高清福利片

Parents and researchers have听听听city kids are disconnecting from nature due to technological distractions, indoor lifestyles and increased urban density. Limited access to nature during COVID-19 lockdowns has听听such fears.

In fact, 鈥溾�� has become a buzzword, driving concerns about听听and their ability to听听and听听the natural world.

Yet, there鈥檚 been surprisingly little investigation to directly test whether a disconnect exists between children and nature 鈥� and if it does, how this might affect their environmental behaviours. Our recent听, focused on Australian children in urban areas, sought to address this knowledge gap.

We found most younger children, especially girls, reported strong connections to nature and commitment to pro-environmental behaviours. But by their teenage years, many children have fallen out of love with nature. Understanding and reversing this trend is vital to tackling climate change, species loss and other grave environmental problems.

What we did

高清福利片 involved more than 1,000 students aged 8-14 years, attending 16 public schools across Sydney.

We measured the students鈥� connections to nature using a questionnaire which asked about their:

• enjoyment of nature
• empathy for creatures
• sense of oneness with nature
• sense of responsibility towards nature.

The survey also canvassed students鈥� current environmental behaviours, such as whether they recycled waste and conserved water and energy, as well as their willingness to:

• volunteer to help protect nature
• donate money to nature charities
• talk to friends and family about protecting nature.

What we found

Contrary to the conventional wisdom about nature-deficit disorder, we found one in two children aged 8 to 11 felt听听to nature, despite living in the city. However, only one in five teens reported strong nature connections.

Children in the younger age group were also more likely to engage in pro-environmental behaviours. For example, one in two were committed to saving water and energy on a daily basis, and two in three recycled each day.

Girls generally formed closer emotional connections to nature than boys did 鈥� a difference especially apparent in the final stage of primary school.

Importantly, girls differed from boys in their responses to questions about sensory stimulation. Girls particularly liked to see wildflowers, hear nature sounds and touch animals and plants. This finding echoes听听which found motivation for sensory pleasure is greater in women than men.

Girls also felt greater empathy for nonhuman animals than did boys, even after accounting for differences in sensory experience.

Children with strong nature connections were much more likely to demonstrate pro-environmental behaviours. This helps explain why girls were more willing than boys to volunteer for nature conservation.

What does all this mean?

These findings suggest parents, educators, and听听seeking to 鈥溾�� youth with nature should focus on the transition between childhood and the teenage years.

Adolescence is a period of great change. Children move from primary to high school, switching听听and struggling through听. They gain听听and must adapt to a听.

Relationships with nature easily fall by the wayside when teens听听other aspects of their busy lives. In fact, evidence of the听听in nature connection is emerging across听听.

Educators and parents hoping to engage girls with nature might give them activities focused on听.

Girls鈥� greater empathy for nonhuman animals may result from听听that听听girls to be more caring, cooperative, and听听than boys. Boys can be encouraged to have more empathy for nonhuman animals through听听focused on perspective-taking and role-playing.

Even when locked down at home, both girls and boys can cultivate empathy for animals and nourish their connections to nature by taking听听of their surroundings. Though cities can appear to be concrete jungles, they still contain urban wildlife, parks and other green elements.

Children are the future

Recent research has demonstrated that stronger nature connections are associated with听听in children.

The benefits of connecting to nature should be distributed among youth in a听听and听听way. That means working with groups听听in discussions about nature, such as ethnic minorities.

听is increasingly reliant on young citizens forming meaningful connections with urban nature. Many environmental leaders, such as Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, are听.

Ensuring urban children maintain nature connections through adolescence is crucial to tackling Earth鈥檚 serious environmental problems. But it will also require more young people to confront the difficult realisation that the world鈥檚 climate is听. For this, we need to develop better ways to help them听.

听

This article was first published on and was written by Professor Dieter Hochuli, Ryan Keith and John Martin from University of Sydney, and Professor Lisa M. Given from Swinburne University of Technology.