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Guest Essay

School Is for Connecting to Nature

By Nicolette Sowder

Ms. Sowder is the creator of Wildschooling.

Throughout the first five years of my older daughter’s life, I watched her dance through the clover, climb trees, puddle jump and play her way through the day. As she stood on the threshold to kindergarten, I pictured her stuck inside at a desk, cut off from her relationship to the wild, and my stomach sank. I believe that school is for nurturing children’s innate talents and helping them figure out where those gifts, necessarily diverse, fit in the whole. The school system, by contrast, tends to produce a monoculture. Despite the heroic efforts of many thoughtful, caring teachers, public school mostly prepares children to be obedient workers and fails millions of students who don’t fit the mold.

So I developed a method called Wildschooling, a form of home-schooling that celebrates an interconnected, relational view of nature, which I now practice with my two daughters and two nieces on our farm near Cedar Springs, Mich. We’re hardly the first people to approach education this way; numerous earth-centered cultures, such as the Anishinabe of our region, and Richard Louv, the author of “ Last Child in the Woods ,” are just a few important influences.

Wildschooling looks different for each family. If you browse the Facebook group I started six years ago, 90,000 members strong now, there are single parents and city dwellers practicing it all over the world. And while it’s a privilege to undertake any form of home-schooling, Wildschooling does not require a rural setting or big backyard. As long as you’ve got a tree on your block or a community garden nearby, you can Wildschool.

For us, a typical day begins by going outside and getting some sunshine on our faces. Then we orient ourselves to where we are in the moon cycle and the solar calendar. This helps us stay anchored and know where we are in the big picture. While most children are going back to school right now, we’ve been in session since the winter solstice. As the days grow longer, so does our knowledge. Once we pass the summer solstice and the light begins to fade, we start reviewing our lessons.

Sometimes, people assume that Wildschooling means there are no lessons or that it means letting your children run aimlessly through the woods. My girls do plenty of running around — usually after lunch for about two hours — but in the mornings, we do a standard math curriculum and practice our music. Right now we are learning to sing and to play piano and violin. Violin is taught by a fellow home-schooler who is 13.

After math and music, we do our farm chores, like gathering eggs and harvesting the never-ending supply of zucchini from the garden. We recently had to build a new chicken coop, which became a lesson on how to use graph paper to draft something to scale. Once you start approaching learning this way, you realize life is the curriculum. If we need to write a letter to someone, for example, we’ll learn how to write a letter. If the frogs are singing, we’ll learn about frogs.

When children start Wildschooling, I’ve noticed that their sense of themselves transforms. They begin to see themselves as the individuals they are — radically themselves and essential to the whole. They see that nature is lopsided, that nature has specialties. It’s a very different situation from sitting in a classroom and comparing yourself with other humans.

And while it may seem unusual, at first, to design school around nature, research attests to the benefits: Nature-based learning leads to academic, cognitive, psychological and social gains, even when factors like class are controlled for. Interestingly, the mechanism at play is not entirely understood, although some researchers have postulated that nature-relatedness, or connection to nature, may be a basic human need .

At the same time, we’re only just beginning to understand the downsides of traditional schooling. This year, a major study following nearly 3,000 low-income children in Tennessee found that students who had gone to pre-K scored worse in third grade than those who had not. By the end of sixth grade, as NPR reported , the students who had gone to pre-K “had lower test scores, were more likely to be in special education and were more likely to get into trouble in school, including serious trouble like suspensions.”

How can this be? According to Dale Farran, one of the lead researchers, children in formal pre-K, who may be required to line up to go to the bathroom or walk silently through the halls, are possibly developing an “allergic reaction” to control, which could explain the discipline problems seen later in life. By contrast, Dr. Farran noted, wealthier families tend to pick play-based preschool programs that emphasize creativity, movement and nature.

In a healthy society, all children should have access to this kind of education. When I watch how active my kids are, my heart hurts to think of how little they would be able to move if they were in school. Or how quiet they would have to be. My 10-year-old daughter, in particular, loves to sing. She sings in the morning, she sings in the afternoon, she sings at night. She loves to memorize songs and is even beginning to write them. It’s spontaneous; it makes her who she is. If she were in school, she would have to consciously repress this part of herself.

Back when my husband and I bought our farm, we thought we were going to heal the land by applying the principles of regenerative agriculture. But every time my children get upset and we walk out to their favorite tree to calm down, I realize the land is healing us more than we are healing it. My girls can learn math, and they can learn violin. But nothing will ever matter more than their being able to take responsibility for their lives and feeling as if they are part of something bigger than themselves.

Nicolette Sowder is the creator of Wildschooling.

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Nurturing nature in schools for enhanced learning

New research shows that engagement with nature can help enhance attention and memory in school children which are critical for learning

By Dianne Vella-Brodrick and Krystyna Gilowska, University of Melbourne

The fast pace of modern urban living can be mentally and physically draining. Add the strains of a pandemic, and these challenges can multiply.

Imagine being a school student and having to focus on learning and studying during this time. Being an attentive student can be difficult at the best times let alone with the backdrop of so much global unrest and concern about health and safety.

Then let’s not forget the added pressure of online learning.

In the 2021 Mission Australia report of more than 20,000 young people, mental health, academic ability and COVID-19 were reported by young people as key barriers to achieving their study or work goals.

Other issues of general concern included COVID-19 and the environment. The bottom line is that young people care about their future and the environment and are having to overcome many more barriers to ensure their education is not compromised.

Taking positive psychology into the classroom

But how well equipped and supported are they to face these challenges?

It’s now more important than ever for students to find ways to manage their responses to these concerns so that they can maintain healthy functioning, including at school.

And research is exploring the role that nature can play in providing students with some mental respite.

Nature has been found to have restorative properties that can enhance wellbeing and mental health , including cognitive functioning . This has led to growing interest in understanding the extent to which exposure to nature can influence learning, particularly in school students.

It would seem, however, that in stark contrast young people are choosing to spend much of their leisure time immersing themselves in technology and reducing their time in nature . This means that finding ways for young people to connect with nature during school time may be important.

The role that schools can play to expose students to nature becomes even more relevant if nature can be shown to improve learning.

Our recently published work in Educational Psychology Review sets out to explore the nature-cognition link with school children aged five to 18 years.

We conducted a systematic review, including 12 experimental studies, all with comparison groups like non-green classrooms or built outdoor spaces, to better understand the types of nature intervention and how effective these are in improving attention and memory which can aid learning.

Victorian kids' mental health hit hardest during 2020

Nature interventions included park walks, greening up indoor areas with plants or green walls, playing in outdoor green areas of the school as well as gardening. In some instances, nature played a passive, background role where students could view it from a classroom window.

In other instances, nature was the primary focus and students actively interacted with it, for example, gardening as part of science classes. The duration of the nature exposure also varied from less than an hour to several months.

Our review found strong support for nature interventions improving attention and working memory.

For example, time in nature improved concentration, processing speed and knowledge retention. The results were similar for both the passive and active nature interventions as well as for the shorter or longer duration interventions.

What this means is that nature exposure can help to enhance processes like attention and memory, which are critical for learning.

Many teachers will tell you that keeping students focused and engaged with learning can be challenging, so creating opportunities for students to spend time in or view nature can be an effective way to improve the attention of school children and improve working memory as well.

