beneficial to human health, development, and well-being. From the past we see the psychological benefits of kinship with nature and connection with our ancestral heritage. Because humans have denied this close relationship with nature, we have alienation and anger with the accompanying psychosomatic illness and aggression.
Korten (2006) says we have been living in the mechanical universe cosmological story that some people term the ‘Empire story’; in this story people are hardwired for greed, competition, and violence. He says we need a different story; such a story seems to be emerging and it is supported by recent scientific findings, the ageless teachings of the great religious prophets and wisdom traditions, as well as our daily experiences. It is that human beings are born to connect, care, learn, and serve (Korten, 2006). Research has shown that since the mid-20th century, there has begun to be a cultural shift embodied by both changes in individual values and behaviors, and the emergence of social movements that focus on the creation of a progressive and sustainable human culture. Yearning for Balance, a 2004 study by The Harwood Group, found many possible postconventional moral thinkers not following the crowd. They found that ‘people from all walks of life share similar concerns about a culture of materialism and excess, and the consequences for future generations’. Many expressed excitement when learning that others shared their concerns about misplaced values, children, and the environment and their longing for a more balanced life (Harwood Group, 2004). Supporting research confirms that high material wealth does not correlate with happiness (Speth, 2009) and that economic growth no longer contributes to the happiness of most people (McKibben, 2009). Validating the idea of cultural change, a study of people in the US and several European nations between 1970 and 2001 found a pronounced shift from materialist to postmaterialist values (Inglehart et al., 2004). Additional studies reveal that 35% of Americans are ‘cultural creatives’, people who have a made a comprehensive shift in their WorldView, values, and way of life to emphasize relationships, communities, spirituality, and ecological sustainability (Ray, 2008). This notion of the ability to choose a course of action, and research about current choices gives great hope for new stories and WorldViews.
To create a new WorldView in which both nature and people are valued and sustained and our profound interdependence is recognized, we need to create sustainable education that extends beyond formal schooling toward ‘a vision of continuous re-creation or coevolution where both education and society are engaged in a relationship of mutual transformation’ (Sterling, 2001). Through community building and education we need to connect with our ancestral heritages to awaken and value our indigenous consciousness and our multiple intelligences, including naturalistic intelligence. Buddhist philosopher, environmental activist, and systems theorist Joanna Macy (2006) has an optimistic view of humans’ ability to reconnect with the values-of-belonging.