Planet Earth is a pretty sweet spot to call home. More than any single building could ever hold, this great big green world has nurtured humankind’s earliest memories, our greatest leaps forward, and our most awkward/endearing moments…so yeah, most people have some deep feelings, spoken or not, about our shared casa.
Behold, scientific research that explores the touchy-feely relationship we all sometimes have with our natural home.
art and nature science + tips
hot art and nature science
- Visualizations: The Nature Book of Art and Science, Martin Kemp, University of California Press, 2001
- The Science of Art: Optical Themes in Western Art from Brunelleschi to Seurat, Martin Kemp, Yale University Press, 1992
- Taking the Pencil out of God’s Hand: Art, Nature, and the Face-Painting Debate in Early Modern England, Frances Dolan, PMLA, 1993
cool art and nature tips
- The Brushwood Center at Ryerson Woods is all about exploring the connection between art and nature
- The Field Museum’s Restoring Earth exhibit brings conservation science to life through art
- Nature in Art: Celebrating the Beauty of Art – and the Nature in it: This Nature Conservancy series is packed with goodies like nature-inspired books and a quiz about nature in film.
- Got kiddos? The National Wildlife Federation has fun ways to get arty in nature
benefits of nature science + tips
hot benefits of nature science
- “View Through a Window May Influence Recovery From Surgery,” Roger Ulrich, Science Magazine, 1984
- “Assessing Urban Forest Effects and Values, Chicago’s Urban Forest,” David Nowak, Robert Hoehn III, Daniel Crane, Jack Stevens, and Cherie Fisher, USDA Forest Service Research Bulletin, 2010
- “The Role of Arboriculture in a Healthy Social Ecology,” Frances Kuo, Journal of Arboriculture, 2003
cool benefits of nature tips
- Active Living Research, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation program working to prevent childhood obesity by examining how environments and policies influence children and families
- The Children’s Outdoor Bill of Rights, Chicago Wilderness’ Leave No Child Inside Initiative
- Outdoor meetup opportunities: Look for fun wintry activities like snowshoeing and cross country skiing
- “A Walk in the Woods,” John Lofy, Michigan Today, 2006
- 20 Ideas for Fun and Easy Activities for Kids and Parents [PDF], Chicago Wilderness
- Eco-Schools USA Student Resources, an age-based collection of activities and info for kids looking to green their schools
- Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder, Richard Louv, 2008
- The Sense of Wonder, Rachel Carson, 1998 (reprint)
- EcoMyth: Getting Outside Is Fun But Not Fundamental
caring for nature science + tips
hot caring for nature science
- Strategies for Promoting Proenvironmental Behavior: Lots of Tools But Few Instructions, Wesley Schultz, European Psychologist, 2014
- Psychology of Sustainable Development, Peter Schmuck, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2002
- Coping with Poverty: Impacts of Environment and Attention in the Inner City, Frances Kuo, Environment & Behavior, 2001
cool caring for nature tips
- The Center for Humans and Nature on caring myths
- Being in Relationship, with Nature, by Anja Claus
- Can Psychology Help Save the World?, by Susan Clayton
- An Etiquette of Sound, by Gavin Van Horn
- The Brushwood Center at Ryerson Woods
