Losing Eden: Why Our Minds Need the Wild

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Jones writes of the intersection of science, wellness, and the environment, and reveals that in the last decade, scientists have begun to formulate theories of why people feel better after a walk in the woods and an experience with the natural world. She describes the recent data that supports evidence of biological and neurological responses: the lowering of cortisol (released in response to stress), the boost in cortical attention control that helps us to concentrate and subdues mental fatigue, and the increase in activity in the parasympathetic nervous system, slowing the heart and allowing the body to rest. There was a ton of research that the author relied upon to show us evidence of why it is good to be outdoors but with most of it, I stumbled upon the problem of cause and effect. Most of the studies in psychology are conducted in a way that there is very little certainty that A causes B. For that certain humans should be in isolated conditions like lab rats and of course, this is unthinkable. There is only that much we can do to study behaviour. So yes we can presume that it was the fresh air that lowered the stress level and when our sample is big enough the significance of the finding is important enough. Throughout, Jones continues to pose very valid questions, particularly about accessibility. Despite the clear benefits of connecting with nature which she sets out, she is aware that a lot of people simply do not have regular access to the natural world, and that those in poorer communities are far less likely to be able to reap the benefits. Lucy Jones interweaves her deeply personal story of recovery from addiction and depression with that of discovering the natural world and how it aided and enlivened her progress, giving her a renewed sense of belonging and purpose. It might have been a reaction to the negative ions that are abundant around the ocean and other natural areas where air molecules are broken apart by crashing waves, moving air, or sunlight. Negative ions can help the brain release serotonin and activate the parasympathetic nervous system, calming the body and the mind.

In 2015 he led a study of 20,000 people in 34 European countries and found that exposure to nature was the one variable that reduced socioeconomic inequality in mental wellbeing – by 40 percent. I want to lend this to everyone I know it was just fantastic. Took such a brilliant all-round view at what constitutes an individual’s wellbeing and all the different ways nature can impact it. In Losing Eden, Jones is both thoughtful and probing. She speaks to a great deal of different people working across the field, as well as attending specific congresses, and travelling to places of interest, such as the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. Located within the Arctic Circle, the Global Seed Vault is a ‘man-made deep-freeze containing around 900,000 seed samples to protect agricultural biodiversity in the case of climate breakdown, nuclear war and natural disasters.’ Historical narratives often concentrate on wars and politics while omitting the central role and influence of the physical stage on which history is carried out. In Losing Eden award-winning historian Sara Dant debunks the myth of the American West as “Eden” and instead embraces a more realistic and complex understanding of a region that has been inhabited and altered by people for tens of thousands of years.Both these books remind us, as we look out of the window at the budding spring, or listen to birds on our daily socially distanced walks, just how very individual, and how personally precious, these experiences can be. Extolling the virtues of green urbanism and forest schooling, sharing skepticism about virtual experiences of nature, and bashing the atrociousness of astroturf, Jones takes us along with her on a journalistic mission that found Jones herself surprised by "how much and how varied the evidence is," (p 194) that we desperately need nature exposure in our day-to-day lives. An absorbing book [...] more than just a scientific treatise: Jones writes beautifully about nature and her own experiences of its healing power"

But as Jones writes, natural spaces are in danger. So many of us have heard of climate change (in recent years especially,) but why is it so easily ignored by so many? Why is it, as the author states, “…easy to forget that we are a part of nature, and we only breathe, eat and drink because of it” (124)? Part of it is the language used, the author says, and I definitely agree. As Jones says, “'Climate change’ is too innocuous a description of what is happening to the planet. 'Extinction' doesn’t say anything about humanity’s complicity in global trends. Even referring to pigs as 'pork' or cows as 'beef' emphasizes our alienation and disconnection from the land and other living creatures” (133-134). She also talks about how “…we still see ourselves as takers and overseers, the authority figures, rather than being on an equal footing with the rest of nature” (134). Research helped her to understand what was behind that sense of well-being. Exposure to the soil bacterium Mycobacterium vaccae leads to significantly reduced stress and inflammation, while smelling fresh rain and seeing fractals in nature activate portions of the brain involved in relaxation. The Amish, exposed to a diversity of microbes through their small-scale farming, have stronger immune systems and a lower incidence of mental illness. Thus, working the land or just pottering around in a garden can be not just fun but fortifying.Time spent in nature often falls on socioeconomic lines. As we’ve seen in earlier blinks, there are fewer parks in deprived parts of towns and cities than in affluent neighborhoods, which tend to be more verdant. But it goes deeper than that. People in lower socioeconomic groups or from racial and ethnic minorities have less access to natural areas. Vulnerable populations suffer more exposure to pollution and toxic chemicals. And society is only becoming more unbalanced as our alienation from nature is exacerbated.

Beautifully written, movingly told and meticulously researched ... a convincing plea for a wilder, richer world' Isabella Tree, author of Wilding In the late 1990s, the University of Illinois conducted studies at Robert Taylor Homes to examine the impact of physical environments on well-being. The researchers looked at the effect that trees had on people’s lives – and found that just a few trees and some grass near an apartment could significantly improve the residents’ mental health and cognitive functioning. And yet, despite years of protection, it was significantly logged in 2010. Six years later, citing a bark beetle infestation, then-environmental minister Jan Szyszko altered the forest laws and tripled the amount of logging allowed to take place. The minister’s personal priest Tomasz Duszkiewicz cited the Bible’s instruction that man should “subdue” the land, but activists, ecologists, and scientists claim this was merely a ruse to chop down more of the forest.Detroit is one example of a city that is now biophilic thanks to a grassroots movement. Once the hub of the US automobile industry, Detroit became a center of urban decay after decades of abandonment and disinvestment. Detroit residents, longtime victims of systemic racism that drove poverty and health problems, are now reclaiming their city by transforming the vacant lots and open land into natural spaces. The city currently boasts over 1,500 community gardens and small urban farms – providing residents with fresh, nutritious food. There is no other time in a human's life course that entails such dramatic change-other than adolescence. And yet this life-altering transition has been sorely neglected by science, medicine and philosophy. Its seismic effects go largely unrepresented across literature and the arts. Speaking about motherhood as anything other than a pastel-hued dream remains, for the most part, taboo.