There are multiple associations with this positive nature-cognition relationship . Nature can lift our mood and wellbeing, helping students to become more willing and open to learning.

How technology is boosting our young people's wellbeing

Nature can also restore cognitive functioning, permitting a fresh mindset for learning as well as reducing stress levels and physiological arousal, allowing more focused learning.

Schools are ideally placed to enable students to experience ‘green’ educational settings as students spend a large portion of their time at school. Irrespective of whether the school environment is naturally green, schools can still create their own nature zones with limited resources.

Examples include building green walls or herb gardens and growing plants in classrooms. The effort will be well worth it as time in nature can enhance learning goals.

Our review is pointing to the likelihood that engaging with nature at school will relieve cognitive overload and stress as well as optimise wellbeing and learning.

The study included intervention studies with comparison groups, enabling us to conclude that exposure to nature does lead to improved attention and memory for school children in most of the studies we reviewed.

While more research in this field is encouraged, it’s safe to say that school planners, school leaders, teachers and young people need to collaborate to strategically design the school curriculum and student experience so that it includes more nature exposure for students.

No doubt this will provide welcome relief for students who are struggling to cope with all the learning demands of school and technology. But it can also provide an outlet for students to express their care for and interest in protecting our natural environment.

Banner: Getty Images

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• School Education /

Essay on Nature: In 100 Words, 200 Words, 300 Words

• Updated on  
• Oct 13, 2023

Nature is the intricate web of life that surrounds us, encompassing everything from the air we breathe to the majestic landscapes we admire. It includes the delicate balance of ecosystems, the diversity of flora and fauna, and the natural resources that sustain all living beings on Earth. Exploring the beauty and significance of nature is not only a pleasurable endeavour but also a crucial one, as it reminds us of our responsibility to protect and preserve our environment.

This Blog Includes:

Tips to write the best essay, essay on nature in 100 words, essay on nature in 200 words, essay on nature in 300 words.

Here are some tips to craft an exceptional essay:

• Understand the Topic: Grasp the essence of the topic and its different aspects before you start writing.
• Structure: Organize your essay coherently, with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion.
• Thesis Statement: Formulate a strong thesis statement that summarizes the main point you want to convey.
• Use Vivid Language: Employ descriptive language to bring the beauty of nature to life for your readers.
• Supporting Evidence: Back up your points with facts, statistics, and examples to make your essay more convincing.
• Variety of Ideas: Discuss different perspectives and dimensions of the topic to showcase a comprehensive understanding.
• Proofread: Edit your essay for grammar, punctuation, and clarity before submitting it.

Nature is a precious gift, encompassing all living and non-living entities. It provides us with air, water, food, and shelter. The beauty of nature soothes our souls and brings us closer to the marvels of creation. However, human activities are threatening the delicate balance of ecosystems, leading to pollution, deforestation, and climate change. It’s our responsibility to protect and preserve nature for future generations to enjoy its wonders.

Nature is the ultimate source of inspiration and sustenance for all life forms on Earth. From the smallest microorganisms to the tallest trees, every aspect of nature plays a crucial role in maintaining the delicate balance of our planet. The diversity of flora and fauna, the intricate ecosystems, and the natural resources provide us with food, shelter, and even the air we breathe.

Despite its undeniable importance, human activities are wreaking havoc on nature. Deforestation, pollution, and excessive use of natural resources are causing irreparable damage to our environment. Climate change, triggered by human-induced factors, is resulting in extreme weather events and rising sea levels, endangering both human and animal habitats.

Preserving nature is not a choice; it’s a necessity. The responsibility to conserve nature lies in the hands of every individual. Planting trees, reducing waste, using sustainable resources, and raising awareness about the importance of nature are steps we can take to mitigate the damage.

Nature has provided us with boundless beauty and resources, but it’s up to us to ensure its survival. By respecting and nurturing the natural world, we can secure a healthier and more vibrant planet for current and future generations.

Nature is a symphony of vibrant life forms and dynamic ecosystems that create a harmonious and intricate web of existence. The lush greenery of forests, the tranquil blue of oceans, the diverse habitats of animals, and the breathtaking landscapes remind us of the sheer magnificence of the world we inhabit. It’s a world that offers us both solace and sustenance, making our survival intertwined with its preservation.

The ecosystem services provided by nature are immeasurable. The forests act as the lungs of the Earth, producing oxygen and absorbing carbon dioxide. Wetlands filter our water, providing us with clean and fresh sources of hydration. Bees and other pollinators enable the growth of crops, contributing to global food security.

However, the rampant disregard for nature’s delicate balance is leading to alarming consequences. The relentless deforestation for urbanization and agriculture is causing habitat loss, leading to the extinction of numerous species. The excessive emission of greenhouse gases is driving climate change, with rising temperatures and unpredictable weather patterns threatening vulnerable communities.

To ensure the well-being of our planet and future generations, conservation and sustainable practices are imperative. Afforestation and reforestation efforts must be intensified to restore lost ecosystems. Transitioning to renewable energy sources can reduce carbon emissions and mitigate climate change. Moreover, raising awareness and fostering a deep connection with nature can instil a sense of responsibility and inspire positive action.

In conclusion, nature is not merely a resource for human exploitation; it’s a complex and interconnected system that sustains life in all its forms. We must recognize our role as custodians of the environment and act with diligence to protect and preserve it. By embracing sustainable practices and fostering a profound respect for nature, we can secure a future where the world’s natural wonders continue to thrive.

Nature encompasses the entirety of the physical world and its components, including landscapes, flora, fauna, air, water, and ecosystems. It encompasses the natural environment and all living and non-living elements that shape and sustain life on Earth.

Nature is vital for our survival, providing resources like air, water, and food. It maintains ecological balance, supports biodiversity, and offers inspiration and solace. However, human activities threaten its delicate equilibrium, necessitating conservation efforts.

Saving nature requires planting trees, reducing waste, using sustainable resources, and raising awareness about its importance. Adopting renewable energy sources, practising responsible consumption, and fostering a connection with nature are crucial steps in its preservation.

We hope that this essay blog on Nature helps. For more amazing daily reads related to essay writing , stay tuned with Leverage Edu .

Manasvi Kotwal

Manasvi's flair in writing abilities is derived from her past experience of working with bootstrap start-ups, Advertisement and PR agencies as well as freelancing. She's currently working as a Content Marketing Associate at Leverage Edu to be a part of its thriving ecosystem.

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Nature Essay for Students and Children

500+ words nature essay.

Nature is an important and integral part of mankind. It is one of the greatest blessings for human life; however, nowadays humans fail to recognize it as one. Nature has been an inspiration for numerous poets, writers, artists and more of yesteryears. This remarkable creation inspired them to write poems and stories in the glory of it. They truly valued nature which reflects in their works even today. Essentially, nature is everything we are surrounded by like the water we drink, the air we breathe, the sun we soak in, the birds we hear chirping, the moon we gaze at and more. Above all, it is rich and vibrant and consists of both living and non-living things. Therefore, people of the modern age should also learn something from people of yesteryear and start valuing nature before it gets too late.

Significance of Nature

Nature has been in existence long before humans and ever since it has taken care of mankind and nourished it forever. In other words, it offers us a protective layer which guards us against all kinds of damages and harms. Survival of mankind without nature is impossible and humans need to understand that.

