Are we headed towards an “extinction of experience” of nature?

Our connection to nature has declined dramatically, according to a widely reported 2025 study. Nature connectedness, the authors explain, measures the closeness of an individual’s relationship with other species and the wild world.

Studies have linked people’s nature connectedness with better mental health and earth-friendly actions.

The data showed an interesting correlation between citizens’ nature connectedness and biodiversity.

Countries where wild species and untouched landscapes still exist had the strongest association with nature connectedness. Conversely, countries with higher average incomes and more technology correlated negatively with closeness to nature.

The research also found a decline in the use of nature words in cultural products since the 1950s which paralleled the lack of nature connectedness.

Lead author Professor Miles Richardson of the University of Derby wants the United Nations to adopt the concept of nature connectedness as a sustainable target.

None of the current 17 sustainable development goals focus on the interface between people and nature. “Sometimes we’re so disconnected we don’t see the relationship as a tangible thing at all,” Richardson said.
 
“Working with families and parents to engage children with nature with a real focus on that intergenerational transmission is key,” Richarson counsels.

He believes that 40 minutes a day in nature might be a minimum for a real connection. That sounds doable, except when you consider that today’s average is only four minutes of daily “nature” time.

The disconnect doesn’t surprise me. I grew up in an L.A. suburb with more green space than houses, where our parents encouraged us to play in the “good clean dirt.”

Our road trips began with drives through places whose names reflected the landscape as it was: Orange County, Thousand Oaks, Joshua Tree.

Now these place names and many local ones are anachronistic artifacts. Camino del Roble is bereft of oaks; I have yet to find a hollyleaf cherry shrub on Islay Street.

Intriguingly, there is a glimmer of hope after the two-century decline. Richardson was surprised to find that nature words in books are now increasing.

Nature words in books declined 60.6% between 1800 and 1990. Now that decline in nature words has shrunk to 52.4%.

I wonder if this relative increase in nature words is a cultural shift or an artifact in the data. I remember the alarm bells set off with the publication in 2005 of “Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder” by Richard Louv.

Louv coined the term Nature Deficit Disorder to describe the human costs of alienation from nature. He linked it to childhood issues like obesity and ADHD.
 
“Last Child” and other publications highlighted children’s disconnection from the outdoors. The result was a children-in-nature movement that continues today.

Recent research continues to confirm that a lack of nature contact negatively impacts children’s physical, mental and cognitive health. It is linked to higher stress, anxiety, lower self-esteem, and poorer problem-solving.

Other studies show green spaces improve focus and well-being, reinforcing the need for outdoor play.

The flip side of proactively bringing children and ourselves into nature is protecting natural space. Fortunately, conserving public lands is one issue that is important and popular with both major political parties.
 
Yet in the past year, the federal government has directed the Department of Interior to prioritize mining as the primary use of public lands while reducing the royalty companies must pay for extract coal, oil, or gas.
 
The feds are also moving to rescind both the Roadless Rule and the Public Lands Rule. The Roadless Rule protects large areas of national forest lands by barring new roads while the Public Lands Rule declares conservation and restoration to be as high a value as BLM extractive uses.

We need nature and nature needs our protection — from ourselves. Ponder that on a skip in the park with your child or your childlike self. It takes patience, diligence and fortitude to continue to preserve natural places imperative to humans and the wild we depend upon.