Effects of Environmental Disconnect

By Cameron Loehr

Over the past few centuries, merely a sliver on the grand scale of time, humans have rapidly moved out of their natural environments and into more and more industrialized urban areas. Thanks to the Industrial Revolution and the rapid advancements in technology, that to this day are ever accelerating, humans are becoming increasingly disconnected from the natural world. Because this is a new phenomenon we are only now seeing the effects of such disconnection. According to a site brochure put out by the Natural History Museum of the UK and information from the World Health Organization, “Chronic or non-communicable diseases such as depression, cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and dementia are the leading cause of death globally. They are responsible for 38 million (68%) of the world’s 56 million deaths in 2012. Out of this, more than 40% (16 million) were premature deaths under 70 years of age (WHO, 2014). Many of these non-communicable diseases are linked to lifestyle, including physical inactivity, poor diet and chronic stress – which are increasing problems in urban areas.” (NHM10). This is a very wide range of serious issues.

Environmental Disconnect is the cause of many of our stressors we experience today. In fact, it’s a pretty severe issue going almost unspoken about. Equivalent to 11.67 percent of the population of the United States of America is being wiped-out worldwide by something as simply not experiencing enough nature, when in essence we are nature (cite). We ought to be living harmoniously with everything around us by taking only essentials from the environment and giving back the equivalent or more than we take. Giving back can be done in many ways; planting and caring for plants, picking up litter and trash, recycling and being conscious of how our actions effect Mother Nature. Every action taken by you should be made with environmental consideration. Rather than destroying the environment around us we should be encouraging humanity as a whole to protect and take care of the environment.

Educating others on how to promote better living so that environmental harmony is met is also very important because it will take all of humanity to correct the damage already done. Because we are nature, nature in essential to us. Therefore with out it, there is no us. Instead of working ourselves to death we should have plenty of time for relaxation and mental rest and a better connection with nature, then just maybe we will have a better understanding of its importance. If we were to learn how to help Mother Nature perform to the best of her abilities then the rewards would be numerous. We would have much better food than we do now and much more natural exercise. We could prevent many deaths by simply reconnecting with where we came from, The Earth.

Disconnecting from Nature can have such a wide range of effects and we are only now seeing them. Therefore we still don’t know what is yet to be discovered. In an article put out by the University of Minnesota,  “‘Nature deprivation,’ a lack of time in the natural world, largely due to hours spent in front of TV or computer screens, has been associated, unsurprisingly, with depression. More unexpected are studies by Weinstein and others that associate screen time with loss of empathy and lack of altruism. And the risks are even higher than depression and isolation. In a 2011 study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, time in front of a screen was associated with a higher risk of death, and that was independent of physical activity!” (UMN). They also went on to talk about how just the appearance of nature can have profound healing effects primarily as a results of its de-stressing capabilities. “Being in nature, or even viewing scenes of nature, reduces anger, fear, and stress and increases pleasant feelings. Exposure to nature not only makes you feel better emotionally, it contributes to your physical wellbeing, reducing blood pressure, heart rate, muscle tension, and the production of stress hormones. It may even reduce mortality, according to scientists such as public health researchers Stamatakis and Mitchell. Research done in hospitals, offices, and schools has found that even a simple plant in a room can have a significant impact on stress and anxiety” (UMN). When it comes down to it, a swift and permanent re-connection with nature is desperately what humanity needs if we are to survive as a species. It is only a matter of time before we either destroy nature of we destroy ourselves. With the latter being more probable because we need nature to survive and in time the Earth would likely heal and continue to stay strong until the death of our star. We are nothing but a pinprick in the fabric of time.

(n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.nhm.ac.uk/content/dam/nhmwww/about-us/visitor-research/Disconnect with nature Lit review.pdf

World Health Organisation (2014) Global Status Report on non-communicable diseases Available from http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/ 148114/1/9789241564854_eng.pdf?ua=1

(n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.nhm.ac.uk/content/dam/nhmwww/about-us/visitor-research/Disconnect with nature Lit review.pdf