It’s not a coincidence that America is getting both lonelier and more indoorsy, an Atlantic writer argues.
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Those of us who live in cities are inclined to avoid some of nature’s less-than-appealing creatures. “My aversion to pigeons, rats, and cockroaches is somewhat justifiable, given their cultural associations with dirtiness and disease,” Hannah Seo writes in a recent article. “But such disgust is part of a larger estrangement between humanity and the natural world.”
“As nature grows unfamiliar, separate, and strange to us, we are more easily repelled by it,” Seo explains. “These feelings can lead people to avoid nature further, in what some experts have called ‘the vicious cycle of biophobia.’ This cycle has some parallels with another cycle of modern life, Seo writes: “Psychologists know that lonely individuals tend to think more negatively of others and see them as less trustworthy, which encourages even more isolation.”
Spending time in the natural world can’t solve all of our problems, but it may well help us feel closer to our surroundings—and to our own happiness.
Some scientists worry that modern life is making children more afraid of nature. What are the consequences for the planet?
Still Curious?
Nature therapy is a privilege: Science is learning more about the health benefits of going outside—at a time when access to wild spaces is ever more unequal. (From 2017)
Trees are time machines: Arborists are planting trees today that must survive decades of global warming. The health, comfort, and happiness of city dwellers hang in the balance. (From 2020)
If you’re spending some time with the last glimpses of foliage this weekend, I recommend Henry David Thoreau’s ode in The Atlantic to “autumnal tints.”
Faculty of International Journalism and Mass Communications Eurasian International University is conducting an additional intake of applicants!
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CD Projekt's Pawel Sasko tells the inspiring tale of how an Estonian beet farmer in Australia became a senior quest designer on The Witcher 4
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According to BioWare, Dragon Age: The Veilguard is the first entry in the series where "the combat's actually fun" and where characters are "intentionally" the focus of the storytelling, which seems pretty unfair on the first three games
Двадцать пять человек за одним столом под звуки караоке – это было шедеврально!
