THOUGHT EXPERIMENTS IN PUBS

TEiP DEEP 34

GREAT OUTDOORS

SPOILER ALERT

Here is the Thought Experiment that we’ll discuss at TEiP DEEP.

It is broken into three chapters.

I recommend waiting to read the chapters sequentially at the event

…but if you’d like to know what they are ahead of time, here you go… :-)

CHAPTER 1

Ned does a lot of looking after people:

Her family members are all going through stuff they need help with at the moment.
Her work involves looking after the wellbeing of lots of people.
And her partner is a lot clingier than she is.

Ned loves people, and loves being supportive, but she feels depleted at the moment.

She sees a post on instagram that speaks to her.

The photograph is of a woman raking the ground in the sunshine. The caption says:

“Back on the strong antidepressants (aka time to start on the allotment, thank god)”.

Ned wants to be this woman. Alone, outside, working on something just for her.

She shows her friend, Magda.

Magda says:

“Yes, I can see that’s what you need because you’re an introvert. You need time alone.”

Ned replies:

“I can’t tell if it's the time alone or the time in nature that I need. Maybe its both.

I feel like I need to be surrounded by nature, rather than people. I need spaciousness.

But doesn’t everyone need that? Humans aren’t evolved to live in cities.”

Magda thinks for a moment and then says:

“Oh, I need to be in the city. I need to be around people, especially if I’m stressed. I hate being by myself.

I think that’s why people have built cities. Humans are social animals. We’re evolved to be together. Lots of animals live in ‘colonies’, cities are just human colonies.”

Ned:

“I’m sure the answer is ‘balance’, as always. But I wonder why the right balance is different for different people? Where does that difference come from? Why do you find being around crowds of people comforting? Why do I find nature comforting?”

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER:

What do you think of the idea of gardening as an antidepressant?
Do you agree with Magda’s diagnosis of Ned? That she must be an introvert?
Is individual variation as simple as introvert/extrovert?
Many animals are happy living in dense colonies. Do you think humans are this kind of animal? Or, do you agree that humans aren’t supposed to live in cities?
How important is a connection with nature?
Are there ways of having ‘the best of both’?
What is a good balance for a city dweller?

SOURCE: BA, THOUGHT EXPERIMENTS IN PUBS Group Member

CHAPTER 2

Ned signs up for a nature experience at a city farm.

The Forest Farm Peace Garden is at the end of the Central Line, near Hainault.

The experience is a one off pop up by a dreadlocked hippy called Darren. It’s called: REWILD YOURSELF.

Ned books the day off work and resists pressure from her partner and her family to spend the time with them. She feels a little guilty as she steps out the door. It’s really early in the morning and a bit chilly and misty and she’s not sure she’s made the right decision.

But by the time the tube train emerges above ground, the sun is up and the mist is melting away. Ned breathes a long sigh out and relaxes her shoulders. She is so relieved to have this time to herself.

It takes a while to walk from the station to the Garden. At one point, Ned thought her map was wrong as she was walking across a field, but then she spotted a sign. Further signs led her to a small gathering of people, including the unmissable Darren.

Darren is wearing a camouflage patterned poncho and a wide grin.

In his introduction to the day retreat he says:

“Humans are not meant to live in cities. We are meant to be outside, on the move, and embedded in nature. It’s no wonder that in our disconnected modern lives, stress, anxiety, and all sorts of mental health problems are on the rise. We are lacking a fundamental part of being alive. That is what today is all about. Reconnecting to our wild selves. I urge you to turn your phones off for the rest of the day.”

During the course of the day, Darren guides the small group through various exercises and teaches them some simple skills. They do:

A walking meditation through the forest garden
An introduction to wood whittling
A bird identification walk
An intro to shelter building
And a foraging walk.

By 4pm, Ned is exhausted, but in a different way to her usual end of day exhaustion. She feels good, and like she can breathe a little deeper.

On the way home, she turns her phone back on and calls Magda. She says:

“I just spent the whole day with a group of people, but I feel so peaceful. I think I need nature more than I need time alone.”

