REPORTS:
The use
of nature-connected alternative, complementary medicine in nature-healing
including the spiritual, holistic, natural and energy medicine
preventatives of medical science.
The effects
of natural attraction activities in grant-funded, holistic courses,
training and degree programs online
The evaluation
of a sensory science for sustainable personal and environmental
well-being.
"'Nature-deficit disorder'
describes the human costs of alienation from nature, among them:
diminished use of the senses, attention difficulties, and higher
rates of physical and emotional illnesses. The disorder can be
detected in individuals, families, and communities. The nature
deficit can even change human behavior in cities, which could
ultimately affect their design, since longstanding studies show
a relationship between the absence, or inaccessibility, of parks
and open space with high crime rates, depression, and other urban
maladies. Nature healing with alternative, complementary medicine
and therapies are antidotes and preventatives "
- Google News Reports
"Be true
to yourself. Don't be a victim of contemporary society's conquest
of natural systems within and around you. If you have ever had
an attractive "feel good" experience in nature, it
is a fact. Learn how to further enjoy and strengthen its contribution
to the well-being of yourself, society and the environment."
The
Web of Life Imperative, M.J. Cohen
Doesn't nature have
restorative and regenerative healing powers?
If not, how then how
do natural systems create and sustain their purity, balance and
peace along with their optimums of diversity and life, yet without
producing garbage or pollution?
Humanity is part of nature,
we consist almost entirely of the natural systems that flow through
our mind, body and soul.
Although we
and our psyche live excessively indoor lives, extremely separated
from nature, we and our psyche are nature. This means that the
undeniable, purifying, self-correcting and recycling powers found
in the flow of natural systems can help us heal our injured psyche
if and when we genuinely reconnect it with authentic nature.
That's when the flow starts again, when we and nature help heal
each other for we are united and whole, as of old. The medical science of nature-connected
spiritual, holistic, natural and energy medicine helps us reestablish
the flow.
Although contemporary
thinking often scoffs at this nature-connected notion, others
applaud the beneficial results this science produces. It is important
to keep in mind that the wellness of
our
thinking determines our health, relationships and destiny.
Doesn't the
the difference between the state of the unadulterated natural
world and that of industrial society clearly show that while
we suffer from warped thinking and relationships, unadulterated
nature creates and sustains its own perfection that we inherit
as part of nature at birth?
Think for yourself.
Explain reasonably to yourself your attractive experiences in
nature and the hundreds of substantiated findings, similar to
those listed below, with respect to our relationship with natural
systems.*
Don't these
studies demonstrate the value of nature-connected natural and
energy medicine preventatives?
Do you think
contemporary society has a bias that tends to ignore the self-correcting
and restorative value of natural systems in order to not impede
our exploitation of nature? How much do you and those you love
suffer from this deceit?
In a study, participants were
randomly assigned to one of three "treatments": A walk
in a natural environment, a walk in an urban environment or relaxing
in a comfortable chair. At the end of each excercise, intruments
indicated that people who had taken the nature walk had significantly
higher scores on overall happiness and positive affect and significantly
lower scores on anger/agression. Nature walkers also performed
significantly better on a cognitive performance measure.
Hartig, T., Mang M. & Evans,
G.W. (1991) Restorative effects of natural environment experiences.
Environment and Behavior, 23, 3-26 (Reported in Nature's
Path)
Why do you
think we herald stress relief pills but not connections with
nature?
Please keep
in mind that the science of the Project NatureConnect process
helps you consciously strengthen and intensify your contact with
natural systems so that you can choose to think with these connections
and come more into personal balance and co-creation with nature.
The PNC process
enables you to make your visits in nature more effective in filling
the void from our thinking's 99 percent disconnection from nature.
Documented medical science research demonstrates that connections
with nature provide the following benefits:
IMPROVEMENTS: People help rejuvenate
and improve their lives by having a pet, going for a hike, keeping
a garden, or vacationing in a beautiful place.
Surgical patients
have shorter hospitalizations, less need for pain medications,
and fewer complaints about discomfort when they have hospital
windows that overlook trees rather than brick walls.
Prisoners with
cells that provided views of rolling landscapes were found to
make fewer sick calls than inmates whose cell windows overlooked
prison courtyards.
Pets have positive
effects on patients with dementia. Even patients with impaired
mental abilities are able to connect with cats or dogs.
Contemporary
people who live in environments that are more natural, live longer.
