Connect With Nature
World Environment Day is a day for everyone, everywhere. Since it began in 1972, global citizens have organized many thousands of events, from neighbourhood clean-ups, to action against wildlife crime, to replanting forests.
This year’s theme, ‘Connecting People to Nature’, invites you to think about how we are part of nature and how intimately we depend on it. It challenges us to find fun and exciting ways to experience and cherish this vital relationship.
The Value of Nature
In recent decades, scientific advances as well as growing environmental problems such as global warming, are helping us to understand the countless ways in which natural systems support our own prosperity and well-being.
Nature’s gifts are often hard to value in monetary terms. Like clean air, they are often taken for granted, at least until they become scarce. Billions of rural people around the world spend every working day ‘connected to nature’. They fully appreciate their dependence on natural water supplies and how nature provides their livelihoods in the form of fertile soil. They are among the first to suffer when ecosystems are threatened, whether by pollution, climate change or over-exploitation.
Photo Credit: David James Reid, leaping Manta Ray - Loreto, Baja California Sur, Mexico.
Nurture your Body and Soul
Connecting to nature can involve all the physical senses: why not take off your shoes and get your feet (and hands) dirty - make those mud pies! Don’t just look at the beautiful lake, jump in! Take a hike at night and rely on your ears and nose to experience nature.
You can also connect with nature in the city, where major parks can be a green lung and a hub of biodiversity. Why not do your bit to green the urban environment, by greening your street or a derelict site, or planting a window box? You could put a spade in the soil or lift a paving slab and see what creatures live beneath. Darren Wilson created Kabloom to promote the Guerilla Gardening movement - biodegradable ‘Seedboms’ that get people outside and creating nature in their urban environments. You can learn more on our Kabloom Makers page and the Seedboms are 2 for £5 or £10 for the gift set.
Wherever you are, you could vow to pick up 10 (or 100) pieces of rubbish, or take inspiration from Martin Dorey and the ‘2 Minute Beach Clean’ team. They are inviting you to spend 2 minutes picking up rubbish on 11th June.
Such a Perfect Day
In the age of asphalt and smartphones and among the distractions of modern life, connections with nature can be fleeting. With your help, World Environment Day can make clearer than ever that we need harmony between humanity and nature so that both are able to thrive. A simple step could be installing a bird feeder and watching them come to feed. We have a beautiful selection from Green & Blue for you (20% off the collection, applied at the checkout).
Your activity doesn’t have to take place on 5th June itself. Today is a great day to ‘sow the seeds’ and plan how you will Connect to Nature this year.