Nature matrix: reconnecting people and nature
TLDR
In this paper, the importance of direct, intimate encounter with places and organisms on the attitudes of the young, as well as the significance of biophilia is discussed. And the authors present a six-point program, called Nature Matrix, for an alternative social and ethical paradigm.Abstract:
Many individuals and societies are no longer connected to the more-than-human world in such a way as to ensure a sustainable future. As such connection has diminished, environmental challenges have multiplied and influences for estrangement intensified. I review the importance of direct, intimate encounter with places and organisms on the attitudes of the young, as well as the significance of biophilia. The result of the loss of contact and subsequent alienation is the Extinction of Experience: an inexorable cycle of disconnection, apathy, and progressive depletion. I describe an effort to demonstrate this effect. Small, humble habitats, especially in urban settings, can be as important as big reserves in awakening biophilia. Biophobia, abetted by the loss of such habitats, the rise of the virtual in place of actual experience, economic inequalities, and overpopulation, further feeds the downward spiral of extinction and disaffection. The climate of global corporate growth that now prevails is inimical to sustainability, as is the current state of ecological illiteracy. Radical change is therefore necessary to address both economic disparity, in the direction of minimal ownership rather than maximum consumerism, and educational reform that places nature at the centre rather than the margin of the curriculum. I present a six-point programme, called Nature Matrix, for an alternative social and ethical paradigm. Rather than a pragmatic plan for the near future, Nature Matrix is a model for essential, incremental change, a dream whose eventual adoption may enhance chances for reconnection and for ecological survival itself: at present, a deeply uncertain prospect.read more
Citations
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Biodiversity conservation: challenges beyond 2010.
Michael R. W. Rands,William M. Adams,Leon Bennun,Stuart H. M. Butchart,Andrew Clements,David A. Coomes,Abigail Entwistle,Ian Hodge,Valerie Kapos,Valerie Kapos,Jörn P. W. Scharlemann,William J. Sutherland,Bhaskar Vira +12 more
TL;DR: It is argued that more radical changes are required that recognize biodiversity as a global public good, that integrate biodiversity conservation into policies and decision frameworks for resource production and consumption, and that focus on wider institutional and societal changes to enable more effective implementation of policy.
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What are the Benefits of Interacting with Nature
TL;DR: It is discovered that evidence for the benefits of interacting with nature is geographically biased towards high latitudes and Western societies, potentially contributing to a focus on certain types of settings and benefits.
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A global perspective on trends in nature-based tourism.
TL;DR: A global analysis suggests that while visit rates are declining slightly in some richer countries, elsewhere nature tourism is booming.
Journal ArticleDOI
Urban Biodiversity: Patterns and Mechanisms
TL;DR: It is argued that humans directly control plants but relatively few animals and microbes—the remaining biological community is determined by this plant “template” upon which natural ecological and evolutionary processes act, and conserving or reconstructing natural habitats defined by vegetation within urban areas is no guarantee that other components of the biological community will follow suit.
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A national scale inventory of resource provision for biodiversity within domestic gardens
Zoe G. Davies,Richard A. Fuller,Alison Loram,Katherine N. Irvine,Victoria Sims,Kevin J. Gaston +5 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the extent to which domestic gardening activities are conducted and the level of resource provision for biodiversity (e.g., food and nesting sites) within domestic gardens remains poorly documented.
References
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Book
The ecology of imagination in childhood
TL;DR: Interestingly, ecology of imagination in childhood that you really wait for now is coming, and it's significant to wait for the representative and beneficial books to read.
Book
The Human Relationship with Nature: Development and Culture
TL;DR: In a series of original research projects, Peter Kahn as discussed by the authors studied children, young adults, and parents in diverse geographical locations, ranging from an economically impoverished black community in Houston to a remote village in the Brazilian Amazon.
Book
Kinship to Mastery: Biophilia in Human Evolution and Development
TL;DR: Kinship to Mastery is a fascinating and accessible exploration of the notion of biophilia - the idea that humans possess a biologically based attraction to nature and exhibit an innate affinity for life and lifelike processes.
Journal ArticleDOI
Butterfly Conservation Management
TL;DR: Aspects of butterfly ecology are discussed in relation to sound management of species and faunas, and selected examples from Europe, North America, and elsewhere exemplify increasing global interest in butterfly conservation.