Post-traumatic
stress victims recover by connecting in nature to "something
larger than themselves." in nature.
Nature-centered
people and cultures seldom display or cause the problems that
undermine industrial society.
*Irvine, K and Warber,
S (2002). "Greening Healthcare: Practicing as if the
Natural Environment Really Mattered" reviewed in Alternative
Therapies in Health and Medicine September/October 2002 (Volume
8, Number 5).
STRESS MANAGEMENT: Three exacting physiological measures
were used to assess personal stress levels before and after 120
men and women were stressed and then viewed tapes of urban or
natural scenes. Individuals who viewed the natural, as opposed
to the urban, scenes experienced more and complete stress recovery.
- Ulrich, R.S. &Simons,
R.F.
1986 Proceedings, Environmental Design Research Association
ATTENTION DEFICIT/HYPERACTIVE
DISORDER: Spending
time in "green" settings reduced ADHD symptoms in a
national study of children aged 5 to 18. The study was done by
Frances Kuo, PhD, and Andrea Faber Taylor, PhD, of the University
of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Activities were done inside,
outside in areas without much greenery (such as parking lots),
and in "greener" spots like parks, backyards, and tree-lined
streets. The kids showed fewer ADHD symptoms after spending time
in nature, according to their parents. Symptoms evaluated by
the questionnaire included remaining focused on unappealing tasks,
completing tasks, listening and following directions, and resisting
distractions. "In each of 56 analyses, green outdoor activities
received more positive ratings than did activities taking place
in other settings," write Kuo and Taylor. It didn't matter
where the children lived. Rural or urban, coastal or inland,
the findings held true for all regions of the country."
American Journal of Public Health, September, 2004
OBESITY: "Being outside
is the key, to the childhood obesity issue...where they can move
more." said Bernard Gutin, professor of pediatrics and physiology
at the Georgia Prevention Institute Medical College of Georgia.
He reported to USA Today (11/16/04) that his research with 3rd
graders showed that children who ate healthy snacks and engaged
in moderate to vigorous physical activity 70-80 minutes build
more bone and muscle, greater cardiovascular fitness and add
less fat than children who don't participate in such activities.
An article in the LA Times notes the recognition in the scientific
community that homo sapiens are born to run.
ADDICTION We deny that we psychologically addict
to technologies, relationships and stories that replace our inborn
connections to and satisfactions from nature. Instead we experience
this bonding as normal, good economics or progress.
One day at a time, most addiction
treatment involves helping people resist an immediate impulse
long enough for them to "remember" the long term pain.
(You call another addict 24/7 if you're tempted to take become
involved with your problem addiction or repeat mantras ("slogans")
or prayers, get social support at meetings, receive "chips"
for days of "abstinence" etc.). This is also applicable
to the short term impulse gratification that deteriorates our
planet by obtaining satisfactions that help break the addiction
but are environmentally detrimental. In
Project NatureConnect, using nature-connecting activities, you
satisfy your impulses by connecting them with their nurturing
and restorative natural origins, with attractions found in a
natural area, backyard or backcountry. This environmentally supportive
connection gives nature added value, too. -MJC
"Yes,
I agree that PNC is one of the methods whereby we can give people
immediate reward experiences with environmentally healthy behavior.
I have found, in leading PNC events that, just as you say, it
builds a sense of community, and mutual support. Perhaps most
important, it helps people learn to trust their own senses and
trust in the natural world."
John Scull, Ph.D. Neuropsychologist
PERCEPTION: Juliet Schor in Born to Buy
did research with 300 children ages 10-13 to measure the effects
of advertising on their mental and physical health. Kids who
got ensnared in our nature-removed consumer culture were more
apt to become troubled. She showed that kids begin to recognize
brands at 18 months and believe brands help them express their
identity by 3 years. Also that young children are not making
distinctions between programming and advertising.
THERAPY: Psychotherapy Networker is
written for therapy clinicians of all types -- psychologists,
psychiatrists, social workers, marriage and family therapists,
counselors etc. In the Nov-Dec 2004 issue is "Taking Therapy
Outdoors: How to Use Nature to Get Tough Cases Unstuck"
by Ira Orchin, Ph.D., a Philadelphia psychologist in private
practice who "leads Alaskan wilderness retreats for men
and father-daughter camping adventures." He says. "While
going outdoors may begin as an experiment to help shift a stuck
client or to mark a transition, you're likely to be surprised
by the collateral benefits that emerge."
