Human-nature Relationship Research Articles

The Law's Critical Role in Developing Human-Environment Relationships after COVID-19 Pandemic (A Study of Ecofeminism)

The relationship between humans and the environment has managed to evolve throughout history. This relationship can be seen in both how people interact with nature and in the environmental laws they pass. These two things demonstrate how humans rule the environment. The COVID-19 pandemic has become one of the catalysts for rethinking the human-nature relationship and the impact of human dominance on the environment. Ecofeminism has emerged as a viable theory for combating this dominance. The historical development of environmental law as well as ecofeminism studies on the significance of environmental law will be examined in this study. This research is historically and philosophically oriented normative and qualitative jurisprudential research. The findings show that environmental law has developed over time in three distinct periods: traditional, modern, and post-modern. Three laws have been used to address environmental issues throughout Indonesia's history of environmental law development. Despite government efforts to uphold the framework of environmental law based on the idea of anthropocentrism, there are global environmental problems. The study of Ecofeminism and the urgent need for environmental laws that emphasize balance and combat human dominance of the environment must be built upon after the COVID-19 Pandemic. According to Ecofeminism, every legislature must establish this human-environmental relationship in order to end human dominance that endangers the environment.

Recreational land use contributes to the loss of marine biodiversity

Abstract Coastal areas are at the centre of human–nature relationship, shaped by recreation, tourism and aesthetic values. However, socioeconomic drivers of biodiversity change in coastal areas have received less attention. Soft sediment seafloors support diverse species communities and contribute to ecosystem functionality. One of the main threats is dredging, which sweeps resident organisms. Dredgings are commonly done to deepen waterways, but also for the purposes of private housing. The ecological impacts of these small‐sized dredgings are not well known over broad environmental and geographical gradients. We developed a simple approach for spatial integration of ecological and socioeconomic system, to describe how recreational land use change contributes to the loss of marine biodiversity. It shows how human behaviour, such as preference for a location of second home, can be derived from spatial data and coupled with ecological change. We characterize typical locations of second homes based on accessibility, aesthetics and environment, and with the information identified suitable areas for new second homes. We also quantified typical areas of dredging, based on the depth and substrate of the sea floor, and the extent of the reed beds, influencing the access to properties. We then simulate an annual increase of new second homes and expected land‐use change, namely dredging of shores. Finally, we quantified the realized and projected loss of marine biodiversity from dredged sites, based on species distribution models, relying on extensive ecological data collected from over 170,000 underwater sites. We found that small‐sized dredging can be detrimental to coastal biodiversity, as dredging targets shallow, photic bays and lagoons, with diverse algal and aquatic plant communities, with limited recovery potential. Dredgings also had broad impacts on benthic faunal habitats, which maintain ecosystem processes and functions. Our results reveal a significant ecological change driven by recreational land use. Reversing the trend of biodiversity loss requires a holistic understanding of socioecological systems. Our results highlight the need for integrating land–sea interactions into conservation policies and reforming current land‐use regulation for the benefit of marine biodiversity. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Pride and guilt as place-based affective antecedents to pro-environmental behavior.

The interrelated concepts of place attachment and place meaning are antecedents to pro-environmental behavior and essential for supporting decisions that foster relationships between people and places. Previous research has argued that affect is instrumental in conceptualizing place-related phenomena but has not yet been considered in terms of discrete emotions. We disentangled the empirical relationships between concepts of place and the emotions of pride and guilt to understand how they collectively contributed to individuals' decisions about environmental sustainability. Specifically, we conducted an online survey of residents living in the Midwestern US and asked questions about their attachments to places and their place-related behavior. We then tested a latent variable path model with first- and second-order factors that shaped the behavioral intentions of survey respondents, as well as evaluated the psychometric properties of a place meaning scale, to uncover the range of reasons why human-nature relationships were formed. Our findings show that multiple place meanings predicted place attachment, which in turn predicted the discrete emotions of pride and guilt. Place attachment, pride, and guilt positively correlated with pro-environmental behavior. We also observed that the relationships between multi-dimensional conceptualizations of place attachment and behavioral intentions were partially mediated by pride but not guilt, as hypothesized in response to the broaden and build theory of positive emotions. This study develops theoretical insights to clarify how cognitive-emotional bonding can lead people to behave in more environmentally friendly ways.