If nature has the ability to protect us, it is also powerful enough to destroy the entire mankind. Every form of nature, for instance, the plants , animals , rivers, mountains, moon, and more holds equal significance for us. Absence of one element is enough to cause a catastrophe in the functioning of human life.

We fulfill our healthy lifestyle by eating and drinking healthy, which nature gives us. Similarly, it provides us with water and food that enables us to do so. Rainfall and sunshine, the two most important elements to survive are derived from nature itself.

Further, the air we breathe and the wood we use for various purposes are a gift of nature only. But, with technological advancements, people are not paying attention to nature. The need to conserve and balance the natural assets is rising day by day which requires immediate attention.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Conservation of Nature

In order to conserve nature, we must take drastic steps right away to prevent any further damage. The most important step is to prevent deforestation at all levels. Cutting down of trees has serious consequences in different spheres. It can cause soil erosion easily and also bring a decline in rainfall on a major level.

Polluting ocean water must be strictly prohibited by all industries straightaway as it causes a lot of water shortage. The excessive use of automobiles, AC’s and ovens emit a lot of Chlorofluorocarbons’ which depletes the ozone layer. This, in turn, causes global warming which causes thermal expansion and melting of glaciers.

Therefore, we should avoid personal use of the vehicle when we can, switch to public transport and carpooling. We must invest in solar energy giving a chance for the natural resources to replenish.

In conclusion, nature has a powerful transformative power which is responsible for the functioning of life on earth. It is essential for mankind to flourish so it is our duty to conserve it for our future generations. We must stop the selfish activities and try our best to preserve the natural resources so life can forever be nourished on earth.

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Using Nature to Engage Students in Learning

Nature comes in all shapes and sizes—from a park to a potted plant—and teachers can use it to spark learning and build a classroom community.

As a kindergarten teacher, I’ve been at the front lines of pandemic schooling, which has prompted my team to reimagine how we foster joy and relationships with our students. As we reflected upon our deepest values and commitments, we remembered that nature is all around us and can be a fabulous platform for learning in and out of the school building. I’ve always been passionate about nature’s role in education, and teaching during the pandemic has shown me just how joyful—and necessary—teaching with nature can be.

My team and I use nature to wake up our students’ imaginations, friendships, and interest in stories. We have encouraged our students to go on nature walks with their families during asynchronous learning and to find “nature treasures” such as leaves, sticks, and shells. These treasures spark their imaginations and hold stories that they want to share with their friends.

Getting Started

Upon our return to the classroom, we plan to take nature walks together in the fields near our school building, but one of the main tenets of our approach to using nature for learning is that nature can be anything—a potted plant, fresh herbs for cooking, trees outside the window, ants on the driveway.

We seek to reimagine what counts as nature as we work toward a more inclusive, antiracist, and decolonizing classroom. Our school is a Title I campus, which means that more than 40 percent of our school population qualifies for free or reduced lunch. Access to green spaces and natural areas is limited for some of our students. Likewise, many schools do not have access to natural spaces or parks. However, all students can engage in some form of natural exploration, and we see it as part of our job to support them in doing so.

Our essential questions are: How do I connect with nature? How does nature connect me with others? What do I love about myself? What do I love about nature?

As teachers, we regularly come back to these questions and seek to expand our imaginations about the possible answers to these questions. Does a student have a pet fish? That’s nature. Does a student love to eat vegetables from their grandfather’s garden? That’s nature too.

Building Connections

Using nature as a shared foundation helps children build relationships with one another. We invite them to present to the class about their nature adventures with their friends and families, and guide them to write stories about their adventures in their nature journals. Every day during our morning meeting, children share their experiences in nature with one another. They discover what they have in common and compare nature treasures that they found.

We’ve seen firsthand that these activities build connections, empathy, and curiosity in our learners. Even while exploring nature independently, students find the same species of trees, plants, animals, bugs, and other flora and fauna common in our region. This is the springboard for our class conversations about how we are similar and different, and these conversations foster key social and emotional skills including relationship-building, empathy, and listening.

We go on weekly virtual field trips as a class to explore nature near and far. Some of our favorite virtual field trips have been to the San Diego Zoo  and the Monterey Bay Aquarium , and we like the live cams at Explore.org . These organizations offer high-quality live cams of animals and plants that are fun to explore. When we return to in- person learning, we’ll continue to use these virtual field trips to contextualize our learning and to learn more about nature far away from us.

Literacy and Math

My team and I use these experiences exploring nature as the basis for our literacy instruction, with a play-based, Reggio-inspired approach to learning. For example, we use the “ story workshop ” approach from the Opal School in Oregon, which integrates play and the arts into literacy and writing. As part of our nature-inspired story workshop, we provide children with natural materials such as leaves, rocks, sticks, and bugs to provoke their curiosity and imaginations, and to guide their writing. Children learn to sound out words that are relevant to their nature escapades (e.g., sun  or tree ). They draw and label pictures to tell a story about their experiences in nature, and write sentences to go with their drawings.

Nature also serves as the foundation for our mathematics instruction, creating a shared context. In kindergarten, math is mostly about cardinality (counting) and basic geometry, so we might ask students to find a counting collection from nature, like a collection of 10 rocks. Or we’ll ask them to go on a nature walk and draw what shapes they see. Finally, we look for patterns in nature: animal and plant patterns, as well as abiotic patterns in rocks or water. In these ways nature serves as foundational math instruction and acts as a shared context and shared set of resources for lessons.

I’ve found several resources instrumental in my journey toward nature-inspired education. I’m a National Geographic–certified educator, and I highly recommend their free, online course to any educator interested in learning more about incorporating nature into the classroom. I also suggest looking for professional development courses in your area that support educators in teaching outside in the natural environment.

Nature is everywhere and can be a fabulous vehicle for learning both inside and outside of the classroom.

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• Nature Essay

Essay About Nature

Nature refers to the interaction between the physical surroundings around us and the life within it like atmosphere, climate, natural resources, ecosystem, flora, fauna, and humans. Nature is indeed God’s precious gift to Earth. It is the primary source of all the necessities for the nourishment of all living beings on Earth. Right from the food we eat, the clothes we wear, and the house we live in is provided by nature. Nature is called ‘Mother Nature’ because just like our mother, she is always nurturing us with all our needs. 

Whatever we see around us, right from the moment we step out of our house is part of nature. The trees, flowers, landscapes, insects, sunlight, breeze, everything that makes our environment so beautiful and mesmerizing are part of Nature. In short, our environment is nature. Nature has been there even before the evolution of human beings. 

Importance of Nature

If not for nature then we wouldn’t be alive. The health benefits of nature for humans are incredible. The most important thing for survival given by nature is oxygen. The entire cycle of respiration is regulated by nature. The oxygen that we inhale is given by trees and the carbon dioxide we exhale is getting absorbed by trees. 

The ecosystem of nature is a community in which producers (plants), consumers, and decomposers work together in their environment for survival. The natural fundamental processes like soil creation, photosynthesis, nutrient cycling, and water cycling, allow Earth to sustain life. We are dependent on these ecosystem services daily whether or not we are aware.

Nature provides us services round the clock: provisional services, regulating services, and non-material services. Provisional services include benefits extracted from nature such as food, water, natural fuels and fibres, and medicinal plants. Regulating services include regulation of natural processes that include decomposition, water purification, pollution, erosion and flood control, and also, climate regulation. Non-material services are the non-material benefits that improve the cultural development of humans such as recreation, creative inspiration from interaction with nature like art, music, architecture, and the influence of ecosystems on local and global cultures. 

