Man and Nature: the Reconciliation?

Hubert Mansion: This notion of remoteness is in itself interesting. Are we really disconnected from nature? Yes and no. No, in a sense, as we should not forget that we are and will remain deeply connected to nature. I am in favour of saying that everything is nature, that it all originates from nature and will end up there. We are beings of nature. We must not forget that. However, there are historical factors that have completely disconnected us from the remaining living world. We are a profoundly Christian civilisation, and the monotheisms have taught us that God stands outside nature, since he created it. In other words, to get closer to God, Man must withdraw from nature. From this perspective, this approach presents similarities with Greek thought, which places the intellect above all and maintains a rather contemptuous relationship with the subject. It is evident that the interaction of these two currents gradually disconnected us. Then the Cartesian approach strongly contributed to this remoteness. The mechanical philosophy, which thus removed from nature everything that could be magical and mythical, led to an objectified representation, a soulless representation of the non-human world. Plants and animals are considered to be devoid of sensitivity. Man has thus placed himself above nature.

Hasn't the pandemic accelerated the change in our relationship with nature?

Julie Schadeck: Scientific studies have observed a return to natural environments during the pandemic simply because other places were closed. However, they also identified an environmental injustice. Individuals who had no garden and had to remain confined in small spaces suffered much more. A need for nature has been strongly expressed, and there has been a significant increase in awareness, but is this a cyclical phenomenon or a major tendency? This is still uncertain.

The dichotomy between Man and nature is now being challenged. It can mainly be observed in the medical field, through the eco-health or One Health approaches...

JS: Yes, our main message is that we must position nature as a public health tool. This is tomorrow's primary challenge. It is imperative that the impact of nature on health, and by extension, on the economy, is being documented within the political sphere. We are only at the beginning of this approach. Still it is undeniable that we are moving in this direction as more and more studies are scientifically demonstrating the strong impact of nature on our health.

Our relationship with nature is in fact our relationship with our body. Are we moving from the vision of a body-machine to a living body?

HM: Of course, because the particularity of our body is that it can heal itself. The difference between a human body and a bridge is that the former can heal itself, just like a tree. This is the vital force the Greeks called "phusis", which is a regulating force. It is important to be conscious of this.

We also hear about our 'emotional body'. What emotions come with this reconnection to nature?

HM: We have observed that people who wish to reconnect with nature are fundamentally seeking to reconnect with their own nature. This is the deep quest of the individual in the West today: who is this individual? When an individual is in the forest, it is precisely this emotion that is experienced. One is in silence, often alone. When there is no longer a constant flow of information to be absorbed, inner knowledge comes up. Consciousness works by stepping back: it is at the moment when an individual steps back that awareness of many things is reached. The word reflection encapsulates this idea. It is a moment when one looks at oneself. The right to have one's own nature is the primary emotion expressed.

JS: We offer a new education to accompany the ecological transition. The "Université dans la nature" is first and foremost a place for a different kind of education about nature, a different kind of relationship with nature. We are proponents of what we call reconciliation. We are not alarmists who focus on nature being endangered. Neither do we advocate putting it under a bell jar. We turn to an approach that places nature as a benefactor, and this seems to us to be key to tackling the ecological transition successfully. Concretely, we teach what nature brings us on a sensitive but also cognitive level through two courses: "Eco leader", for the general approach, and "Certified Guide", to train people to accompany groups in forests.

More generally, our objective is to be a transmission belt: to share scientific research on the benefits of nature to civil society and policymakers.

Do you also reach out to organisations such as companies, local authorities, or schools?

JS: Yes, we have already conducted several forest programmes with companies. The Raiffeisen Bank, the CDCL Group and the Minusines company have all taken part in Luxembourg. We have also intervened at entrepreneurial summits in Chamonix and in Canada ("Summit of Minds"), at universities, at schools of entrepreneurship, and of course, within organisations of all kinds. More broadly, it is interesting to see the company's role in reconnecting with the rest of the living world; in particular, how, via biophilic design, the company can bring nature back indoors. This is about breaking away from sanitised work environments and incorporating natural elements. This influences presenteeism, team mood and even heart rate. Taking meetings outside is also recommended. Companies have a huge positive responsibility to provide opportunities for their employees to reconnect, as they spend most of their time awake at work!