NATURE-DEFICIT DISORDER Richard Louv, a child-advocacy expert
describes in his book Last Child in the Woods that for
the first time in history, children's direct experience in nature
is disappearing-with disastrous results. Studies conducted within
the past ten years indicate that direct contact with nature can
be powerful therapy for maladies such as depression, obesity,
and attention-deficit disorder; that outdoor play reduces stress,
builds self-confidence and increases children's creatiivity;
and that nature-based education improves test scores and develops
critical thinking and decision-making skills. "Direct experience
in nature may be as important to children as good nutrition and
adequate sleep" yet our society's children are approaching
a frightening level of nature-deficit.
ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS: A study of urban American adults by
Nancy Wells and Kristi Lekies of Cornell University sheds some
light on environmental attitudes. Wells and Lekies found that
children who play unsupervised in the wild before the age of
11 develop strong environmental ethics. Children exposed only
to structured hierarchical play in the wild-through, for example,
Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, or by hunting or fishing alongside
supervising adults -do not. To interact humbly with nature we
need to be free and undomesticated in it. Otherwise, we succumb
to hubris in maturity. The fact that few children enjoy free
rein outdoors anymore bodes poorly for our future decision-makers.
REDUCE DEPRESSION: Country walks can help reduce depression
and raise self-esteem according to research published today,
leading to calls for "ecotherapy" to become a recognised
treatment for people with mental health problems. Ecotherapy:
the green agenda for mental health is the first study looking
at how "green" exercise specifically affects those
suffering from depression.
According to Mind, England
and Wales's leading mental health charity, it produced "startling"
results proving the need for ecotherapy to be considered a proper
treatment option.
The study by the University
of Essex compared the benefits of a 30-minute walk in a country
park with a walk in an indoor shopping centre on a group of 20
members of local Mind associations.
After the country walk, 71%
reported decreased levels of depression and said they felt less
tense while 90% reported increased self-esteem.
This was in contrast to only
45% who experienced a decrease in depression after the shopping
centre walk, after which 22% said they actually felt more depressed.
Some 50% also felt more tense
and 44% said their self-esteem had dropped after window-shopping
at the centre.
The university also conducted
a second study, asking 108 people with various mental health
problems about their experiences of ecotherapy. A massive 94%
said green activities had benefited their mental health and lifted
depression while 90% said the combination of nature and exercise
had the greatest effect.
DENIAL: In Reconnecting With Nature,
Michael J. Cohen
shows how our "normal" nature deficit leaves us feeling
unfulfilled and, unaware of this defeciency, we seek and, for
a profit, are fed negative news in the media. Such news conveys
that the world is dangerous. This makes us feel better because
our intellect believes it knows why we feel bad: we are helpless
victims of a dysfunctional world. "This clarifies why the
media harps upon the negative and excludes the nature-connecting
antidotes, remedies and preventatives readily available at Project NatureConnect."
says Cohen. "It is as if establishing a mutually supportive
relationship with authentic nature is an illicit affair. We ignore
the psychologically based medical science of nature healing that
uses alternative, complementary nature-connected antidotes including
spiritual, natural and energy medicine preventatives."
Cohen demonstrates that our
exploitive prejudice against nature synptomizes our fear of the
unknown. That fear results from the extreme separation of our
thinking from nature's intelligent grace, balance and restorative
ways. He claims that we can reduce most of our dysfunctions and
vastly improve our personal and global life community relationships
by learning and teaching the simple process of genuinely connecting
our thinking to how nature works.
RECOVERY "The students bonded as a community. They also
bonded to a trashed natural area near their forthcoming new school.
To protect the area's integrity and availability for future NSTP
activities, these "incapable" youngsters successfully
cleaned up, weeded and replanted it, wrote environmental protection
grants, and
effectively presented their work to Education Boards and
Administrators who were intent on paving the area as a parking
lot.
In addition to their improved
mental health test scores, every students' attendance and academic
progress improved while they were in this project.
The student's sensed that the
natural area, like their nature, wanted to recover from the abuse
it received from society. They said that, like them, it had been:
'hurt, molested, invaded and trespassed,' 'It wanted to become
healthy or die.' 'It felt trashed and overwhelmed.' 'It had no
power, it needed a fix or help to recover.' They wrote:
'This wilderness community
is being choked by alien plants and stressed by pollution, abandonment
and major loss. We, too, are being choked by drugs and alien
stories that pollute our natural self. We feel abandoned by our
society, treated like garbage, and cut off from nature which
fills us with grief. By protecting and nurturing this ecosystem
we find the strength to open our minds, hearts, and souls for
the survival of our Mother Earth and ourselves.'"
