ORE Open Research Exeter
TITLE
Extinction of experience: the loss of human–nature interactions
AUTHORS
Soga, Masashi; Gaston, Kevin J.
JOURNAL
Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment
DEPOSITED IN ORE
23 October 2015
This version available at
http://hdl.handle.net/10871/18516
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Open Research Exeter makes this work available in accordance with publisher policies.
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pg. 1
Extinction of experience: 1
evidence, consequences and challenges of 2
loss of human-nature interactions 3
Running title: The extinction of experience 4
MASASHI SOGA
1*
AND KEVIN J. GASTON
2
5
1
Department of Urban Engineering, School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1, Hongo, 6
Bunkyo, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan 7
masashi.soga.mail@mail.com, +81 (0) 358416248 8
* Corresponding author 9
2
Environment and Sustainability Institute, University of Exeter, Penryn, Cornwall TR10 9FE, UK. 10
K.J.Gaston@exeter.ac.uk, +44 (0) 1326 255795 11
12
pg. 2
ABSTRACT (148/ about 150 words) 13
A high proportion of people are becoming progressively less likely to have direct contact with nature 14
in their everyday lives. More than 20 years ago, Robert M. Pyle termed this ongoing alienation “the 15
extinction of experience”. However, the phenomenon has continued to receive surprisingly limited 16
attention. Here, we present current understanding of the extinction of experience, with particular 17
emphasis on its causes and consequences, as well as suggesting future research directions. Our 18
review illustrates that the loss of interactions with nature does not just diminish a remarkable range 19
of health and wellbeing advantages, but also discourages people’s positive emotions, attitudes, and 20
behavior with regard to the environment, implying a cycle of disaffection towards nature. Such 21
serious implications highlight the significance of reconnecting people with nature, and the 22
importance of focusing research and public policy on addressing and building greater awareness 23
and better understanding of extinction of experience. 24
Keywords: Biophilia; Ecosystem services; Green infrastructure; Outdoor recreation; Sustainability; 25
Urban parks 26
IN A NUTSHELL (100/100words) 27
! More and more people, especially children, have less and less contact with nature, an ongoing 28
alienation termed “the extinction of experience”. 29
! Consequences of loss of interactions with nature include degradation of public health and 30
wellbeing, loss of emotional affinity to nature, and decline in pro-environmental attitudes and 31
behavior, implying a cycle of disaffection towards nature. 32
! Researchers and policy makers need to focus more attention and efforts on planning how best to 33
reduce the extinction of experience and reconnect people with nature, which contributes greatly 34
both to achieving healthy societies and overcoming a wide range of environmental issues. 35
36
pg. 3
MAIN TEXT (3,489/ about 3,500 words) 37
38
Escalating alienation of humanity from the natural world 39
Humanity has for the vast majority of its existence been intimately connected with the natural world, 40
and has directly gained a broad range of benefits. However, this historical personal experience is 41
today drastically weakening. Indeed, in recent decades, in a trend being seen widely across the world, 42
more and more people, especially children, have less and less interaction with nature (Figure 1). This 43
is not simply limited to a loss of engagement with pristine or wilderness environments, but 44
comprises changes in a wide diversity of activities and experiences, including through spending time 45
in and observing urban greenspaces and their associated wildlife. Although it is difficult to pinpoint 46
exactly what has given rise to such a rapid decline in people’s spontaneous outdoor activities, several 47
possible triggers have been identified including rapid growth in the number and proportion of people 48
living in urban areas (Turner et al. 2004; Zhang et al. 2014), technological advancement and the 49
emergence of sedentary pastimes, such as watching television, playing computer games, and using 50
the internet (Pergams and Zaradic 2006; Ballouard et al. 2011), and overscheduling and 51
micromanaging of children’s lives (Clements 2004; Hofferth 2009). For the majority of people today, 52
outdoor nature experiences are vanishing and being replaced by virtual alternatives (Clements 2004; 53
Pergams and Zaradic 2006; Hofferth 2009; Ballouard et al. 2011). 54
55
In his memoir The Thunder Tree, Robert M. Pyle (1993) termed this ongoing alienation of humans 56
from nature “the extinction of experience”, and argued that this “is not just about losing the personal 57
benefits of the natural high. It also implies a cycle of disaffection that can have disastrous 58
consequences.” Looking back to his childhood experiences near the suburbs of Denver, Colorado, he 59
emphasized that direct, personal contact with nearby nature (even that of a “ditch”) is vital to forge a 60
person’s emotional intimacy with nature, which is never replaced by other vicarious experiences 61
(Pyle 1993). Nabhan and Antoine (1993) have also warned that “children’s very ability to perceive 62
the environment may be diminished by replacement of multisensory experience richly textured 63
pg. 4
landscapes with two-dimensional world of books or the audiovisual world of TV, videos, and 64
movies”. From an evolutionary perspective, Wilson (1984, 1993) further argued that human’s have a 65
deep and intimate emotional tendency to affiliate with nature, particularly its living biota, because it 66
is rooted in our biology. He proposed that, as humans have for a long time evolved with (and been 67
part of) nature, we still show inherited earlier adaptations and are likely to function well when we 68
interact with nature, the so-called Biophilia hypothesis (Wilson 1993). In a similar vein, Kellert 69
(2002) observed that society has become “so estranged from its natural origins, it has failed to 70
recognize our species’ basic dependence on nature as a condition of growth and development.” 71
72
Over the decades since its conception, researchers from a wide range of disciplines have provided 73
evidence showing serious consequences of extinction of experience. Those who do not directly 74
interact with nature are likely to lose substantial health and wellbeing advantages (Keniger et al. 75
2013; Shanahan et al. 2015), are less likely to perceive the benefits that it brings and positively to 76
value it (Bixler et al. 2002; Ewert et al. 2005), and are less motivated to want to visit and protect it 77
(Wells and Lekies 2006; Ward Thompson et al. 2008). In consequence, extinction of experience has 78
increasingly been seen both as a major public health issue (Groenewegen et al. 2012; Shanahan et al. 79
2015) and one of the most fundamental obstacles to halting and reversing global environmental 80
degradation (Miller 2005; Balmford and Cowling 2006). Despite increasing awareness of the 81
extinction of experience, however, it is astonishing how little is known about the phenomenon. 82
Indeed, although there is a growing literature that concerns the loss of human-nature interactions, the 83
majority of attention to date has been paid to the health and wellbeing benefits of nature (Keniger et 84
al. 2013; Hartig et al. 2014; Shanahan et al. 2015). A more comprehensive discussion is still wanting. 85
Here, we present the current state of understanding (with particular emphasis on the causes and 86
consequences of the loss of human-nature interactions), summarize key previous findings, and 87
suggest future research directions. In so doing we consider a wide diversity of types of human-nature 88
interactions, and assume that the “experience of nature” of concern is not limited to engagement with 89
pristine or wilderness nature, but includes, for example, urban parks (Lin et al. 2014), planted 90