The interaction between humans and animals, which are a part of nature, alleviates stress, lessens pain and worries. Nature provides company and gives people a sense of purpose. 

Studies and research have shown that children especially have a natural affinity with nature. Regular interaction with nature has boosted health development in children. Nature supports their physical and mental health and instills abilities to access risks as they grow. 

Role and Importance of Nature

The natural cycle of our ecosystem is vital for the survival of organisms. We all should take care of all the components that make our nature complete. We should be sure not to pollute the water and air as they are gifts of Nature.

Mother nature fosters us and never harms us. Those who live close to nature are observed to be enjoying a healthy and peaceful life in comparison to those who live in urban areas. Nature gives the sound of running fresh air which revives us, sweet sounds of birds that touch our ears, and sounds of breezing waves in the ocean makes us move within.

All the great writers and poets have written about Mother Nature when they felt the exceptional beauty of nature or encountered any saddening scene of nature. Words Worth who was known as the poet of nature, has written many things in nature while being in close communion with nature and he has written many things about Nature. Nature is said to be the greatest teacher as it teaches the lessons of immortality and mortality. Staying in close contact with Nature makes our sight penetrative and broadens our vision to go through the mysteries of the planet earth. Those who are away from nature can’t understand the beauty that is held by Nature. The rise in population on planet earth is leading to a rise in consumption of natural resources.  Because of increasing demands for fuels like Coal, petroleum, etc., air pollution is increasing at a rapid pace.  The smoke discharged from factory units and exhaust tanks of cars is contaminating the air that we breathe. It is vital for us to plant more trees in order to reduce the effect of toxic air pollutants like Carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, etc. 

Save Our Nature

Earth’s natural resources are not infinite and they cannot be replenished in a short period. The rapid increase in urbanization has used most of the resources like trees, minerals, fossil fuels, and water. Humans in their quest for a comfortable living have been using the resources of nature mindlessly. As a result, massive deforestation, resultant environmental pollution, wildlife destruction, and global warming are posing great threats to the survival of living beings. 

Air that gives us oxygen to breathe is getting polluted by smoke, industrial emissions, automobile exhaust, burning of fossil fuels like coal, coke and furnace oil, and use of certain chemicals. The garbage and wastes thrown here and there cause pollution of air and land. 

Sewage, organic wastage, industrial wastage, oil spillage, and chemicals pollute water. It is causing several water-borne diseases like cholera, jaundice and typhoid. 

The use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers in agriculture adds to soil pollution. Due to the mindless cutting of trees and demolition of greeneries for industrialization and urbanization, the ecological balance is greatly hampered. Deforestation causes flood and soil erosion.

Earth has now become an ailing planet panting for care and nutrition for its rejuvenation. Unless mankind puts its best effort to save nature from these recurring situations, the Earth would turn into an unfit landmass for life and activity. 

We should check deforestation and take up the planting of trees at a massive rate. It will not only save the animals from being extinct but also help create regular rainfall and preserve soil fertility. We should avoid over-dependence on fossil fuels like coal, petroleum products, and firewood which release harmful pollutants to the atmosphere. Non-conventional sources of energy like the sun, biogas and wind should be tapped to meet our growing need for energy. It will check and reduce global warming. 

Every drop of water is vital for our survival. We should conserve water by its rational use, rainwater harvesting, checking the surface outflow, etc. industrial and domestic wastes should be properly treated before they are dumped into water bodies. 

Every individual can do his or her bit of responsibility to help save the nature around us. To build a sustainable society, every human being should practice in heart and soul the three R’s of Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. In this way, we can save our nature.  

Nature Conservation

Nature conservation is very essential for future generations, if we will damage nature our future generations will suffer.

Nowadays, technological advancement is adversely affecting our nature. Humans are in the quest and search for prosperity and success that they have forgotten the value and importance of beautiful Nature around. The ignorance of nature by humans is the biggest threat to nature. It is essential to make people aware and make them understand the importance of nature so that they do not destroy it in the search for prosperity and success.

On high priority, we should take care of nature so that nature can continue to take care of us. Saving nature is the crying need of our time and we should not ignore it. We should embrace simple living and high thinking as the adage of our lives.  

FAQs on Nature Essay

1. How Do You Define Nature?

Nature is defined as our environment. It is the interaction between the physical world around us and the life within it like the atmosphere, climate, natural resources, ecosystem, flora, fauna and humans. Nature also includes non-living things such as water,  mountains, landscape, plants, trees and many other things. Nature adds life to mother earth. Nature is the treasure habitation of every essential element that sustains life on this planet earth. Human life on Earth would have been dull and meaningless without the amazing gifts of nature. 

2. How is Nature Important to Us?

Nature is the only provider of everything that we need for survival. Nature provides us with food, water, natural fuels, fibres, and medicinal plants. Nature regulates natural processes that include decomposition, water purification, pollution, erosion, and flood control. It also provides non-material benefits like improving the cultural development of humans like recreation, etc. 

An imbalance in nature can lead to earthquakes, global warming, floods, and drastic climate changes. It is our duty to understand the importance of nature and how it can negatively affect us all if this rapid consumption of natural resources, pollution, and urbanization takes place.

3. How Should We Save Our Nature?

We should check deforestation and take up the planting of trees at a massive rate. It will save the animals from being extinct but also help create regular rainfall and preserve soil fertility. We should avoid over-dependence on fossil fuels like coal, petroleum products, and firewood which release harmful pollutants to the atmosphere. We should start using non-conventional sources of energy like the sun, biogas, and wind to meet our growing need for energy. It will check and reduce global warming. Water is vital for our survival and we should rationalize our use of water. 

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Effects of Nature (Greenspace) on Cognitive Functioning in School Children and Adolescents: a Systematic Review

• Review Article
• Open access
• Published: 19 March 2022
• Volume 34 , pages 1217–1254, ( 2022 )

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• Dianne A. Vella-Brodrick 1 &
• Krystyna Gilowska 1  

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There is growing interest in understanding the extent to which natural environments can influence learning particularly in school contexts. Nature has the potential to relieve cognitive overload, reduce stress and increase wellbeing—all factors that are conducive to learning. This paper provides a PRISMA-guided systematic review of the literature examining the effects of nature interventions on the cognitive functioning of young people aged 5 to 18 years. Examples of nature interventions include outdoor learning, green playgrounds, walks in nature, plants in classrooms and nature views from classroom windows. These can vary in duration and level of interaction (passive or active). Experimental and quasi-experimental studies with comparison groups that employed standardized cognitive measures were selected, yielding 12 studies from 11 papers. Included studies were rated as being of high (n = 10) or moderate quality (n = 2) and most involved short-term nature interventions. Results provide substantial support for cognitive benefits of nature interventions regarding selective attention, sustained attention and working memory. Underlying mechanisms for the benefits were also explored, including enhanced wellbeing, cognitive restoration and stress reduction—all likely to be contributors to the nature-cognition relationship. The cognitive effects of nature interventions were also examined according to age and school level with some differences evident. Findings from this systematic review show promise that providing young people with opportunities to connect with nature, particularly in educational settings, can be conducive to enhanced cognitive functioning. Schools are well placed to provide much needed ‘green’ educational settings and experiences to assist with relieving cognitive overload and stress and to optimize wellbeing and learning.

