Ecopsychology researchers and therapists work to restore a relationship between human beings and nature. Through these efforts, ecopsychology practitioners have identified three critical assumptions regarding the human/nature relationship (Davis, Ph.D.):
- First, ecopsychologists agree that a relationship does exist between human beings and the natural world.
- Second, ecopsychologists claim that, when people feel disconnected from nature, this discord - or “illusion of a separation of humans and nature” as John Davis, Ph.D., terms it - creates both human and environmental suffering.
- Third, ecopsychologists believe that recognizing and restoring the human/nature relationship helps both people and the environment begin to heal.
Human/Nature Relationship: Ecological and Psychological Assumptions
Ecopsychologists begin by assuming a relationship exists between people and the environment. How is this eco-human relationship observed? Half of this relationship is obvious when considering how people negatively affect the environment through polluting streams, destroying forests, and littering. The other side of the equation is often overlooked, however. What happens to people in this human/nature relationship?
Although some claim nature has no affect on people, evidence can be found to prove that humans are, in fact, affected by nature. Consider third-world countries with poor water treatment systems. Contaminated drinking water sickens and kills people. Polluted air does the same: consider a smog-ridden city, a forest fire, or sitting next to a smoker.
Biologically, plants use carbon dioxide and emit oxygen. Humans breathe oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide. No one can deny this mutually beneficial arrangement. What would happen without one or the other?
Once ecopsychology researchers agree that a relationship exists between humans and nature, the next step is to consider the overall effects.
Implications: What Happens When People Disconnect from the Environment
When people fail to live in tune with the natural world, the two become disconnected, trying to live separately. When human beings feel and act separate from the environment, a multitude of negative consequences arise.
According to the Institute of Global Education, which runs Project NatureConnect, “We produce our personal, social and environmental problems because… we excessively and irrationally bond our natural senses to harmful substitutes… created by… nature-exploitive thinking. It attaches our mentality to misguided stories, places and relationships… The result of our unbalanced nature-disconnected thoughts, feelings and spirit is that we suffer many disorders…” (Cohen, Ph.D.).
When humans view nature as dangerous or as merely a resource to be exploited, the results are disastrous for both.
Negative Effects of Human/Nature Disconnect on the Environment
According to Davis, the illusion of human/nature separation leads to “ecological devastation.” Human beings destroy and deplete the environment that sustains them. This can be seen in rain forests, oceans, and other areas as people destroy natural habitat.
Humans destroy the environment due to misguided beliefs regarding the human/nature relationship. Some people believe nature is a resource that should be used (rather than protected). Others see nature as a dangerous unknown, where people lose control and wild animals roam.
Negative Effects of Human/Nature Disconnect on People
These mistaken beliefs lead to just as much destruction for the human being as for the environment.
According to Davis, the “implications for humans” include “alienation, denial, numbness, despair, and other forms of psychological and existential suffering.” By denying a part of themselves that longs to connect to nature, people become depressed, turning to other means for answers (drugs, alcohol, money, food).
Beyond the emotional effects, humans also lose habitat. The environment is the home of human beings as much as of other animals. Depleting it is a behavior that cannot be sustained indefinitely. Eventually people will have nowhere to live.
In essence, human beings are “denying and destroying part of” themselves - their home. This has emotional, mental, spiritual, and physical repercussions.
Let the Ecopsychology Healing Begin: Reconnecting Human Beings and Nature
Ecopsychology strives to change harmful environmental views - making people see nature as their home or as an extension of themselves (in a spiritual or biological/animal sense). Davis claims that “renewing the connection between humans and nature is essential for both” and that reconnecting is healthy, positive, and healing.
Imagine lying in the grass, sun beating down on a person’s face, wind blowing her hair, birds chirping. Can anyone argue against a person feeling connected to nature in such a moment?
Ecopsychologists would probably assert that moments like this sustain and heal human beings and the planet. Even further - more of these moments are essential to long-term human and planetary survival. Reconnecting humans and nature is the key to healing both.
References:
Cohen, Michael, Ph.D., Director of the Institute of Global Education, Coordinator of the Integrated Ecology Department and Project NatureConnect.
Davis, John, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, Metropolitan State College of Denver, Naropa University, School of Lost Borders.
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