Editorial: Shaping healthier cities—Ecosystem services and health for responsive human–nature relations

Editorial: Shaping healthier cities—Ecosystem services and health for responsive human–nature relations

Spatiotemporal non-stationarity in green space and stress relationships: Recent evidence from South Korea

A growing body of literature has linked exposure to “green space” (vegetation-rich areas) and other forms of nature to mental health. Exposure-outcome associations at regional or national scales can overlook local associations that define how geographically distinct populations may experience nature differently. Large-scale results might downplay the importance of lived experiences and heterogeneity of human-nature relationships at local scales. The current study examines three types of vegetative cover and identifies how they are associated with perceived stress in South Korea during and before the COVID-19 pandemic. We find forest cover is consistently negatively associated with perceived stress at nationwide scales. In contrast, grass cover and the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) show mixed associations with perceived stress at nationwide scales. Models accounting for spatial and temporal variability demonstrate that associations of forest cover, grass cover, and NDVI with perceived stress varies across the country and the study's four-year time horizon. Local governments may need divergent urban greening strategies for health promotion that respond to their specific sociodemographic and pre-existing environmental conditions.

ԱՎԱՏԱԿԱՆ ԿԵՆՍԱԿԵՐՊԻ ԿԱԶՄԱԼՈՒԾՄԱՆ ՊԱՀՊԱՆՈՂԱԿԱՆ ԱՐՁԱԳԱՆՔԸ Պերճ Պռոշյանի «Սոս և Վարդիթեր» և «Հացի խնդիր» վեպերում

If, thanks to the enlightenment movement, traditional thinking, the values that organize patriarchal life, the nature of human relations and the emotional manifestations of psychology have radically changed, then conservative culture had a completely traditional epistemological context. Enlightenment attitude formed in the minds of a new structure of perception of time, revived the order of the future, making it the main focus of activity. In the context of this worldview, history has already been perceived in the past, present and future dimensions of time. Meanwhile, conservatives envisioned the future as a sprawling present. And traditionalists perceived defamation as damage to morality and the traditional way of life. All the ideological content and emotional depth of Proshyan's works is an artistic expression of this historical process. It is characterized as a unique defensive cultural confrontation with artistic potential, character building, and a historically unique storytelling typology.

Reception of the Christian Tradition in the Works of Marina Paley’s Prose

The author argues that Marina Paley, being an intellectual writer, tries to find out genre form for proper representation of her worldview and aesthetic values. Consequently Paley pays attention to the Christian literary tradition The purpose of writing the article was to study the writer’s embodiment of the author’s consciousness in the genre forms of the Yuletide/Christmas story (“An Enclave for two”) and parable (parable novel “Choir”). The objective of the article is to analyze the embodiment of the writer’s consciousness in the genre forms of the Yuletide/Christmas story and parable. The article reviews the characteristics and peculiarities of modern Yuletide/ Christmas story. Many contemporary Russian writers use this genre form to criticize the immorality and lack of spirituality of society. Marina Paley also interprets the motive of the miracle in her own way. The miracle is the result of personal efforts. However, there is no spiritual rebirth or revelation with the character, she remains true to her conviction. Th us, Christmas time also acts as a test of a person’s character. The Christmas motifs are also can be found in the play “The Immersion” that shows a sharply critical view of the social structure. In contrast to the story “An Enclave for Two”, the eff orts of the characters do not bring results, the Christmas miracle does not happen, and the Yuletide and Christmas elements in this play emphasize only the absurdity of the soulless reality. The interpretation of the parable genre allows the author, without descending to a moralizing text with an action guide, to create a work that encourages an analytical look at the nature of human relationships and Divine Providence. Keywords: Marina Paley, literary tradition, parable, Christmas story, Yuletide story, tragicomedy buff.

Value Pluralism in Practice: Integrating IPBES to Refine Ecosystem Services Assessments in South Africa

As global biodiversity loss continues to increase, effective valuation of natural capital is a prerequisite for effective environmental planning decisions. The introduction of Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) in 2005 brought the concept of ecosystem services into the limelight. After that, The Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) mirrors the MA's original use of the term ecosystem services and goes further by openly embracing concepts from multiple worldviews on human-nature relationships and knowledge systems. The emergence of the latter promises to provide new and improved suggestions for existing assessment methods in many countries around the world. One such example is Natural Capital Accounting (NCA) in South Africa. By summarizing the current assessment methodology of the NCA in South Africa, this paper summarizes the current limitations of the NCA and suggests that the integration of the IPBES method into the NCA can effectively solve the above problems. The paper also analyses the first national form of IPBES organization, the Brazilian BPBES, to illustrate the need to tailor IPBES selectively to the specific problems of the country to achieve the best results. This paper is an attempt to optimize the methodology of the South African national-level ecosystem services assessment and an exploration of the application of IPBES, a conceptual framework linking nature and people.