Kurtland Davies, Ph.D., Counselor
RESTORE HEALTH An editorial published in a special
issue of the British Medical Journal (November 26, 2005) claims
that ecotherapy - restoring health through contact with nature
- could be beneficial for children with emotional and behavioural
problems. The BMJ points to a number of studies that show ecotherapy
can help these kids overcome social isolation. "Partnerships
between healthcare providers and nature organizations to share
and exchange expertise could create new policies that recognize
the interdependence between healthy people and healthy ecosystems",
writes author Dr Ambra Burls.
AN UNUSUAL STUDY: An unusual study was conducted in
psychiatric hospital in Sweden on the effects of the visual representation
on nature. Based on records kept during 15-year period, it was
found that patients often complained of many of the paintings
and prints that the psychiatric hospital displayed. Seven times
over this 15-year period patients attacked a painting or print
(e.g., tearing a picture from a wall and smashing the frame).
Each time the painting or print substantially consisted of abstract
art. In contrast, there was no recorded attack on wall art depicting
nature (see Ulrich, 1993).
CHILDHOOD NATURE EXPERIENCES "Although domesticated nature
activities -- caring for plants and gardens -- also have a positive
relationship to adult environment attitudes, their effects aren't
as strong as participating in such wild nature activities as
camping, playing in the woods, hiking, walking, fishing and hunting,"
said environmental psychologist Nancy Wells, assistant professor
of design and environmental analysis in the College of Human
Ecology at Cornell. She analyized data from a U.S. Department
of Agriculture Forest Service survey conducted in 1998 that explored
childhood nature experiences and adult environmentalism. She
used a sample of more than 2,000 adults, ages 18 to 90, who were
living in urban areas throughout the country and answered telephone
questions about their early childhood nature experiences and
their current adult attitudes and behaviors relating to the environment.
"Our study indicates that participating in wild nature activities
before age 11 is a particularly potent pathway toward shaping
both environmental attitudes and behaviors in adulthood,"
said Wells, whose previous studies have found that nature around
a home can help protect children against life stress and boost
children's cognitive functioning. "When
children become truly engaged with the natural world at a young
age, the experience is likely to stay with them in a powerful
way -- shaping their subsequent environmental path."
INCREASED PROFICIENCY: In a brain-based workshop I attended,
the presenters had calculated in percentages the negative effects
on student success of every one of the factors you mentioned,
above. Just letting the kids get up and walk around the building
to oxygenate their brains, changing the seating and layout of
the classroom, or introducing humor and taking an interest in
kids' feelings count for huge differences in student achievement.
While the presenters observed that more foliage, fresh air and
light in classrooms would increase proficiency by 50-60%, they
recognized that these are not typically administrative priorities.
I actually tried charting the kids' feelings each day, and allowing
them to walk in the hallway before class. People acted as if
I had lost it, but the kids loved it.
(from C.J. Rich, 2006)
RESULTS FROM CONNECTION
I felt the natural
system connection the first time that I tried the activity and
it becomes easier each time that I try to reconnect. In 1998,
I was on a humanitarian medical mission to Haiti. I contracted
St Louis encephalitis during that mission and have suffered from
migraine Headaches since that time. Lately after starting my
Organic Psychology studies, when I get a headache, I just go
outside and connect with nature. I calm down, I get a feeling
of completeness and my headache resolves in minutes. (from David
G. 2006)
HONEST NATURAL SYSTEM RELATIONSHIPS. In 1959, Dr. Michael J. Cohen founded
a program and
school based on the Organic Psychology of reconnecting with
nature. The National Audubon Society and many others called it
the most revolutionary school in America saying, 'It is on the
side of the angels.' School participants traveled and thrived
in 83 different natural habitats by keeping their commitments
to having open, honest relationships with natural systems within
and about them. The process reduced or eliminated disorders that
involved chemical dependencies, eating, violence, prejudice,
academics, loneliness, depression, stress and safety. It became
the pilot program of the National Audubon Society Expedition
Institute.
HEALING PROPERTIES. Due to brain injury in a cycling accident, Bart,
a writer, could no longer write due to head pain. For years he
suffered constant pain that that did not respond to repeated
surgical, chemical and psychological and meditation treatment.
