The concept of human nature-connection is becoming increasingly important as researchers try to understand how individuals' choices and behaviours affect biodiversity. The current study examines garden owners' emotional connection to nature, their knowledge and their way of working in the garden. The researchers show that it is precisely the experiential part of the relationship with nature – the feeling of belonging in nature and the confidence in tending to a garden – that plays a decisive role in what actions are taken. This experience-based relationship with nature in turn affects how well the garden benefits pollinators.
Anna Persson, a researcher at the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Lund University, believes that it is not our opinions about nature that make the biggest difference, but our concrete experiences and our feelings about nature.
'We can read about how nature works or have thoughts about how we should take care of it, but in order for us to act, we need to experience it. Reason alone is not enough,' says Anna Persson.
There is a good chance that someone who has a good relationship with nature will have developed feelings of care toward their garden and choose work in the garden even if it happens to be raining. Or that they have learned to distinguish weeds from sprouting garden plants in the soil. These everyday points of contact with nature can ultimately create gardens with richer biodiversity where pollinators thrive.
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The full article is available at the following link: Our feelings towards nature influence how we support pollinators in our gardens | Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