MOTYW DEFORESTACJI W LITERATURZE DRUGIEJ POŁOWY XIX WIEKU

This article is devoted to the theme of deforestation in the prose of the positivists and modernists, meaning images of deforestation appearing in ‘Placówka’ by Bolesław Prus, ‘Dęby’ (1902) by Adolf Dygasiński, ‘Kopeć’ (1912) by Ignacy Grabowski, ‘Echa leśne’ (1905) by Stefan Żeromski, ‘W porębie’ (1900) by Władysław Stanisław Reymont and ‘Nasz las i jego mieszkańcy’ (1898) by Bohdan Dyakowski, paying attention to the ethical component about caring for native forests. Writers record images of degraded ecosystems, also emphasizing the problem of the loss of biodiversity in the world of flora. When showing the destruction of a forest, writers often use anthropomorphization, giving the trees a voice in the narrative (e.g. Prus, Dygasiński, Grabowski, Reymont). Often in these works there are comparisons of cut down trees to human bodies, and the dominant color of red (in Grabowski and Reymont) brings to mind associations with blood and innocent suffering. In many of the discussed texts, trees are identified with the sacred sphere, they are a link between the past and the present (e.g. in Żeromski, Dygasiński, Dyakowski’s writings). Forests are synonymous with the homeland, and their annihilation grows into an unspecified catastrophe. The pro-ecological awareness related to the care for the protection of the Polish tree stand is associated with the figure of the narrator, who is its guardian, and it is revealed in anthropomorphization and hyperbolization. It is also worth noting that in the works of Prus and Grabowski, the contemporary perspective of relational thinking on the relationship between the plant, animal and human worlds is visible, particularly in the work of B. Dyakowski, in which the author changes the perspective of description; previously he was only interested in the non-human world (both macro and micro), but here he focuses on the human-nature relationship. They both emphasize that with the massive felling of trees, many species of animals irretrievably lose their place for further existence. It is no coincidence that ominous silence is emphasized in many works, aimed at exposing the tragedy of the degraded ecosystem.

Human-nature relations in Turkish ethno-myphological thought

Human-nature relations in Turkish ethno-myphological thought

The role of regular engagement with non-companion animals and proximity to green and blue space for mental health, wellbeing, and loneliness during Covid-19 social-distancing measures: findings from a UK survey study

Context The Covid-19 pandemic led to increased use of green/blue space as indoor spaces became frequently inaccessible. These changes affected the direct interactions between humans and nature. Aims To investigate the links between mental health, loneliness, wellbeing, and interaction with non-companion animals, proximity to and use of green/blue space. Methods A cross-sectional online survey of adult UK residents was conducted between April and June 2020. The questionnaire included validated and bespoke items measuring demographics and exposures and outcomes related to mental health, wellbeing, loneliness, human–animal interactions with non-companion animals (wildlife/farm animals), and proximity to and use of green/blue space before and since the first UK Covid-19 lockdown. Key results Of 5926 participants, 4408 (74.4%) reported interacting with non-companion animals at least every other day. Frequent engagement with non-companion animals was significantly associated with smaller decreases in mental health scores (b = 0.131, 95% CI [0.007–0.256], P = 0.038) and smaller increases in loneliness scores (b = −0.135, 95% CI [−0.241–0.030], P = 0.012). Just under half (48.4%, n = 2867) reported living directly next to a green/blue space, and over half (52.3%; n = 3097) reported using such space at least every day since lockdown. Regular use of green/blue space since lockdown was significantly associated with higher mental health (b = 0.154, 95% CI [0.037–0.272], P = 0.010), lower loneliness (b = −0.334, 95% CI [−0.430 – −0.238], P = 0.001), and higher wellbeing (b = 0.810, 95% CI [0.572–1.047], P = 0.001). Closer proximity to such space was significantly associated with lower loneliness scores (b = −0.224, 95% CI [−0.319 – −0.130], P = 0.001), and higher wellbeing scores (b = 0.632, 95% CI [0.391–0.873], P = 0.001). Conclusion The multi-faceted human–nature relationship may promote key human health benefits in the context of the lockdown. Implications These findings have highlighted the importance of green/blue space and the human–animal relationship, and how they might play a critical role in maintaining people’s mental health within a pandemic context. Further targeted investigations relating to these areas and links with human health are important within both pandemic and non-pandemic contexts.