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Introduction

The pressure of modern-day westernized living involving technology, high-rise buildings, traffic congestion and pollution is taking a toll on society. These lifestyle changes have led to reduced opportunities for interacting with nature (Hartig et al., 2014 ) and a fast-paced lifestyle that can be psychologically draining. Subsequently health and well-being are compromised as evidenced by escalating rates of mental illness (Blake et al., 2018 ; Michaelson et al., 2020 ; Vancampfort et al., 2018 ). In an attempt to reduce fatigue and improve well-being, research attention has turned to the potential healing effects of nature (Capaldi et al, 2015 ; Diaz et al., 2015; Hartig et al., 2014 ).

Nature or natural environments are broadly defined as including living plants and animals, geological processes and weather. Nature exposure typically involves connecting with ‘green’ and ‘blue’ spaces including park land, forests, plants, the ocean and other natural waterways such as rivers and lakes. These can vary substantially in exposure time (from minutes to weeks and even years), as well as the extent to which nature is the core of the activity rather than simply in the background (Norwood et al., 2019 ). For example, nature interventions can include going for a walk amidst nature for 30 min, right through to creating a school garden which can last months or years. Multiple theories have been presented to explain the relationship between nature and different aspects of health. The Biophilia hypothesis (Urlich, 1983) posits that individuals are innately driven to affiliate with nature for survival and psychological restoration. When a connection with nature occurs, there is an opportunity for cognitive capacities to be relieved and well-being to be strengthened. The Attention Restoration Theory (ART; Kaplan, 1995 ) asserts that elements of the natural environment elicit a soft fascination from individuals that can release the need for relentless goal-directed attentional processes often associated with immersion in built environments and subsequently provides cognitive restoration. The Stress Reduction Theory (Ulrich, 1983 ; Ulrich et al., 1991 ) focuses on physiological responses to demonstrate that a reduction in stress induced by the natural environment can, in turn, enhance cognition. These theoretical perspectives offer a common theme of restoration through enhancing well-being by reducing mental fatigue or stress and are consistent with Wilson’s concept of ‘biophilia’ ( 1984 ). This suggests that exposure to nature can be helpful in learning environments where cognitive functioning is fundamental. It is the broad aim of this paper to undertake a systematic review of high-quality studies examining the effects of nature (greenspace) on the cognitive functioning of school children and adolescents. This will include a broad range of passive and active nature interventions, of varying duration, that are common in school settings. This will provide insights into whether specific theoretical perspectives are most relevant for particular types of interventions (e.g., short term or active).

There has been a keen interest in exploring the extent to which children and young people connect with nature, value nature and benefit from nature (e.g., Barrable & Booth, 2020 ; Roberts et al. ( 2020 ). This in part stems from concern about the rising rate of children growing up in urban environments and missing out on time spent outdoors in the natural environment (Weeland et al., 2019 ). Children have been identified as a population group with specific risks and needs relating to attention, self-regulation as well as physical and cognitive development (Roberts et al., 2020 ). The role of nature in assisting young people with these issues has preliminary empirical support, albeit with more diverse samples (Hartig et al, 2014 ) such as with older adults for memory enhancement (Astell-Burt & Feng, 2020 ). This has prompted interest in understanding how nature exposure can influence children’s cognitive development and learning particularly in school environments. For example, consistent with ART, it is plausible that exposure to nature can help children to replenish depleted cognitive resources resulting from information overload. An attraction to nature can trigger ‘soft’ (effortless) fascination, relieve fatigue and aid psychological replenishing. In support of this, van den Berg et al. ( 2016 ) found that university students and staff who viewed 40 images of natural and built scenes and rated these on complexity and restorative quality (fascination, beauty, relaxation and positive affect) recorded longer viewing times for the nature scenes—consistent with greater fascination with nature—and rated them as more restorative than built scenes.

Most of the empirical studies on nature are correlational designs. For example, Flouri (2019) examined the relationship between neighborhood greenspace and spatial working memory for 4,758 children aged 11 years living in urban areas of England. They found that less neighborhood greenspace (measured by satellite imagery) was related to poorer spatial working memory for these children. A study by Li et al., ( 2019 ) examined the relationship between tree cover density proximal to schools and academic performance for 624 high school students. They found that tree cover density in school surroundings was positively associated with academic performance (measured using Illinois Report Cards, American College Test scores and graduation rates). A study including 101 public high schools in Michigan examined whether nature exposure—nature views from school buildings, vegetation levels on campus and the potential for students to access this vegetation—was positively related to academic performance (e.g., Educational Assessment Program test and graduation rates) and inversely related to antisocial behaviors (Matsuoka, 2010 ). They found that landscapes of mowed grass and parking lots were associated with poorer student performance, whereas landscapes composed primarily of trees and shrubs were correlated with favorable academic performance. With few exceptions (e.g., Markevych et al., 2019 ), the majority of studies have found a positive relationship between nature exposure and cognitive functioning for children. In addition, learning in greenspace or viewing nature from a classroom has also been associated with reduced heart rate and cortisol levels (Dettweiler et al., 2017 ; Li & Sullivan, 2016 ). These favorable findings also extend to longitudinal studies whereby greater exposure to residential surrounding greenspace over one’s life, particularly in childhood, was associated with enhanced cognitive functioning and brain density (e.g., Dadvand et al., 2015 ).

A limitation of correlational studies is that causal relationships cannot be established, nor do they enable a clear understanding of the factors that influence the beneficial effects of nature on cognitive functioning. Kuo et al. ( 2019 ) examined some of these influential factors for enhancing cognitive functioning in learning environments and identified improved self-discipline, heightened motivation, enjoyment and engagement, as well as increased physical activity and fitness. They also noted some indirect effects of nature on learners such as the calm, quiet and safe contexts often associated with nature, which then facilitate warmer and cooperative social interactions and self-directed creative play. They also proposed the notion of a synergistic effect of the numerous processes underlying the nature-learning connection. For example, nature can simultaneously increase concentration, engagement and self-discipline to enhance learning. Although Kuo et al., ( 2019 ) provide (limited) empirical support for each of these processes, they note concerns relating to the poor-quality studies and over-generalization of results in this field.

The interest of this systematic review lies in the population of school children and since this group spans a long time period, it is important to examine how nature affects children at all stages of their development. Neighborhood greenness can play an important role in cognitive development starting from the very early stages of life (Dadvand et al., 2018 ; Liao et al., 2019 ) and continuing through to later stages of childhood (Flouri, et al., 2019 ; Lee, et al., 2019 ). Dadvand et al. ( 2018 ) reported long-term exposure to greenness early in child development to be associated with beneficial structural changes in the brain. Liao et al. ( 2019 ) observed that exposure to neighborhood greenspace is associated with better early childhood neurodevelopment for those up to 2 years of age including prenatals. Mason et.al. (2021) examined the impact of short-term (from 10 to 90 min) passive nature exposure on cognitive functioning in primary, secondary and tertiary students. They found that 12 out of 14 studies reported restorative effects of greenspace for attention and working memory for all education sectors. The authors suggest that different mechanisms may be involved in long-term nature exposures, and hence, this distinction warrants further investigation.

