Calls for humanity to ‘reconnect to nature’ have grown increasingly louder from both scholars and civil society. Yet, there is relatively little coherence about what reconnecting to nature means, why it should happen and how it can be achieved. We present a conceptual framework to organise existing literature and direct future research on human–nature connections. Five types of connections to nature are identified: material, experiential, cognitive, emotional, and philosophical. These various types have been presented as causes, consequences, or treatments of social and environmental problems. From this conceptual base, we discuss how reconnecting people with nature can function as a treatment for the global environmental crisis. Adopting a social–ecological systems perspective, we draw upon the emerging concept of ‘leverage points’—places in complex systems to intervene to generate change—and explore examples of how actions to reconnect people with nature can help transform society towards sustainability.
Reconnecting with nature for sustainability
C. Ives,D. Abson,H. Von wehrden,C. Dorninger,Kathleen Klaniecki,J. Fischer
Published 2018 in Sustainability Science
ABSTRACT
PUBLICATION RECORD
- Publication year
2018
- Venue
Sustainability Science
- Publication date
2018-02-28
- Fields of study
Sociology, Philosophy, Medicine, Environmental Science
- Identifiers
- External record
- Source metadata
Semantic Scholar, PubMed
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