Living artefacts for regenerative ecologies

Abstract Introduced in 2020, the notion of living artefacts encompasses biodesign outcomes that maintain the vitality of organisms such as fungi, algae, bacteria, and plants in the use of everyday artefacts, enabling new functions, interactions, and expressions within our daily lives. This paper situates living artefacts at the intersection of the sustainability discourse and more-than-human ontologies, illuminating the unprecedented opportunities that living artefacts present for regenerative ecologies. These ecologies are characterized by a fundamental inclination toward mutualism, creativity, and coevolution. In regenerative ecologies, the human-nature relationship transcends the binary distinction and it manifests as a single autopoietic system in which the constituent members collaboratively engage in the creation, transformation, and evolution of shared habitats. The paper outlines five pillars, supplemented by guiding questions and two illustrative cases, to aid designers in unlocking, articulating, and critically evaluating the potential of living artefacts for regenerative ecologies.

Hope, Pessimism, and the Shape of a Just Climate Future

AbstractThe urgency of climate change has never been greater, nor the moral case for responding to it more compelling. This review essay critically compares Darrel Moellendorf's Mobilizing Hope and Catriona McKinnon's Climate Change and Political Theory. Moellendorf's book defends the moral importance of poverty alleviation through sustainable economic growth and argues for a mass climate movement based on the promise of a more prosperous future. By contrast, McKinnon provides a political vocabulary to articulate the many faces of climate injustice, and to critically examine proposed policy solutions—notably including the indefinite pursuit of economic growth. While both find reasons to be hopeful, their wide-ranging accounts reflect different visions of what a just and sustainable future might look like. They reflect different understandings of sustainable development and the significance of environmental values; the scope of permissible climate activism; and the ethics of geoengineering. Building upon them, I argue in favor of a more pluralistic vision of a just climate future, one that is capable of speaking to the range of moral interests bearing upon the climate and biodiversity crises, and that supports sustainable development that is inclusive of diverse human-nature relationships.

Prácticas espirituales: ritual, armonización y círculos de la palabra, una propuesta curricular desde la educación propia

For indigenous communities, one of the pillars of their own education is spirituality, understood as the harmonious human-nature relationship that is currently fractured and oriented towards only religious or only indigenous tendencies, ignoring its true inclusive, non-discriminatory value. Consequently, it is necessary to understand the configured meanings of spiritual practices: ritual, harmonization and circles of the word, to reconfigure the curricular frameworks of educational institutions. This qualitative research reflects on the importance of articulating spirituality to the teaching and learning process, and its main objectives are to characterize, identify and reconfigure spiritual practices as a proposal for self-education with a participatory action research (PAR) approach. It is contrasted with authors and the voices of the researcher and those investigated; where this category emerges: “the warp of spirituality, weaving education.” It is concluded that spirituality advocates all life processes and must be managed transversally in educational and curricular terms.

Applying PMP Discourse on the Forestry in Taiwan: The Position of Forest in Taiwan between 'Human-Nature Relationship Development' and 'Policy Localization Perspective' from the Academic Territorology and Administrative Management Concepts

Applying PMP Discourse on the Forestry in Taiwan: The Position of Forest in Taiwan between 'Human-Nature Relationship Development' and 'Policy Localization Perspective' from the Academic Territorology and Administrative Management Concepts

Of Mammoths and Megalomaniacs

In this article, two ways of thinking about the potential disruptiveness of de-extinction and gene drives for conservation are presented. The first way of thinking zooms in on particular technologies and assesses the disruptiveness of their potential implications. This approach is exemplified by a framework proposed by Hopster (2021) that is used to conduct our assessment. The second way of thinking turns the logic of the first around. Here, the question is how gene drives and de-extinction fit into a wider and partly pre-existing context of disruption of human-nature relations. By only zooming in on a particular technology and its potential implications, the context out of which the technology is born is unavoidably disregarded. Gene drives and de-extinction are catalysts of a wider disruption already underway. And it is precisely because this disruption is already underway that the terrain is opened for the development and application of these technologies. In other words, the disruptiveness of these technologies strengthens the disruptiveness that was already underway and vice versa. It is argued that the two ways of thinking about emerging technologies in conservation need to go together, meaning in technology assessment both perspectives need to be included.

