Natural Environments and Human Health. Alan W Ewert
times when the fir tree was revered as a sacred tree. Trees figure prominently in cultures and myths such as the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden or the Tree of Life, still popular in children’s books. Doug Hulmes (2009) has researched sacred trees in Nordic cultures, finding that the tradition of sacred trees in Scandinavia goes back to at least the pre-Christian Viking Age. Called a ‘Vårdträd’ in Swedish and a ‘Tuntre’ in Norwegian, these trees are planted in the center of a yard and, according to the knowledge passed down, provide a direct connection with nature spirits. Hulmes says, ‘The caring for the tree demonstrates respect for ancestors’ spirits that were/are believed to reside in the tree, and is a moral reminder of caring for the farm or place where one lives’ (p. 2).
One could wonder if humans continue—some in their consciousness and some in their subconscious—to value trees’ healing and spiritual qualities. Releafing of trees in the spring or after a storm can symbolize hope for people. Some psychologists use tree drawings as a diagnostic complement, finding that severely ill people often draw extreme tree depictions such as stumps or abused people draw wounds in trees reflecting their wounding (Torem et al., 1990). Writer Toni Morrison draws parallel between tree form and women claiming their power. People are familiar with the concept of a family tree. Many tree metaphors sprinkle our language including the concept grounding or rooting our memories, a tangle of roots, old trees sometimes being described as patriarchs, losing energy described as feeling sapped, a feeling of loss after a move sometimes is described as feeling uprooted, and some say the idea took root. A sense of place or attachment to a place may be described using tree examples such as having deep roots in a place or roots as deep as a tree, feeling uprooted, pining to be home, losing grounding, finding roots, and rooted to the spot. People can be described as feeling rotten inside, taking a stand, lazy as a bump on a log, tall as a tree, a hollow person, a hollow leg, branching out, and feeling fruitless. A common expression is the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. While other nature metaphors also are common, some theorists believe this attachment to trees is due to the spiritual connection between them and humans (Perlman, 1994).
Living in an area with trees increases health according to a number of research reports. Current research in Japan is reviving a practice ‘Shinrin-yoku’ (taking in the forest atmosphere or forest bathing) with research looking at the calming and stress-reduction effect on the five senses of being in a forest atmosphere (Tsunetsugu et al., 2010). A US Forest Service study showed that the loss of 100 million trees in the eastern and midwestern US influenced death rates. Data analyzed from 1296 counties in 15 states between 1990 and 2007 found that people living in areas infested by the emerald ash borer, a beetle that kills ash trees, suffered an additional 15,000 deaths from cardiovascular disease and 6000 more deaths from lower respiratory disease when compared with uninfected areas. While no causal link was proven, this association between loss of trees and human mortality is troubling; the magnitude of the effect was greater in counties with aboveaverage median household income (Donovan et al., 2013).
The Advent of Modern Medicine and New Therapies
From our earliest days, humans relied on observation, experience, intuition, and indigenous consciousness to inform knowledge and understanding of the natural world, including the healing effect of the natural environment. Transitioning to the 15th century, the cure of the body and the care of the soul were separated and hospitals were now built as separate structures established by individual merchants or guilds (Elmer, 2004).
The term science (from Latin scientia, meaning ‘knowledge’) as a body of knowledge about the natural world encompassing empirical, theoretical, and practical knowledge has been around since the 17th century. The term scientist is relatively new; before the 19th century people investigating nature were called natural philosophers. This is because they were trying ‘to find natural, rather than supernatural explanations for natural processes’ (Gaarder, 1995, p. 27). Today, most science historians consider nature inquiries to be rigorous and adequate science, even those done before the scientific revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries (Hendrix, 2011). The importance of the scientific revolution is that science began to be shaped as an alternative to the Western religion, with religion having the moral realm and science the factual realm for questions in life. Over time the use of nature in healing became less and less.
Science, in terms of facts, grew to be known as a marker for the progress of human civilization. The more facts we know the more progress we have made. Natural philosophers or scientists used observation, explanation, and prediction to help explain the natural world and human interactions with it. Using the definition of science to be ‘the ordered knowledge of natural phenomena and the relations between them’, it is easy to see science as a thread in humans’ existence well before the 17th century. People have used some sense of ordered knowledge of the Earth and universe, including the Earth’s cycles, for millennia as they derived health benefits from nature. The positivist phase (mid-1800s)—where the philosophy of science was positivism, or a sense that the only truth is the truth in scientific knowledge with narrowly defined methodologies—helped science become even more reductionist and removed from common life. Positivists believed that metaphysical knowledge from theology, in addition to lesser known forms of knowledge generation, were not valid. Adding another layer of complication, science was seen as the mechanism by which nature and natural processes could be predicted and controlled. This gross generalization of the epistemology of truth, or way of knowing, perpetuated a separation from nature. The fact is, however, that many modern-day negative stereotypes of science as being cut-and-dried knowledge of only what we can measure were not valid for early scientists (pre-1800s) and are not valid for many scientists today.
In the Greek civilization the natural philosophers within the church who used the natural sciences to determine how to cure illnesses were called temple healers, while those moving towards what is now called a profession might be called physicians. This split between spirituality and science may symbolize and embody the split between healing and curing, another misfortunate consequence of using science to predict and control. As science with the purpose to control and the domination of nature continued, a prevailing thought was that we could find cures for illnesses using nature or natural material. The concept of cure comes from a mechanistic view certainly put forth by Aristotle, including deductive reasoning and empiricism or the notion that truths can be arrived at through observation and induction. For example, understanding that amber is fossilized resin from pine trees can be deduced from seeing samples with trapped insects within them. This building block conceptualization was fixed during the Cartesian period and is with Western societies today. As we conceive of a more holistic view of science using systems theory and realize the ubiquitous nature of natural philosophy, we see science as a useful part of a paradigm.
Paracelsus was a Swiss-German physician and botanist in the early 16th century who incorporated cosmos, spiritual influences, and chemistry in his medical practice. He was a practicing astrologist as many physicians of the time were, though he rejected the popular so-called magical beliefs of the time. His medical views were different from his peers’ because he felt that a person’s health depended on the harmony of the person (microcosm) and nature (macrocosm). In this manner his views were more like Chinese medicine; however, they were also different in that he was only concerned with the physical body. He used material from nature for cures but mainly relied on what he referred to as balancing minerals in a body.
Healing, hospitals, and herbs
The deliberate integration of natural elements, most often plants, into healthcare environments and practices has a long and rich history, and represents a continued recognition of the healing power of nature. Women healers, sometimes called wise women, were accomplished natural scientists and often buried in history (see Box 3.1). Their use and knowledge of natural remedies and bodily functions laid the foundation for later physicians.
Indicators can be found that more than 1000 years ago people in both Asian and Western cultures believed that plants and gardens are beneficial for patients in healthcare environments (Ulrich and Parsons, 1992). There is evidence of Chinese Taoists creating gardens and greenhouses believed to be beneficial for health as early as