Book chapter
Outdoor and Environmental Education: Nature and Wellbeing
Encyclopedia of Teacher Education, pp.1169-1175
Springer Nature Singapore
27/08/2022
Appears in Recent Faculty of Health Publications
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Abstract
The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have for destruction. Rachel Carson
Nature Is Imperative for Human Wellbeing
Since the beginning of time, nature has been imperative for human wellbeing. Early humans knew this and lived in relation with nature, as part of nature, with no distinction or conception of nature as different or separate from humanity. Humans were nature and nature was us. While a predominantly Western tendency assumes humans as separate and outside of natural ecosystems, evidence indicates that early humans were interwoven with nature, coevolving with the other flora and fauna in a mutualistic manner. Mutualistic relationships, connecting all beings, including humans to natural elements, prompted the web of life theory that all life is one living system some call Gaia. The integration of these two conflicting concepts – separate and symbiotic – has led to humans having a complex and...
Details
- Title
- Outdoor and Environmental Education: Nature and Wellbeing
- Creators
- Denise MittenEric BrymerJohn QuayTonia GrayPeter Higgins
- Publication Details
- Encyclopedia of Teacher Education, pp.1169-1175
- Publisher
- Springer Nature Singapore; Singapore
- Identifiers
- 991013047113002368
- Copyright
- © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022
- Academic Unit
- Human Sciences; Faculty of Health
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Book chapter