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER:

What do you think of Ned’s experience?
What about Darren’s philosophy? How about the exercises that the group did?
Besides ‘connecting with nature’, were there any other ingredients of the day that might explain Ned’s positive experience?
How important is it to do new things?
Does this day appeal to you? If yes, why? If no, why?
What do you think the average Londoner’s experience of nature is?
Could ‘connecting with nature’ be an overrated trend at the moment?

SOURCES:

BA, THOUGHT EXPERIMENTS IN PUBS Group Member, inspired by: Forest Farm Peace Garden, https://www.forestfarmpeacegarden.org

CHAPTER 3

A week later, Ned bumps into one of the women from the Forest Farm.

During the retreat, they didn’t have much time to get to know each other, but Ned thinks they probably have something in common, so she suggests a coffee.

The woman, Milly, agrees.

Over coffee, Ned learns that Milly signed up for the nature retreat with Darren because she wants to bring nature into prison.

Milly works in the healthcare wing of a nearby prison. She recently read an article about the positive impact that nature has had on incarcerated people in America (Nadkarni et al., 2017). Milly says that she was blown away by the findings.

Ned asks what the findings were and Milly says,

“I have an article about the study with me. Shall I read you the key bit?”

Ned agrees and Milly starts reading:

The authors “studied a cellblock at the Snake River Correctional Institution in Oregon that housed 48 inmates. Half were provided nature videos to view during their scheduled indoor recreation time (three to four times per week over the course of a year). Content included images of diverse biomes (e.g., ocean, forest, rivers), aquarium scenes, a fireplace with burning logs, Earth viewed from space and cloud fly-throughs. The other half were not offered the chance to view the videos.

“Inmate surveys and case study interviews with inmates suggested that negative emotions and behaviors such as aggression, distress, irritability and nervousness were reduced following the viewing of videos and lasted for several hours post-viewing,” said Hasbach.

Prison staff also reported through case study interviews and written surveys that viewing the videos appeared to be a positive way to reduce violent behavior.

Over the course of the year studied, prisoners who viewed the videos had fewer disciplinary referrals than those who did not. The intervention has been considered so successful that it is now being used in other areas of the prison. Prison staff are also using the videos as a targeted intervention when they see warning signs that an inmate may be about to act out.

“We found that inmates who watched the nature videos committed 26 percent fewer violent infractions,” said Hasbach. “This is equivalent to 13 fewer violent incidents over the year, a substantial reduction in real world conditions, since nearly all such events result in injuries to inmates or officers.” (American Psychological Association, 2016)

Milly stops reading.

Ned says:

“Wow!”

Milly says:

“I know! I’ve always thought prisons are pretty inhumane, but after reading this and going into work and seeing the total lack of nature, it now feels even worse. And so does the city more generally. It’s no wonder everyone is stressed out all the time.

Obviously in an ideal world, we’d all go back to living in forests, surrounded by natural beauty, but that’s unrealistic. Instead, I’ve been thinking that we should create more opportunities for people to view videos of nature, like in the prison. Imagine if you had footage of the Grand Canyon projected onto the buildings at Piccadilly Circus, instead of adverts?”

Ned replies:

“I see what you’re saying, and that study is really interesting. But I feel a little troubled by all of this. If we give people fake nature, then won’t we eliminate all drive to connect with real nature? A video of a tree can’t be as good as spending time with an actual tree, can it?”

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER:

What do you think of the prison study?
How about an initiative to replace all adverts with nature images? Do you think this would have a positive effect on city dweller’s wellbeing?
Or, like Ned, do you think that projections of nature might disincentivise people from seeking out real nature experiences?
How important is a person’s physical environment?
Whose responsibility should it be to bring nature into the city? The state? Local councils? Individuals?

SOURCES:

American Psychological Association. (2016, August). Can nature videos improve behavior? https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2016/08/nature-videos-behavior

Nadkarni, N. M., Hasbach, P. H., Thys, T., Crockett, E. G., & Schnacker, L. (2017). Impacts of nature imagery on people in severely nature-deprived environments. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 15(7), 395–403. https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.1518