Some researchers have examined age differences in the relationship between greenspace and cognitive functioning. For example, Lee, et al., (2019) included 6–18 year old children in their study and found that both the younger and older groups showed inverse relationship with greenness and attention problems, indicating that nature may benefit children throughout their development. In a longitudinal study, Reuben et al. ( 2019 ) observed associations between greenspace exposure and cognitive performance across all ages. Children were assessed on fluid and crystalized intellectual performance at ages 5, 12 and 18. After adjusting for socioeconomic status, greenspace exposure predicted longitudinal benefits for fluid cognitive ability among 5 year-old children. These findings add to the body of research on the importance of nature in early brain development.

Experimental studies with children are emerging but these generally have weak study designs, include short-term nature exposure, or focus on specific samples. For example, a within sample study comprised 17 students aged 7–12 years diagnosed with ADHD (Faber et al., 2009). Each student completed three walks, one week apart (and in random order). One walk was in a city park and the other two walks in well-kept urban locations (downtown and neighborhood). Performance on a Digit Span Backward task was found to be better after the park walk relative to the urban walks. These results are promising, but the extent to which these findings apply to general student populations is unknown. More recently, reviews and meta-analyses on the effects of nature on desirable psychological and health outcomes have been published and include mostly randomized controlled trials with general samples (Stevenson, et al., 2018 ), including those with samples of children and adolescents (Mygind et al., 2019 ; Roberts et al., 2020 ). For example, a systematic review by Vanaken and Danckaerts ( 2018 ) included 21 studies examining the impact of greenspace on children and adolescents’ mental health. They concluded that the evidence is consistent in demonstrating the favorable influence of exposure to greenspace on emotional and behavioral issues such as inattention and hyperactivity. A mini review of nature connection interventions for children was also published with the aim of identifying themes and trends (Barrable & Booth, 2020 ). The authors also noted poor study quality and they proposed guidelines for future work to strengthen the quality of evidence collected by researchers.

Some age differences in level of nature connection have been reported between younger children (10–12 years) compared with adolescents (13–15 years), with younger age groups reporting higher levels (Braun & Dierkes, 2017 ). However, no firm conclusions can be drawn as work examining nature exposure and cognitive outcomes with children is scarce. More research is needed to collate the findings from well-designed experimental studies to better understand the effects of nature on children and adolescents’ cognitive capacity in school settings and their underlying mechanisms.

The main purpose of this review is to examine evidence of a causal relationship of nature exposure on cognitive functioning for the population of school children and adolescents in a variety of settings. Specifically, we review studies of diverse time exposures, from a few minutes to months and years, to capture any short-term benefits for attentional processes, as well as those for longer-term benefits like academic performance. Therefore, our definition of nature exposure was intentionally broad and could include activities where nature plays a background role, like passive viewing of the natural environment while sitting in a classroom or walking in a park or it might include activities where nature plays an active role like in outdoor gardening lessons.

More specifically this review will: (1) systematically evaluate the recent body of experimental and quasi-experimental studies examining the effects of nature (greenspace) on cognitive functioning in children and adolescents; (2) investigate the underlying processes involved in possible effects of nature on cognitive performance as well as consider the adequacy of different theoretical models to explain any effects; and (3) examine whether the effects of nature exposure differ according to age. We will also explore the duration and type of nature intervention (active or passive) to determine whether these intervention characteristics influence outcomes.

Literature Search and Eligibility Criteria

An a priori protocol was designed and registered with PROSPERO (registration number: CRD42021214826). The checklist of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) was applied to guide the systematic review process and began with the PICOS process to develop our main research question and to determine appropriate search terms. A PICOS structured question was formulated based on the population, intervention and outcome of interest and was: What are the effects of nature (greenspace) on cognitive functioning for school aged children and adolescents? Key components included nature exposure interventions examining cognitive outcomes, focus on school aged children, and the inclusion of high-quality studies employing experimental and quasi experimental research designs. For each component, relevant search terms were identified and then converted to keywords (see Table 1 ). The various search queries were based on a combination of keywords.

Three types of keywords targeted papers on nature or greenspace environment combined with cognitive outcomes, and school children population. An example of a search for the Effect of Nature on Cognitive Processes in School Children in Scopus is: ((TITLE-ABS-KEY (“school environment” OR child* OR “school landscape*” OR childhood OR pupil* OR "high-school student*")) AND (TITLE-ABS-KEY (“green break” OR “green area” OR “view* of nature” OR “nature exposure” OR “nature walk” OR “exposure* to nature” OR outdoor* OR greening OR greenspace OR greenness))) AND (TITLE-ABS-KEY (“restorative effect” OR “psychological recovery” OR “effect* on attention” OR “executive function*”OR “cognitive restoration” OR attention* OR cognitive OR "mental fatigue")).

Study selection criteria were: (a) the research study was written in English; (b) the study design was experimental or quasi experimental (e.g., participants or class of students randomly assigned to a group, pre- and post-assessments, comparison group or controlled trials); (c) exposure to nature included parks, school playgrounds, neighborhood green areas, nature views from the window or inclusion of plants inside a room; (d) nature exposure was based on expert assessment or described in detail and/or a picture was provided and/or validated questionnaire methods; (e) the study reported a measure of cognitive functioning using standardized instruments (academic records, cognitive performance tests); (f) the study focused on school children and adolescents between 5 to 18 years of age; (g) no restriction on publication date was given. Studies were excluded if they: (a) were descriptive, observational, or a case study with no pre-/post-treatment design; (b) did not include an objective description of greenspace, or, in case of a subjective description, if there was no standardized or expert assessment of greenspace; (c) focused on children during the prenatal period or pre-school children.

The initial database searches were conducted between March and May, 2020 and updated regularly with the final update in May 2021. They were run on ELSEVIER and EBSCOhost engines through the following databases: Scopus, PubMed, Academic Search Complete, CINAHL Complete, Education Research Complete, ERIC, SocINDEX with Full Text and Urban Studies Abstracts. A total of 1393 journal papers were found, as presented in Fig.  1 . In addition to the database searches, an ancestry search that checked reference lists of key papers, and a hand search of relevant journals and grey literature were also conducted to ensure all relevant works, including unpublished but publicly available works and dissertations were included in the review. Four additional studies were identified based on reference lists of key papers. All duplicates were removed, which reduced the results to 1235.

PRISMA flow diagram

The screening process started with removing irrelevant papers. Articles were first excluded based on titles (n = 1115), and the remaining articles were screened based on abstracts. Subsequently, the title-abstract screening process resulted in 51 articles to go through to the next stage of full-article review. The full texts of the remaining studies were carefully evaluated by both authors according to the exclusion–inclusion criteria. Eleven papers comprising 12 studies were selected for the systematic review. Reasons for the exclusions are presented in the PRISMA flowchart (Fig.  1 ).

The following information was extracted from the selected studies: author, year of publication, country, research focus or question, theoretical model, sample, measures, study design, intervention/comparison group and findings. See Table 2 .

