TWH – A few years ago, I was in Philadelphia and stopped to ask a park ranger for directions from the Liberty Bell to Christ Church Burial Grounds. She gave me clear, precise instructions, but I wanted to be sure. Gesturing toward some trees, I asked, “Beyond the copse?” She froze for a moment and said, “I don’t see any police… oh! You mean trees! Are you from Gettysburg?” I nodded.
That small misunderstanding will make sense shortly.
New research published in the journal Earth confirms what many Pagans, naturalists, and environmentalists have been saying for decades: humanity’s connection to the natural world is fading dramatically. The study, led by Professor Miles Richardson of the University of Derby, estimates a 60% decline in “nature connectedness” over the past two centuries. Richardson calls this the “extinction of experience,” a gradual loss of direct, meaningful engagement with the living world around us.
The Copse of Trees – Gettysburg National Military Park – Gettysburg – Pennsylvania [Photo Credit: Adam Jones CCA-SA 3.0 Generic]
Before getting into the results, it’s worth looking at the study’s limitations, because they shape how we read its conclusions. The research used an agent-based model, essentially a computer simulation, to recreate the last 220 years of changes in human-nature relationships as mentioned in books, that is, the words used by the authors. The model is grounded in historical data on urban growth and environmental degradation, but it assumes a fixed trajectory. That means it’s very good at matching past patterns but less suited to exploring “what if” scenarios where a cultural renaissance in nature appreciation might change land-use decisions or conservation efforts.
The simulation also uses a simplified grid to represent the world, a neat abstraction that offers a straightforward method to organize the data but also misses the messy variations in how people access parks, rivers, or wild landscapes in different regions. To estimate historical levels of nature connection, the data tracked how often certain nature-related words appeared in books and cultural works — terms like “copse,” “beck,” “heath,” “bud,” “dew,” “mountain,” “meadow,” and “river.” The approach is vulnerable to literary trends and cultural fashions, but is also efficient.
Even with these caveats, the findings are striking. From 1800 to 2020, the model shows a 61.5% drop in nature connectedness, closely paralleling the transformation of the land from just 7.3% urban to more than 82% urbanized. The decline stems from two main forces: fewer opportunities for direct contact with nature, and — more significantly — a weakening chain of intergenerational transmission. In other words, when parents have less connection to nature themselves, they pass less of it on to their children, locking in a cycle of disconnection.
The research found that removing the “lifetime” feedback loop — the idea that personal experiences in adulthood affect connection — barely changed the overall decline. It’s what we inherit early in life, from family and community, that matters most in the long run.
The model may even understate the potential for recovery, as it doesn’t fully account for broad social forces like technological change, shifting cultural norms, or economic conditions. And it assumes that creating more green space will automatically get people into nature, sidestepping real-world barriers such as safety concerns, lack of time, or social attitudes.
View of Gettysburg National Monument showing Round Top [Photo Credit: S. Ciotti]
When Richardson extended his projections to 2125, the results weren’t especially cheerful. Even ambitious efforts like doubling or tripling green space, or campaigns to boost people’s attention to the natural world, don’t produce rapid turnarounds. The scenarios modeled increases in nature access of 50%, 100%, and 1000%. The model predicts three possible futures:
- Continued Decline, in which modest improvements still fail to halt the downward slide.
- Holding Steady, where the loss stops but meaningful recovery doesn’t begin.
- Transformative Change, which occurs only when major environmental restoration is paired with strong intergenerational programs that significantly raise children’s nature connectedness. In this best-case scenario, recovery becomes self-sustaining — but the real payoff doesn’t appear until decades after the interventions, well past 2050.
This means that reversing centuries of disconnection requires early, sustained, and systemic action. That includes embedding nature engagement into education, urban planning, and family life, and using the power of intergenerational influence as a driver for cultural renewal.
Richardson emphasizes that the scale of change needed might not be as daunting as it sounds, simply because current baselines are so low. “Nature connectedness is now accepted as a key root cause of the environmental crisis,” he told The Guardian. “It’s vitally important for our own mental health as well. It unites people and nature’s well-being. There’s a need for transformational change if we’re going to change society’s relationship with nature.”
On his blog, Finding Nature, Richardson explored one barrier to nature engagement that’s been rising since the COVID-19 pandemic: fear. Drawing on survey data, he found that fear of crime has increased by 27% since 2020, and fear of dogs has surged by more than 50%. In late 2023, over 13% of adults — more than seven million people — said fear of dogs affected their willingness to visit green spaces. That number dropped sharply after the 2024 UK ban on large muscled bull dogs, but appears to be climbing again.
“The trends show that while nature connection is falling, fear is increasing among a substantial proportion of people,” Richardson wrote on his blog. “People are less likely to find being in nature brings happiness if they fear visiting it. Green and natural spaces need to feel safer if the decline in nature connection is to be reversed. The more encouraging observation is that change can happen in response to measures taken. Fear can be reduced and nature connection can be higher when the environment facilitates it.”
Boosting a city’s biodiverse green space by 30% might seem like a bold win for both wildlife and residents, but Richardson’s study suggests it could take a tenfold increase to truly reverse declines in connection to nature.
Despite the sobering statistics, there is a glimmer of hope. Richardson was surprised to find that nature-related words in books have ticked upward in recent decades, suggesting that cultural attention to the natural world may be reviving. The steep decline in such language — from 60.6% between 1800 and 1990 — has eased to 52.4% today.
That’s where my Philadelphia anecdote comes in. The park ranger’s puzzled reaction to the word “copse” underscored how certain nature words — and the intimate knowledge they carry — have slipped from everyday use. This study suggests that such words are a cultural fingerprint of our relationship with the natural world, and Richardson’s research suggests that reviving such language may be one small way of rekindling our connection to the natural world.
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