Are we beyond laws of evolution?

WE AS a society are disconnecting from nature. This is a truism for the human species. But how disconnected are we from nature, from where we evolved? On the face of it, this sounds like a philosophical question. Still, if one gets to measure this, which tool to use? Miles Richardson, a professor engaged in nature connectedness studies at the School of Psychology, University of Derby, UK, has published a study that attempts to measure this widening connection between humans and nature. His finding says that human connection to nature has declined 60 per cent since 1800.

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Richardson used a model that simulated people’s interaction with the environment. “It’s built on the idea of the extinction of experience—the cycle where loss of nature leads to lower connection, which can then get passed on to the next generation,” he said. Richardson evaluated the connection in terms of nature-related words being used by us currently, and how it has been used over generations. He delved into cultures, as there were no surveys in the 1800s. He used the frequency of nature-related words like river and blossom in books as a proxy to sense the connectedness of people with nature. “When their use is plotted over time, a clear decline of around 60 per cent is revealed. Particularly from 1850, a time when industrialisation and urbanisation grew rapidly.” “It’s a story of urbanisation, intergenerational change, and the quiet erosion of everyday nature in our lives,” he said.