Quality Appraisal of Studies

An appraisal of the quality of studies to be included in the review was based on the Effective Public Health Practice Project Quality Assessment Tool (EPHPP) for Quantitative Studies ( 2010 ). The EPHPP has been shown to have robust psychometric properties and is suitable for systematic reviews of effectiveness (Deeks et al., 2003 ; Jackson & Waters, 2005 ; Thomas et al., 2004 ). The EPHPP assesses study quality in six domains (selection bias, study design, confounders, blinding, data collection methods, withdrawals and dropouts), which can be rated as strong (1 point), moderate (2 points) or weak (3 points) according to a standardized guide and dictionary. The overall rating of study quality can also be classified as strong, moderate, or weak by averaging the scores for the six domain ratings. The two authors independently appraised the quality of each study by using the checklists included in the EPHPP manual. In the occasional case of differing ratings between the reviewers, each explained their reasons for their selection and then for any remaining discrepancies, scores were averaged across the two raters.

Study Characteristics

A total of 12 studies from 11 journal articles were selected for inclusion in the review. All studies were published between 2014 and 2019 and came mainly from Europe (75%). Two were from the USA and one study came from Canada. As presented in Table 2 , the studies selected were all experimental or quasi experimental designs but varied in terms of population characteristics, the nature intervention examined and the methods used to assess cognitive outcomes.

Study designs included three randomized and three semi-randomized controlled trials, with most of them being between-subject designs and one a semi-randomized study adopting a within-subject design. The remaining studies were quasi-experimental (within-subject = 3, between-subject = 3). A variety of statistical analyses were applied across studies, including ANOVA, ANCOVA, t-tests and F statistics. Sample sizes were generally adequate but varied substantially across studies ranging from 33 to 3,061 participants. The methodological quality of the studies was assessed as outlined in the method section. Table 3 shows the quality ratings according to each domain of assessment and a global quality rating and classification for each study.

Ratings indicate 83% (10/12) of the studies received a classification of strong (falling within the 1.0–1.50 range) and 17% (2/12) received ratings of moderate (falling within the range of 1.51–2.50). None of the studies received a “low” classification. This signifies that the studies included in this review were generally of a high standard. The quality of studies was also examined within the specific scoring domains and revealed a tendency of bias to occur mostly in the Study Design and Blinding domains. The remaining four domains, namely the Selection Bias, Confounders, Data Collection and Withdrawals and Dropouts, have been rated as predominantly strong or having negligible chance of bias.

Study populations of the reviewed studies included children and adolescents of different age groups. Four of the studies included high-school students aged 16–18 years, and one study included groups of younger adolescents aged 13–15. School children aged 10–12 were recruited in four studies, and one study comprised a diverse group of adolescents aged between 8–15. The two remaining studies represented the youngest age group, one with participants ranging from 7 to 10 years, and the other, between 6 and 12 years. All studies included male and female participants, and overall, there was a reasonable balance of male and female participants across the selected studies.

Collectively, the selected studies operationalized nature interventions as including a variety of natural environments such as school playgrounds, parks, woodlands, school greenery and indoor environments with plants. The interventions differed in time duration, level of social and physical engagement and degree of greenery involved. Table 2 summarizes the types of nature interventions and the comparison activities used in the selected studies. In terms of time duration of interventions, eight studies used short-term nature exposures (from a few to 60 min), while four studies included long-term exposures in their designs (from 2 months to 2 years).

Various cognitive tests have been used in the selected studies as the outcome variable to capture the possible effects of nature on cognitive functioning. They represent two major groups of tests—attention tests (n = 9) and long-term memory knowledge tests (n = 2). Attention tests can be further distinguished on the basis of the cognitive domain they are mainly designed to capture, even though the cognitive domains often overlap in a test. There are four main types of attention tests evident from the selected studies: (1) working memory tests, like Digit Span Backward, demanding ability to hold and manipulate information in the short-term; (2) selective attention tests, like the Fish Flanker Task, which requires the participant to direct attention to the task while simultaneously ignoring distractors; (3) processing speed test, like the Digit Letter Substitution Test, the main goal of which is to process as many items as possible in limited time periods; (4) and the Go/No-Go test intended to measure impulse control (see Appendix Table 7 ).

Effectiveness of the Nature Interventions

Studies included in this review enabled us to investigate nature interventions on cognitive functioning across different attentional domains as well as on long-term memory knowledge acquisition. First, we will present the findings from the attention tests in four sections: (1) working memory tests, (2) selective attention tests also including tests with varying degrees of sustained/selective attention tests, (3) processing speed and (4) impulse control tests. Then we will present the findings from the long-term memory knowledge tests.

Attention Tests

Most studies in our review applied short-term nature exposures to find possible causal effects on attentional processing. These studies were more consistently able to report attentional processing benefits than studies that used long-term nature exposures in their designs.

Working Memory

Two studies (Amicone et al., 2018 ; Li & Sullivan, 2016 ) found a significant positive effect of nature on working memory performance in middle-class public school children in Rome and in both urban and rural high-school students in central Illinois public schools, respectively. Both studies used Digit Span Forward and Digit Span Backward, but the tasks differed on whether participants were to write the digits down (Amicone et al., 2018 ) or to repeat them verbally (Li & Sullivan, 2016 ). The Rome study used 30 min active play in a green school playground, while the Illinois study used a window view onto green landscape with two examiners in the room where the participants were seated and resting for 10 min. These studies indicate that relative to control conditions, two different nature interventions (one immersive and one passive) involving different age groups can improve cognitive performance that relies on the ability to hold and manipulate information in short-term (working) memory.

Selective Attention and Sustained/Selective Attention

The main common task in tests designed to measure selective attention is to direct attention towards a target while simultaneously ignoring distractors. Most studies (n = 9) in our systematic review have been designed to measure selective attention; however, they have used five different tests for this purpose. In particular, Combined Attention Systems Test (CAST) and the Attention Network Task (ANT) tests are similar measures based on the fish tanker test where the target fish is presented facing left or right and flanked by other fish pointing in congruent or incongruent directions, as a cue or distractor. The task requires respondents to indicate the correct direction of the target fish. Other tests like the Necker Task are also used as measures of selective attention but are notably dependent on visual processing. Likewise, The Sky Search and D-2R tests also rely on visual resources to sustain attention. Hence, caution is required when explaining the causal effect of nature on selective attention as visual processing can be a confounding factor.

Two studies (Johnson et al., 2019 and Stevenson et al., 2019 ) using similar computer attention tests based on the fish flanker task, reported a significant positive effect on selective attention performance after a 30-min walk in a natural environment with trees. Johnson et al. ( 2019 ) found a small positive effect with Canadian children of mixed age between 8 to 15 years old after walking through a forested trail in Shrubie Park. Stevenson et al. ( 2019 ) found a positive effect for speed and stability of responses, in children aged 10–14 years recruited from an independent school in Denmark, after walking through rolling grass fields with young pine trees and rocks, farmland and forest. However, no improvement in executive attention was found in this study.

Two studies (Amicone et al., 2018 , studies 1 & 2) found natural environments, designed as structured green playtime and free play in a school garden respectively, exert a significant positive effect on attention control as measured by the Bells Test in primary public school middle-class children in Rome. The Bells test contains four different sheets with small black drawings of different symbols and the task requires respondents to mark all 35 bells embedded within 280 different distracting symbols. The test is relevant to selective attention control but also requires visual scanning. Greenwood and Gatersleben, ( 2016 ) also found a positive significant effect on selective attention for high school students of South West London after spending time in the school grassed area with trees, shrubs and flowers for 20 min. They used the Necker Cube Pattern Control Task to measure attention control.

