Focusing Attention on Reciprocity Between Nature and Humans Can Be the Key to Reinvigorating Planetary Health

Citation

Varanasi, U. (2020). Focusing attention on reciprocity between nature and humans can be the key to reinvigorating planetary health. Ecopsychology, 12(3), 188-194. doi.org/10.1089/eco.2020.0011

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In modern industrial and urban societies, medicine focuses mainly on treating injuries and diseases, and most environmental work tries to clean up damage caused by humans. This essay argues that people and society need to shift their attention toward prevention — taking steps to protect both human and ecological health before problems start.

The author points to a growing body of research showing that nature — from wilderness to parks to waterways — is essential for people’s physical, mental, and emotional well-being. That evidence should motivate the public and policymakers to conserve ecosystems proactively, rather than waiting until species are endangered or habitats are destroyed and need costly restoration.

The essay also describes a tricky balancing act. On one hand, researchers need solid evidence that nature is good for health, which can lead to public health policies that make nature more accessible to everyone. On the other hand, nature should not be treated as just a “service provider” that exists to deliver health benefits to humans. The author argues that people need to move away from the attitude of dominating nature.

The essay ends with a call to focus on reciprocal healing — the idea that nature and humans can heal each other, but only if people interact with nature in a sustained and respectful way, whether that is in wilderness, an urban park, or a garden. The author suggests that the connection between nature and health could be the game-changing strategy needed to build lasting public awareness and slow — or even reverse — the decline of the planet’s health.

Abstract

In industrialized and urbanized societies, medical science focuses primarily on trauma and diseases, and most environmental work attempts to remediate natural and anthropogenic degradation. This essay raises the importance of shifting individual and societal attention to preventive and precautionary measures to maintain human and ecological health. It points to the growing body of research that nature (wilderness to green and blue space) is necessary for people’s physical, mental, and emotional health. Such evidence should persuade the public and policymakers to proactively conserve ecosystems, reducing the need to rescue depleted species or repair and restore their degraded habitats.

This paper also describes the creative tension between the need for evidence-based research to demonstrate the health benefits of nature, which can lead to public health policies that make nature exposure widely accessible, and the need to ensure that nature is not viewed merely as a ‘‘service provider’’ from which humans can continue to extract health benefits. The author suggests that a drastic change is needed in the prevailing attitude of dominance over nature.

This essay concludes with a plea for focused attention on reciprocal healing of both nature and humans, which can occur only if our interaction with nature—be it wilderness, an urban park, or a garden—is sustained and respectful. The author suggests that the nature-and-health paradigm may be the game-changing strategy needed to sustain grassroots awareness for halting and hopefully reversing the trajectory of decline in planetary health.