(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
Many of us send tweets from our bike or ski tours in Nordmarka or other scenic areas. I do, at least. And post pictures of Nature with big N, maybe with the bike or ski peaks with. I boast that this is free; this makes us happy; This is the health and green prescription in practice. And now I read that I'm right!
Sometimes you come across books that you realize can change the way we see the world. The message they are carrying feels right, of course, because it confirms your own opinions and interests. What is interesting, therefore, is whether the claims made can be substantiated and verified. In the book The Nature Fix. Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative Florence Wil-
liams us now what many of us think we know: Being out in nature benefits both us and our communities.
Nature, the home of culture. This is not new. Already in 1984, social biologist Edward O. Wilson wrote the book Biophilia. Here he promotes the thesis that man has a hunger for everything living and for nature, because it is nature we ourselves come from. Others have had a philosophical view of nature, such as our own deep ecologist Arne Næs, who in writing and in practice was interested in going into nature, not into it. His friend, the outdoorsman Nils Faarlund, talked about nature as the home of culture. Going back even further in time, is named Nature's Great Spokesman Henry D. Thoreau, known for his year alone in the American wilderness, who gave birth to the book Walden.
Our own deep ecologist Arne Næs was keen to go inn in nature, not into it.
Williams quotes Thoreau and others – but what sets her apart from her predecessors? First and foremost is that she wants to impart science – and therefore allies with scientific communities. Wilsons biophile-hypothesis has remained an (interesting) hypothesis. But now we are starting to get some studies and time series that support Wilson's theory. With new medical technology it is easier than before to measure what visual, sound and odor impressions do with us. There is also a greater interest in the theme of a growing urban world. In other words, research is international, and results from different countries and cultures support the general hypothesis.
The author is therefore not only satisfied with secondary and American sources, but is traveling around the world in search of the researchers who are furthest in the field. She takes blood tests, takes turns with electrodes attached to her head and becomes part of ongoing experiments. The trip takes her to Asia, Europe and her own continent USA.
Concentration and presence. The author is out in the large cypress forests of South Korea and gets insight into healing programs for computer and mobile dependent children and adolescents. She measures how smell and sound affect the psyche. In Scotland, she joins in when ecotherapy is offered to the mentally ill, and in West Virginia she sees how outdoor living is important for children with ADHD. In short and funny chapters, the author shows how closer connection with nature is much more important for our ability to concentrate and general mindfulness than we think, and that even small amounts of exposure to the green enhance creativity and affect the mood.
The chapter dealing with sound pollution is thought provoking. We respond positively to the sound of wind, water and birds. Much of the noise around us in everyday life, on the other hand, stresses our systems more than we understand. Most surprising, however, was the insight I gained in the importance of our sense of smell. Aerosols in evergreen forests seem to be mildly soothing while stimulating breathing. Breathing nitrogen oxides into city traffic, on the other hand, is pure poison.
In the cypress forests of South Korea, the author is given insight into healing programs for computer- and mobile-dependent children and adolescents.
Norwegian open air traditions. Only the sight of beautiful nature, a lake or a mountain, creates alpha waves in the brain, and it soothes us. Dag O. Hessen wrote in the book Nature – What should we do with it that St. Olavs Hospital in the autumn of 2007 was awarded the Norwegian Form's honorary award for dedicating as much as 20 percent of the hospital area to green space to promote health effects. A study of 166 post-operative heart patients from Uppsala University Hospital showed that those who saw natural images of water set against abstract images, reacted negatively to the latter, but with reduced blood pressure and less need for medicine on the natural images.
Williams travels to Finland and finds research that shows that just five hours outdoors in the month will have a positive impact on us. She might as well have come to Norway, a country where many still consider the Sunday trip too sacred. We also have leading landscape scientists who claim that nature in cities improves people's morale. Experience from plant parcels in Greenland in Oslo shows that active green spaces create new meeting places and calm social tensions.
Thoreau in everyday life. Man is born to walk, and both body and mind are earned by the exercise the hike provides, Thoreau said. This year, Pax Forlag marked Thoreau-
anniversary of the release For nature, about walking. Here Thoreau writes that he wants us to tune our minds to nature and learn to see the great in the small and the beauty of the recreational nature. "I want to put in a good word for nature, for it carried out freely and would in contrast to a freedom and culture that is purely bourgeois – I want to regard man more as an inhabitant of nature, or as one with it, than as a a member of the community. ” There is again time for more "walking" in all channels. Series like No one would think anyone could bu is a national property. Hurtigruta and (the very slow) NSB have become international television successes. Novels, like Go. Or the art of living a wild and poetic life by Thomas Espedal gets a lot of attention. Movies like Grizzly Man (2005) Into the Wild (2007) and Against nature (2014) addresses existential questions that may be extreme, but they nevertheless challenge Thoreau's universe and challenge us.
With Williams' book we have now got science in the field, and nature has become an important ally. But the author is realistic and also concerned about our local community – of parks and greenery. She has written a book that will also benefit city planners from reading – which can be important in a country like ours, where the big cities are growing fast and where developer interests can quickly destroy green pleasures. The Nature Fix is therefore a book for outdoor enthusiasts, Sunday enthusiasts, urbanists and politicians – health politicians, not least.