He sought alternatives from the Internet, discovered Organic
Psychology and took an eight week online class in it. He did
the course's nature connecting activities with an attractive
group of trees in the center of his town. His heightened sensory
relationship with them and his online classmates enabled him
to overcome his pain so that he could write again. He said it
had transformed into pleasure. When the trees were later to be
removed for development, Bart passionately rallied the town to
protest their demise. The town saved the trees and became more
involved with Organic Psychology.
-Reconnecting
With Nature
PLAY IN
NATURE BENEFITS FOR CHILDREN
Children with
symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)are
better able to concentrate after contact with nature (Taylor
et al. 2001).
Children with
views of and contact with nature score higher on tests of concentration
and self-discipline. The greener, the better the scores (Wells
2000, Taylor et al. 2002).
Children who
play regularly in natural environments show more advanced motor
fitness, including coordination, balance and agility, and they
are sick less often (Grahn, et al. 1997, Fjortoft & Sageie
2001).
When children
play in natural environments, their play is more diverse with
imaginative and creative play that fosters language and collaborative
skills (Moore & Wong 1997, Taylor, et al. 1998, Fjortoft
2000).
Exposure to
natural environments improves children's cognitive development
by improving their awareness, reasoning and observational skills
(Pyle 2002).
Nature buffers
the impact of life's stresses on children and helps them deal
with adversity. The greater the amount of nature exposure, the
greater the benefits (Wells & Evans 2003).
Play in a diverse
natural environment reduces or eliminates bullying (Malone &
Tranter 2003).
Nature helps
children develop powers of observation and creativity and instills
a sense of peace and being at one with the world (Crain 2001).
Early experiences
with the natural world have been positively linked with the development
of imagination and the sense of wonder (Cobb 1977, Louv
1991).
Wonder is an
important motivator for life long learning (Wilson 1997).
Children who
play in nature have more positive feelings about each other (Moore
1996).
Natural environments
stimulate social interaction between children (Moore 1986, Bixler
et al. 2002).
Outdoor environments
are important to children's development of independence and autonomy
(Bartlett 1996).
Play in outdoor
environments stimulates all aspects of children development more
readily than indoor environments (Moore & Wong 1997).
An affinity
to and love of nature, along with a positive environmental ethic,
grow out of regular contact with and play in the natural world
during early childhood. Children's loss of regular contact with
the natural world can result in a biophobic future generation
not interested in preserving nature and its diversity (Bunting
& Cousins 1985; Chawla 1988; Wilson 1993; Pyle 1993; Chipeniuk
1994; Sobel 1996, 2002 & 2004; Hart 1997; Wilson 1997, Kals
et al. 1999; Moore & Cosco 2000; Fisman 2001; Kellert 2002;
Bixler et al. 2002; Kals & Ittner 2003; Schultz et al. 2004).
Mental Health Cultivated On The Farm
ScienceDaily
(Apr. 13, 2008) — Time down on the farm with animals could provide some
therapeutic benefit for people with mental illness, according to
researchers.
The
use of farms in promoting human mental and physical health in
cooperation with health authorities is increasing in Europe and the
USA, particularly under the Green care banner. Historically, the
approach was associated with hospitals, psychiatric departments and
other health institutions but today, most Green care projects involve
community gardens, city farms, allotment gardens and farms.
To
assess the benefits of Green care, the researchers asked ninety
patients (59 women and 31 men) with schizophrenia, affective disorders,
anxiety, and personality disorders to complete self-assessment
questionnaires on quality of life, coping ability and self-efficacy,
before a 12-week period spending three hours twice a week working with
the farm animals.
The before and after results showed that AAT with
farm animals had some positive effect on self-efficacy, the ability to
cope, of patients with long-lasting psychiatric symptoms, their quality
of life. "During the six months follow-up period self-efficacy was
significantly better in the treatment group, but not in the control
group," the researchers say.
They
add that, "Further controlled studies are needed for confirmation and
to more accurately define the psychiatric population with the greatest
potential to benefit."
Journal
reference: Animal-assisted therapy with farm animals for persons with
psychiatric disorders, effects on self-efficacy, coping ability and
quality of life: a randomized controlled trial. Bente Berget, Řivind
Ekeberg and Bjarne O Braastad. Clinical Practice and Epidemiology in
Mental Health (in press).
Finding Hope Up a Creek
By Francesca
Lyman, Resurgence.
