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Below you will find an overview and resources pertaining to one of nine of the Evolved Nest's Components. Click below to return to the Evolved Nest's Components' Overview page to see the full list and to click on the other eight components' pages.
What to do:
• Take up suggestions from Richard Louv, such as in his book, Vitamin N. Select activities according to the interests and abilities of you and your child.
• Let your child wander around outside exploring the natural world.
• Go to local, state and national parks with your child and let them have as much freedom as possible.
• Talk about the rest of the natural world as part of your community.
• Learn about local animals and plants and what they need to thrive.
• Get involved in local outdoor family clubs.
Why?
One of the known causes for the planetary crises humanity is facing currently (e.g., global warming, climate instability, melting glaciers, toxic pollution, biodiversity loss) is the lack of caring for the rest of nature and the sense of separation from it (T. Berry, 1999; W. Berry, 2012). Our species is a creature of the earth and has evolved with the rest of the natural world, which preserves us.
You, your children, your family are invited to discover ways to connect with nature, renew your ecological attachment, and restore your living connection to the Earth.
Dr. Darcia Narvaez and her students did an experiment to increase ecological attachment—nature connection—through small daily practices. Each day participants practiced one activity that increased attention to and being grateful for the natural world. See here for the press release about the study, published in EcoPsychology.
Take up the Eco Attachment Dance to expand your own ecological attachment through an Instagram challenge. Each day for 28 days an activity will be posted for you to practice that day. Each activity takes about 5 minutes (though you can go longer).
If you would like to take the anonymous pretest (and later a posttest) you can see how your attitudes and behaviors change after participating in the Eco Attachment Dance.
Click here to follow the dance on Instagram.
VISIT THE ECO ATTACHMENT DANCE WEBSITE FOR MORE INFORMATION.
Discover the Evolved Nest articles on Kindred Media here.
Discover Darcia Narvaez's posts on Psychology Today here.
Darcia's Blogs on Indigenous Wisdom
Indigenous Psychologies from Around the World
Natives Foster Happy People Without Overthinking
Indigenous Psychologies from Around the World
Indigenous Psychologies Contrast With Western Psychology
Sustainable Wisdom: Indigenous Style
Wise Elders in the Circle of Life
Earth Home Economics: Rebecca Adamson and “Enoughness”
American Indians: The Misunderstood Heritage
10 Indigenous Holistic Healing Practices
Self-Actualize and Become a Wise Elder
Broken Eagle Wing: Mending Worldview
How Many Worldviews Are There? Is Only One Sustainable?
Our Ancestors Were Smart and Good
Darcia's Blogs on Nature
Overcoming Nature Deficit Disorder
The "Death of Birth" and Losing Nature
Daily Practices That Increase Nature Connection
Learn Again to Be an Earth Creature
Socially Distanced? Get Closer to Nature
Nature Heals, Restores, and Comforts
Analyses of Inaction Toward the Ecological Crisis
We Are in a Climate Emergency—How Can Psychology Help?
The “Death of Birth” and Losing Nature
Humans Defeat Nature—As Prescribed. Now What?
A Good Life: Embodied, Earth-Centric or Controlled, Detached
Changing the Human Psyche for Living Sustainably
Living Virtuously– With the Land
More Resources
Kindred's articles on Nature Connection
Kindred's articles on Indigenous Wisdom
Practitioner Guide to Assessing Connection to Nature Our goal in creating this guide is to provide practitioners, organizations, researchers, and others with a “one-stop shop” for measuring nature connections.
Eco Attachment Dance. Eco Attachment Dance is part of the Evolved Nest Initiative, a web resource to help individuals, families, and communities nest or re-nest themselves. Eco Attachment Dance aims to help human beings reengage their connection to the natural world.
We Love The Earth is a nature connection song written and performed here by Darcia Narvaez, PhD.
See the description below.
This song honoring plants is written and performed by Darcia Narvaez. It was included in Chapter 9 in her new book with Four Arrows, Restoring the Kinship Worldview: Indigenous Voices Introduce 28 Precepts for Rebalancing Life on Earth.
Many plant species are increasingly threatened with extinction. Humans often act mindlessly toward plants, as if they do not have feeling or purpose. Native American communities honored plants as life givers and teachers. They practiced the “honorable harvest,” a way to treat plants and animals with respect. This song describes what the honorable harvest looks like. Sing and play this song with one or more partners.
Bird species are undergoing rapid extinction rates due to human activities, like killing insects that they feed on. This song is a reminder that we love to see and hear birds. They need our mindful concern to help them thrive and prevent further extinction.
Insects are disappearing at a rapid rate with a mass extinction underway. In industrialized nations, we often treat insects as pests, not thinking about they fit into complex ecosystems that keep other animals, and ourselves, alive. When we use pesticides on one insect, it also kills other insects.
See description below.
Water is life-giving, life-supporting aspect of the world. The ancient Greek pre-Socratic philosopher, Thales (c. 624-546 BCE), suggested that all things come from water. We often forget how ubiquitous it is and how reliant we are on its purity. Many people in the world do not have regular access to clean water. This song is to remind us how much we interact with water in so many ways. Sing and dance this song with one or more partners.
Darcia Narvaez, PhD, presents the Nature Connection component of the Evolved Nest to her students at the University of Notre Dame.
Connecting to Nature: Indigenous Wisdom Meets Neurobiology; Darcia Narvaez & Four Arrows
Listen to the full Evolved Nest Podcast Series
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