The Importance of Nature and Wildness in Our Urban Lives

Abstract

For several years now I have been administering an interesting slide-based survey to my new graduate students. I call it the “what is this?” survey, and it consists largely of images of flora and fauna native to the eastern United States. Interspersed are other images, political and corporate. I ask students to tell me everything they can about the images I present, and the results are usually rather discouraging: Few students are able to name even common species of birds, plants, or trees. Sometimes the results are amusing (and would be more so if they weren’t so sad).

Chapter 1

• 1. E. O. Wilson, “Biophilia and the Conservation Ethic,” in Stephen Kellert and E. O. Wilson, The Biophilia Hypothesis, Washington, DC: Island Press, 1993, pp. 31–41.

• 2. Richard Louv, Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder, Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Press, 2005.

• 3. Paul Gruchow, Grass Roots: The Universe of Home (The World as Home), Minneapolis: Milkweed Editions, 1995.

• 4. E. O. Wilson, in Kellert and Wilson, The Biophilia Hypothesis, 1993, p. 32.

• 5. Stephen Kellert, Building for Life: Designing and Understanding the HumanNature Connection, Washington, DC: Island Press, 2006, p. 4.

• 6. Roger Ulrich, “View through a Window May Influence Recovery from Surgery, Science 224 (April 27, 1984):421.

• 7. MIND,“Ecotherapy:The Green Agenda for Mental Health,” MIND weekly report, May 2007. The study concludes the following: “The new research … shows green exercise has particular benefits for people experiencing mental distress. It directly benefits mental health (lowering stress and boosting self-esteem), improves physical health (lowering blood pressure and helping to tackle obesity), provides a source of meaning and purpose, helps to develop skills and form social connections” (p. 28).

• 8. See T. Hartig, M. Mang, and G. W. Evans, “Restorative Effects of Natural Environmental Experience,” Environment and Behavior 33 (1991):3–26; T. Hartig and H. Staats, “The Need for Psychological Restoration as a Determinant of Environmental Preferences,” Journal of Environmental Psychology 26 (2006):215–226.

• 9. Agnes E. Van den Berg, Terry Hartig, and Henk Staats, “Preference for Nature in Urbanized Societies: Stress, Restoration, and the Pursuit of Sustainability,” Journal of Social Issues 63 (no.1, 2007):88–89.

• 10. Sjerp DeVries, Robert A. Verheij, Peter P. Groenewegen, and Peter Spreeuwenberg, “Natural Environments—Healthy Environments? An Exploratory Analysis of the Relationship between Greenspace and Health,” Environment and Planning A 35 (2003):1726.

• 11. Ibid.

• 12. Thomas Sick Nielsen and Karsten Bruun Hansen, “Do Green Areas Affect Health? Results from a Danish Survey on the Use of Green Areas and Health Indicators,” Health and Place 13 (2007):839–850.

• 13. Peter Schantz and Erik Stigell, “Are Green Elements Principal Pull Factors for Physical Activity?” The Research Unit for Movement, Health and Environment, The Swedish School for Sport and Health Sciences, Stockholm, summary of a presentation, supplied by the author.

• 14. Ben Fried, “New Yorkers Reap Health Benefits from Walking,” found at www.streetblog.org, December 3, 2009.

• 15. For a good discussion see, for example, Kristin L. Getter and D. Bradley Rowe, “The Role of Extensive Green Roofs in Sustainable Development,” HortScience 41 (no. 5, 2006):1276–1286.

• 16. The Trust for Public Land, “Parks and Playground Use Up in Down Economy,” found at www.tpl.org, August 2009.

• 17. David Futrelle, “Putting a Price on Walkability,” CNN Money, August 22, 2009. See also Carol Coletta, “Walking the Walk,” found at www.ceosforcities.org/work/walkingthewalk, accessed May 27, 2010.

• 18. Andrew Revkin, “Peeling Back Pavement to Expose Watery Havens,” New York Times, July 16, 2009, found at www.nytimes.com/2009/07/17/world/asia/17daylight.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1&ref=science, accessed May 27, 2010.

• 19. Anne Schwartz, “Good Parks Are Good for the Economy,” Gotham Gazette, June 24, 2009.

• 20. Robert Costanza, Octavio Pérez-Maqueo, M. Luisa Martinez, Paul Sutton, Sharolyn J. Anderson, and Kenneth Mulder, “The Value of Coastal Wetlands for Hurricane Protection,” AMBIO: A Journal of the Human Environment 37 (no. 4, 2008):241–248.

• 21. Anne Schwartz, “Good Parks Are Good for the Economy,” Gotham Gazette, June, 2009.

• 22. Ryerson University, Report on the Environmental Benefits and Costs of Green Roof Technology for the City of Toronto, prepared for the City of Toronto, Department of Architecture, Ryerson University, Toronto, October 31, 2005.

• 23. See The Greening of Detroit, at www.greeningogdetroit.com/9_0_about_us.php, accessed December 21, 2009.

• 24. USC Center for Sustainable Cities, Green Visions Plan, August 2008, found at www.greenvisionsplan.net.

• 25. See Elisabeth Kals, Daniel Shumacher, and Leo Montada, “Emotional Affinity toward Nature as a Motivational Basis to Protect Nature,” Environment and Behavior 31 (no. 2, March 1999):178–202.

• 26. See discussion of this in Timothy Beatley, Planning for Coastal Resilience, Washington, DC: Island Press, 2009, chapter 2.

• 27. Specifically, participants were asked to participate in a decision task called a “funds distribution” task; see p. 1322 for a full explanation.

• 28. Netta Weinstein, Andrew K. Przybylski, and Richard M. Ryan, “Can Nature Make Us More Caring? Effects of Immersion in Nature on Intrinsic Aspirations and Generosity,” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 35 (no. 10, October 2009):1315–1329.

• 29. Ibid., p. 1316.

• 30. For a good review of this issue and current research, see Kenneth R. Ginsberg, “The Importance of Play in Promoting Healthy Child Development and Maintaining Strong Parent-Child Bonds,” American Academy of Pediatrics 119 (no. 1, January 2007):82–191.

• 31. Victoria Rideout, Ulla G. Foehr, and Donald F. Roberts, Generation M2: Media in the Lives of 8- to 18-Year-Olds, a Kaiser Family Foundation Study, January 2010, p. 2.

• 32. Robert Pyle, The Thunder Tree: Lessons from an Urban Wildland, Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 1993, p. 146.

• 33. Ibid.

• 34. Lauran Neergaard, “Obesity Rates Rising, Mississippi’s Still Fattest,” Washington Post, July 1, 2009.

• 35. Live Science, “Lack of Vitamin D in Children ‘Shocking,’” found at www.livescience.com/health/090803-vitamin-d-children.html, accessed December 10, 2009.

• 36. Rachel Carson, “Help Your Child to Wonder,” Woman’s Home Companion, July 1956, p. 46.

• 37. Ibid., p. 48.

• 38. Ibid.

• 39. See Elisabeth Kals, Daniel Shumacher, and Leo Montada, “Emotional Aff inity toward Nature as a Motivational Basis to Protect Nature,” Environment and Behavior 31 (no. 2, March 1999):178–202.

• 40. Personal communication, University of Adelaide.

• 41. See Jennifer Wolch, “Zoöpolis,” Capitalism Nature Socialism 7 (no. 2, June 1996):21–47; Mona Seymour and Jennifer Wolch, “Toward Zoöpolis? Innovation and Contradiction in a Conservation Community,” Journal of Urbanism 2 (no. 3, No vember 2009):215–236.

• 42. Jennifer Wolch, 1996, p. 29.