Emotional Connectedness to Nature Is Meaningfully Related to Modernization. Evidence From the Meru of Kenya

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate an affective relationship with the natural environment in a non-western society and to determine its links with modernization. Emotional connectedness to nature, a significant predictor of nature-protective behavior, was assessed in a sample of 99 members of the Meru people of Kenya, recruited in places supposedly varying regarding their level of modernization: small market towns, farming villages, and a remote pastoralist settlement in the bush. The participants answered questions concerning their level of emotional affinity toward the natural environment and their lifestyle. The results show that feelings toward the natural environment in the studied population were, in general, positive. Such findings support the universality of the Biophilia hypothesis and are promising in the light of extant literature on the links between connectedness to nature and concern for the natural environment. Surprisingly we also found that a more traditional lifestyle was negatively related to emotional connectedness to nature. These findings suggest that contact with nature under conditions of direct dependence on the natural environment may have a different influence on people’s feelings toward nature than in the west. Contrary to the common view, we conclude that the impact of modernization on non-western people’s affective relationship with nature might have been unduly demonized.

Time Spent in Nature Is Associated with Increased Pro-Environmental Attitudes and Behaviors

“…A study in Kenya showed that economic dependency on surrounding natural environments diminished connectedness with nature and adult PEAB. Specifically, a more traditional lifestyle among the Meru people of Kenya was negatively associated with emotional connectedness to nature [ 103 ]. These findings suggest that nature contact under conditions of direct dependence on the natural environment may negatively influence individuals’ feelings toward nature.…”

Sensing, feeling, thinking: Relating to nature with the body, heart and mind

“…Although looking at a different but still related variable, a study on modernization and emotional connectedness to nature in Kenya found that more traditional lifestyles were negatively related to connectedness (Marczak & Sorokowski, 2018) Woodhouse et al, 2015), something which cannot be elicited through quantitative approaches (Gould et al, 2020). They also give a voice to the less powerful, which is important for more equitable landscape management.…”

Formal Citizen Science in the 5th Grade: Ineffective but Informative and Highly Influential

“…The contribution to both science and researchers in an era when the planet is in trouble (Paige et al, 2015) cannot in many cases be quantified. Due to the impact of humanity on biodiversity and the rapid changes taking place in our world (Marczak and Sorokowski, 2018), there is a growing demand for extensive scientific information. The data may help in examining the effect of people on biological diversity as well as animal and plant populations (Parsons et al 2018).…”