“Research has long assumed that people fundamentally feel positive emotions toward nature. We have examined the opposite, that is, when there is a negative relationship with nature, and gathered knowledge about how it arises, what consequences it has, and how it can be reversed,” says Johan Kjellberg Jensen, researcher at Lund University and lead author of the study.
The study, published in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, summarizes nearly 200 scientific articles from various research fields and is a systematic review. Research findings from around the world, including studies carried out in Sweden, Japan, and the US, have been compiled to provide a full picture of biophobia.
The researchers also see signs that our relationships with animals, plants, and nature more broadly, is deteriorating over time. According to Kjellberg Jensen, a lack of contact with nature and limited knowledge about nature can reinforce each other in a negative spiral.
According to Jensen, contact with nature has well-documented health benefits. For example, reducing stress and improving school performance in children. The study shows that negative emotions can cause people to miss out on nature’s health benefits and also contribute to attitudes and behaviors that run counter to conservation and sustainability efforts. This may include an aversion to species that are, in fact, harmless or even beneficial to have in our proximity.
New study challenges the idea of humans as innately nature-loving
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