The Nature Principle

Louv and his youngest son went hiking on Alaska’s Kodiak Island, a remote island that a volcanic eruption destroyed in 1964. While the eruption did kill the wildlife and cover the land with ash, out of the destruction came new life. While hiking here with his son, they came upon a bear, and they sang to alert the bear of their presence and to give the animal time to safely leave them alone. This hike woke Louv’s awareness to how nature heightens human senses. As we spend more time indoors and with computers, our senses become dull and our lives less rich.

While we may look at indigenous people and think that they have supernatural abilities, it is really that they are connected with nature and have fine-tuned their senses from being in nature. A study at UC Berkeley found that each nostril presents an image to the brain, and if humans practice, they can develop olfactory tracking abilities that equal those of other mammals.

Our current lifestyles are not conducive to cultivating our senses, and some believe that there are anywhere from 10 to 30 senses, not just five. These other senses, for example, may be thirst, joint position, proprioception, echolocation, and intuition. Intuition is the “sixth-sense” and is “the sum of all the other senses put together, combined with everyday nature-knowledge” (15). There are many examples of groups of people and animals that have heightened one sense due to necessity or exposure. For example, marines who had a background in hunting or lived in dangerous urban neighborhoods were more likely to have intuitive knowledge of bombs and dangerous areas while in war zones. This is likely because they have experience using multiple senses to build up their environment.

Love ponders whether there is a spirit sense, which is used to “position our body and spirit in the universe and in time” (18). He adds that this spiritual connection may be why humans tend to describe their natural experiences using religious language. Returning to his hike in Alaska, Louv introduces the Humility Sense, which is a respectful awareness of natural humility, or an awe of the natural world. 

It’s difficult to maintain focus in our digital age of distraction. Studies show that workers and families are more distracted, less productive, and less communicative than they used to be. Balance is difficult to achieve, but nature helps find it.

Children benefit from nature and forest schools that include all or most of the time exploring outdoors. Time in nature, and away from electronic distraction, increases focus and sharpness: “Our society seems to look everywhere but the natural domain for the enhancement of intelligence” (26). Meanwhile, college campuses are seeing staggering numbers of students taking stimulant drugs to increase mental performance. The first research on the link between nature and mental focus occurred in the 1970s and showed that nature decreased mental fatigue and restored attention. Kaplan and DeYoung labeled this theory directed-attention fatigue. An hour of walking can improve your memory performance by 20%. While most of the research on nature and attention-deficit disorder is on younger populations, there is evidence to show that adults also benefit from nature.

Thoreau and Einstein both used nature walks to spur creativity and breakthroughs in writing and research. Louv posits that time spent in nature restores and stimulates the brain neurons which stimulates and increases creativity.

Some researchers believe that technology in early childhood can inhibit the development of the frontal lobe, and others believe that teenagers can become proficient in technology without stunting the development of other neurons. Louv suggests a third possibility, a hybrid mind that can process technology and the natural environments simultaneously. This leads to an understanding that a balance of technology and nature is the best way to cultivate a productive society.