We are also engaged with schools. We are trying to raise awareness among the youth. In Quebec, we have set up a programme available to all secondary schools. In Luxembourg, we work with the "Œuvre Nationale de Secours Grande-Duchesse Charlotte" to encourage young people to return to nature. We are thus adapting our programme to the young public and will soon be taking more than 500 young people into the forest. Finally, in Italy, we have collaborated with the National Institute for Educational Research, as we believe that educators should be educated first. Education should not be limited to teaching about ecological disasters, but it is also necessary to teach about the benefits of nature. This is where it starts. Univocal alarmism contributes to distancing people from nature and generating negative eco-emotions such as solastalgia.

So, is it easy to reconnect?

HM: No, it's not easy because to do so, we have to disconnect one by one, all the threads that link us to these ancient conceptions that establish a dichotomy between Man and nature. This requires a lot of inner work of reflection and deconditioning.

Connectivity is, in fact, a scientific concept that has long been studied in environmental psychology and sociology. Many people think it is something more or less fanciful, but it is not. It is a sense of belonging, a feeling that is fundamentally linked to environmental identity. It is a feeling of being connected to the natural world. It is perfectly possible to feel it on the top floor of a flat in Manhattan and not in the middle of the woods. Thus, you don't have to be in nature to reconnect. Although the experience of oneself in nature helps to build this identity of course...

Precisely, what techniques do you use when you take groups into the forest?

JS: Our approach is based on scientific research. In this way, we are differentiated from pure mindfulness activities. We work jointly on two dimensions: the cognitive aspect, where we scientifically explain the benefits of Nature, and the sensory dimension. And both are inseparable. The programme is based on our five senses: touching tree trunks or walking barefoot is certainly part of it, but we provide the scientific arguments to understand where the benefits are.

JS: We have had our activity validated by scientific research at McGill University in Canada. About 60 participants were equipped with sensors on their fingers which transmitted to computers the measurement of temperature, skin conductivity and heart rate. For the first time in the world, we were able to evaluate in real- time the impact of certain activities on the physiological system. The results show unequivocally that the impact of a walk in nature is major: our parasympathetic system, which functions when we are relaxed, is strongly activated. Stress markers drop, such as cortisol levels, which fall by an average of 16%.

The participants also completed a test before and after the activity to measure the psychological impact of the activity. It was demonstrated that after 90 minutes spent in the forest, mental rumination ceased. The brain areas activated when facing vegetation are those of empathy and emotional stability, whereas when facing the concrete of the cities, the areas related to anxiety, depression or even aggression are stimulated.

However, the greatest impact is actually long-term, as the participants state, " I will no longer see nature in the same way ", which means that their relationship to the rest of the living world has changed.

Some doctors have even prescribed sessions to reconnect with nature. When will these prescriptions become widespread?

HM: There have been some first nature prescriptions in the British Isles and it is now widespread in Canada, but it is still far from being systematised. First of all, doctors need to be widely aware of the benefits we have just mentioned. This approach is not yet very well received, as many believe that it is an esoteric approach. However, this is not the case at all. We have one of the largest scientific research bases on the subject and the conclusions are unanimous. There is, above all, a great need for information!

Do you believe that this experience of reconciliation with nature drives us to more action to protect it?

HM: There is today a broad consensus about how our ability to care for nature is linked to our environmental identity.

The more the individual tends to identify with the environment, the more likely the individual will take care of it. So we have to start with affect. The big mistake has been to emphasise statistics and distance people from the subject by frightening them. It is important to bring them closer to the beauty of nature first, in an emotional and sentimental approach, and only then to inform them. The research is very explicit on this matter. Today, most people are convinced that humans are bad for nature. This belief is catastrophic because, I remind you, we are natural beings, and this leads to self-hatred. There is a responsibility of the industries in the destruction of our environment, but this responsibility has been shifted to the individuals. Particularly young people's mental health, this is a very negative aspect, because if the human race starts to hate itself, we will reach a dead end.

What are the next objectives of the "Université dans la nature"?

JS: We invest a lot in research. We are currently investigating the subject of accessibility to nature for immobilised people, such as those in retirement homes or hospitals. We would like to measure the impact of exposure to vegetation via virtual reality headsets, which seems promising.

Furthermore, we are working with the Luxembourg Ministry of Health to set up a therapeutic forest. This concept already exists and is popular in countries such as South Korea, for example. This place will be landscaped according to the principles of environmental psychology and where certain natural elements, such as water or certain very beneficial tree species, will be present. People will be able to measure the impact it has on them.

How do you intend to achieve maximum impact?

HM: To achieve significant results, you have to address the decision-makers, whether politicians, business leaders or school directors. Everyone who has a multiplier effect. We believe we can reach them with scientific evidence. We are conducting this in-depth work. Some people in Luxembourg are already convinced, and this can change many things! Our ambition is to share this knowledge to create a real ripple effect.