By Andreas Samus, Katharine Dickinson, Claire Freeman, and Yolanda van Heezik.
Living in cities can reduce the time we spend in nature. Having contact with animals and plants in our daily lives is important for our nature connectedness, which is the extent to which we feel part of nature. Having a strong nature connection can have benefits for people and the environment: Several studies show that people with a stronger nature connection are happier and are more likely to engage in behaviors that protect the environment. In our research, we investigated an important social and environmental issue: How can nature connectedness be strengthened?
In our study, participants from New Zealand kept a diary for a 2-week period. Every evening, they answered questions about their nature connectedness and wrote down three things that they were grateful for in nature. We found that three months after the diary activity, people had higher nature connectedness than before the diary activity. Participants also reported better well-being and the features of their gardens were more conducive to supporting wildlife. We also gave another group of people a different task: after they answered the daily survey questions about their nature connectedness, they listed things that they were generally grateful for in their lives, or the activities they did during the day. Those people also increased in their nature connectedness, well-being and their gardens supported more wildlife-friendly features.
Our research suggests that reflecting on one’s relationship with nature, such as through answering specific survey questions, may strengthen nature connectedness. People living in urban areas often have few opportunities to strengthen their nature connectedness because they have may have limited access to natural areas in their living environment. For those people, thinking about how they relate to nature may be a viable strategy to enhancing their nature connectedness. This may in turn lead to higher well-being and more engagement in behaviors that protect the environment.
Relational Thinking 