Verweise auf das Naturrecht in den Quellen des spätfeudalen ungarischen Privatrechts

The aim of this revised text, presented as a lecture, is to answer the question, based on some known sources of early modern Hungarian private law, of the role that they assigned to references to natural law, natural equity and human nature in relation to certain private law institutions and rules. Based on the available sources, we have examined the significance of natural law arguments and ideas in early modern Hungary in two ways. On the one hand, as a preliminary question, we attempted to assess how the authors of early modern Hungarian legal literature approached the phenomenon of natural law. On the other hand, we looked for examples of the extent to which natural law has been used in the interpretation of legislation or possibly customary law, or as a secondary source of law in the case of shortcomings in the Hungarian legal system.

Attitudes of wildlife park visitors towards returning wildlife species: An analysis of patterns and correlates

Understanding which variables mediate people's attitudes towards wildlife species is fundamental for improving human-wildlife coexistence in increasingly human-dominated landscapes. Based on questionnaire responses (a total of n = 589 responses, of which n = 459 were complete and used for statistical analysis), we investigated the attitudes of visitors to two wildlife parks located in different states of Germany towards three returning wildlife species: European bison (Bison bonasus), moose (Alces alces) and grey wolf (Canis lupus). We used a principal component analysis (PCA) and summarized responses to 13 questions pertaining to attitudes towards each species. Using the loadings of the first dimension of each species-specific PCA as the response variable, we fitted generalized linear models to assess how sociodemographic background and formal knowledge influenced people's attitudes. Our comparative, multi-species approach revealed the presence of both species-specific and universal factors influencing attitudes towards wildlife species. Respondents' gender, exposure, and negative experiences with a target species all had varying effects across species-specific models. Effects of age, residential context, and knowledge of wildlife were relatively consistent for all three species. Older visitors (≥60 years of age) had more negative attitudes compared to other age groups; positive attitudes were more prevalent in respondents residing in urban areas while negative attitudes were linked to people residing in rural areas, and higher knowledge of wildlife species was associated with more positive attitudes. While all species-specific models explained relatively small amounts of the observed variation in people's attitudes to these iconic wildlife species, our findings provide quantitative evidence that enhancing people's knowledge about wildlife could be a key strategy for improving attitudes towards wildlife. Hence, environmental education programs and outreach activities are likely a crucial first step towards creating awareness, ultimately contributing to more sustainable human-nature relationships.

Ecosystem services assessment from capacity to flow: A review

Ecosystem services are the basis for human survival and development and act as a bridge between nature and society. In recent years, ecosystem service flows have become the focus and primary challenge of ecosystem service research, with development in research efforts toward quantification and spatialization. This review explains the necessity of ecosystem service flows, discusses the progress of research in this area over the last decade, and compares the theoretical and representative research approaches from two conceptual perspectives on ecosystem service flows. One of these approaches focuses on processes, treating ecosystem service flows as the spatiotemporal association between ecological service provision areas and service benefit areas, and the other emphasizes final utility, considering ecosystem service flows as the actual supply of ecosystem services to beneficiaries in different areas. On this basis, the research gaps in theoretical principles, assessment methods, and applications are summarized, and future research perspectives on ecosystem service flows are proposed, with a focus on optimizing ecosystem service benefits and promoting cooperative development of systemic human–nature relationships.

Ecosystem Services in Canadian City Planning

Sustainability plans offer insights into cities’ efforts to integrate sustainability but little on Ecosystem Services (ES) in sustainability and climate change planning. Integrating the Ecosystem Services Approach (ESA) in planning can help decision-makers understand the trade-offs between development scenarios and the human-nature relationship. This study surveyed Canada’s largest cities where threats to ES due to urbanization is the greatest. The survey explored the ES concept, frameworks, methods, applications in climate change planning and ES governance. It found that most cities recognize ES but had limited knowledge of ES frameworks and had challenges in ES valuation and mapping. The ESA was most promising in climate change planning to support climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction. The governance of ES appears to be partly responsible for its low and inconsistent uptake in planning. This study therefore recommends five policy and planning opportunities to help build climate resilient and sustainable cities.