Thanks to John Beal, what was once a culvert dripping with waste
is now a beautifully restored stream brimming with beaver and
salmon.
For a man broken by war, John
Beal found himself an unlikely place of refuge.
Told that he had less than
four months to live, the disabled Vietnam veteran wandered down
to the stream behind his house to contemplate his future. Hamm
Creek was an open sewer, plugged up with garbage. Beal was still
recovering from bullet wounds and haunted by flashbacks. Besides
suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, he had gone through
three heart attacks, followed by a serious motorcycle accident.
"I went down to the stream
behind my house and just cried, wondering how I'd care for my
wife and four kids," says Beal. "Then the idea came
to me: if you're going to check out, so to speak, try to leave
this place better than when you found it. I looked at this wreck
of a stream, filled with refrigerators, old tires, torn garbage
bags, broken swings and stinking carpets and all I wanted to
do was clean it up."
Maybe it was a way of processing
his memories of the wreckage of war, he reflects. Or maybe it
was survivor's guilt. Instead of despairing, he started pulling
out the garbage. "When I yanked out this huge refrigerator,
I thought it would surely kill me. Instead I felt better."
Since that day 23 years ago,
Beal has directed all of his energies to restoring this polluted
Seattle, Washington. stream. During the last 10 years he has
moved on to restoring the entire watershed. Beal has recruited
hundreds of crews to clean up and replant around the streams
and has now established a network of volunteer groups living
in the area, as well as drawing the support and interest of the
local Duwamish tribe.
Through sheer persistence,
Beal eventually raised enough public awareness and pressure to
persuade the local utility to allow Hamm Creek, which had been
channelized and paved into a culvert, to be daylighted and rerouted
over its property. As a result, what was once a culvert dripping
with waste is now a beautifully recontoured and replanted stream
brimming with beaver, salmon, and other fish.
For Beal, the impulse to do
environmental restoration is itself restorative: "It has
empowered me and kept me alive." That same impulse has spurred
the energies of thousands of volunteers. "I've seen remarkable
things happen to people who connect with Mother Earth,"
he concludes, describing dozens of cases of people disabled physically
or psychologically who benefit from the exercise and feeling
of accomplishment.
"I remember watching a
young man who had been in a wheelchair for eight years come out
to help us weed and plant," he says. "After two years,
he's almost able to walk." At first, the young man would
fall out of his wheelchair, Beal recalls. But now, he says, he
is able to clamber down the slope of the shore, willing himself
through. "He was out there every single day. And lately
he's saying, 'Now I've got a mission in life.'"
No matter how stressed, angry,
depressed or troubled they are, whether it's a jail crew sent
to clean up litter for the day, or a class of students, they
seem to derive pleasure from the activity, says the riverkeeper.
The redemptive feelings Beal
describes are echoed by thousands of visitors and volunteers
who have come to his restored creeksite. They are also confirmed
by an emerging movement loosely called "ecopsychology,"
the study of nature's therapeutic benefits.
In the last decade, hundreds
of studies have begun documenting what many people know intuitively
about the healing power of nature. "Nature is in some fundamental
way important for the human psyche, and as such it is really
central to public health," says Roger Ulrich, director of
the Center for Health Systems and Design at Texas A&M University.
Ulrich has tested these theories
on patients recovering from cardiac and abdominal surgery. He
found that patients whose hospital rooms overlooked trees required
less pain medication and recovered more quickly than those whose
rooms overlooked brick walls.
John Beal, like the ecopsychologists,
believes that the impulse toward environmental restoration is
about the need for connection and purpose in a world increasingly
dissociated from nature.
"It's the connection to
something larger than yourself," says Beal. "When you
are so overwhelmed by your depression, or anxiety or sense of
illness, it takes away that worry; it calms that fear."
Francesca Lyman is the author of 'Inside the Dzanga-Sangha
Rain Forest' and 'The Greenhouse Trap.'
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"We are dysfunctional
socially and environmentally because we are cut off and isolated
from the world of nature and the natural."
-Albert
Gore
.
Dear Vice President Gore,
Please be informed that Project
NatureConnect provides an alternative, holistic, sensory science
that helps our psyche genuinely connect with nature. Because
this sustainable tool enables our mind to thoughtfully tap into
nature's balance, grace and restorative powers our dysfunctions
wane and our personal and environmental well-being improves.
For Peace,
Michael J. Cohen, Ed. D.
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