Impulse Control

One study used an impulse control attention test, as measured by Go/No-Go task, to investigate impulse control after green structured play (Amicone et al., 2018 ). They found no significant positive effect in middle-class public school children in Rome after playtime in a school garden compared with a built playground.

Regarding Sustained/Selective Attention, four studies reported mixed findings derived from the D2-R—Letter Cancellation Task and Sky Search attention tests. The tests are used to measure selective attention but at the same time they require sustained attention for performance. Each test, respectively, presents rows of similar pictures or letters for the participants to visually scan to spot differences. Nature, designed as the living plants classroom wall, has been found to have a significantly positive effect on sustained/selective attention as measured by the Sky Task (van den Berg et al., 2017 ) in Dutch primary school children. However, the same attention test used in a longitudinal study by van Dijk-Wesselius et al. ( 2018 ), for a similar population in the Netherlands, did not yield significant results until after two years of green schoolyard exposure at the second follow-up, reporting only a positive trend at the first follow-up. These two studies differ from previous research in their aim to explore the effects of long-term nature exposures on cognition, rather than short-term ones.

Similar to the long-term studies, Sustained/Selective Attention, as measured by the D2-R—Letter Cancellation Task, was not found to be consistently and positively influenced by short-term nature exposure, indicating that perhaps this cognitive domain may not necessarily benefit from exposure to greenspace, irrespective of the duration of exposure. One study (Wallner et al., 2018 ) reported a significant positive effect after a 60-min break in a green park or forest relative to a small urban park in high school students in Vienna, but no effect was found in younger affluent Danish children 10–12 years old, after being exposed to a grassed area with trees compared with a classroom environment while reading quietly for 60 min (Mygind et al., 2018 ).

Processing Speed

Mixed findings have also been reported for long-term nature exposure studies examining processing speed as measured by the Digit Letter Substitution test (van Dijk-Wesselius et al., 2018 ; van den Berg et al., 2017 ). For the task participants were instructed to convert randomly ordered digits to letters according to a key and to do so within short periods of time. No significant positive effect was found on processing speed in the living plants classroom wall exposure study in Dutch primary school children (van den Berg et al., 2017 ). However, a significant positive effect was reported in the Greening of School study in Dutch school children aged 7–11 years (van Dijk-Wesselius et al., 2018 ). Again, these findings may reflect true inconsistency of nature exposure on processing speed, or the difficulty in establishing causal effect for long-term exposure studies.

Long-term Memory—Knowledge Acquisition

Only two studies in our review applied long-term nature exposures to find possible causal effects on long-term knowledge acquisition, and they were inconsistent in their ability to produce favorable outcomes. Wells et al. ( 2015 ) found school gardens to be beneficial for enhanced science knowledge, as compared to classes with no garden intervention in American children aged 6–12 years from low-income rural, suburban and urban schools. In addition to the “knowledge of plant science and nutritional science test,” they also measured the degree of intervention fidelity, which provided dose-based data to further support the findings. Accordingly, classes that reported the greatest increases in their science knowledge, by 0.78 on average, were the ones receiving higher dosages of the garden intervention.

Fägerstam and Blom ( 2013 ) compared outdoor with indoor learning in an urban high school environment with a traditional curriculum. They measured long-term knowledge acquisition by an essay-type question examining the biology course content, (i.e., on knowledge of ecology and classification), and further assessed the academic outcomes by a semi-structured interview. They found greater long-term knowledge retention for outdoor compared with indoor classes for 7th graders. However, no significant effects of nature were found for 8th graders. Additional interview data analysis revealed that, overall, intervention participants reported more vivid descriptions of class activities, which were interpreted as coming from higher positive emotional involvement.

Underlying Mechanisms

The second aim of this review is to investigate potential underlying mechanisms of the nature-cognitive performance relationship. Studies designed to demonstrate the effect of nature on cognitive functioning can also provide additional support for the foundational theories and can help to illuminate underlying mechanisms. These studies may also report beneficial effects of nature on some aspects of well-being that could function as mediators for enhanced cognitive outcomes. However, a full analysis of how nature produces beneficial effects would require more targeted and comprehensive work addressing a broad range of mediators to propose a theory. None of our studies have fully investigated the nature-cognition mechanisms specifically in relation to structured physical activity and social interactions; therefore, with regard to our second goal, we take an exploratory approach.

Our systematic review has captured studies that represent three types of theoretical perspectives, each of which proposes a distinctive but complementary explanation for why nature could benefit cognitive functioning and uses a corresponding measurement approach from which to examine the specific theory (see Tables 4 , 5 and 6 ). Thus, different psychological scales and physiological instruments have been employed in the selected studies to uncover possible underlying mechanisms for the beneficial effects of nature.

In this systematic review some studies reporting positive findings point to perceived restorativeness as an explanation, typically assessed either by the Perceived Restorativeness Scale (PRS) or a self-assessed question/questions. For example, Amicone et al., ( 2018 ) in studies 1 and 2 reported beneficial findings and noted that children perceived natural environments to be more restorative as measured by the Perceived Restorativeness Scale. This finding supports the restorative process of nature exposure, particularly when contrasted with immersion in the built environment. Consistent with ART, these two studies demonstrated that restorative processes can occur in nature irrespective of how children choose to engage with it, whether in a structured game or free-play.

Stevenson et al. ( 2019 ) reported faster and more stable responses on the Attention Network Task after a green walk relative to an urban walk. They did not however, find any significant difference on executive (goal-directed) performance which is central to ART. Stevenson et al. also used a mobile eye-tracker instrument to measure distribution of eye gaze during exposures. Although for only a small sample, they provided some support for ART reporting higher rates of eye gazing during a nature walk compared to an urban walk, they proposed that through the soft fascination element of nature, participants were visually engaged and wanted to explore the scenery, hence the higher rates of eye-gazing, and, presumably, higher levels of restoration.

Johnson et al., ( 2019 ) provide support for ART by demonstrating a small but significant improvement on executive attention (referred to as endogenous), measured by CAST. This study found that a walk in a natural environment provided elements needed for restoration of goal-directed attention compared with a walk in an urban environment, however, this study did not include a measure of restoration. No additional support for ART was evident from the study by van den Berg et al., ( 2017 ). They provided results on self-reported ability to concentrate as well as on emotional, cognitive and social well-being. These additional measures were administered to provide insights into the effects of a green wall in the classroom on sustained/selective processing, as measured by the Sky Search task. Although they found a significant positive effect for selective attention, no underlying mechanism could be suggested since no difference between the groups with and without a green wall was found on self-reported concentration or on well-being. The study intervention involved long-term exposure and was complex in its design. It was mixed with short-term exposure which in itself may not have been effective (i.e., resting with eyes closed for the control group might be more restful than looking at the green wall for the experimental group). Thus, the short-term effect could have interfered with the long-term exposure to the green wall. In sum it would seem that the underlying mechanisms of ART theory were best demonstrated by the studies using short-term nature exposures when mental restoration was needed.

The remaining studies come from research perspectives associated with different pathways as possible mechanisms for the restorative effect of nature on cognitive processes. They propose that other mechanisms apart from mental fatigue restoration could include stress and affect. One of these studies (Li & Sullivan, 2016 ) provided additional results on self-reported subjective attention and stress, measured by a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), as well as measures on objective stress, including blood volume pulse, electrocardiography, skin conductance and body temperature. All the data were entered into regression models to provide further insight on possible factors at play to explain their main finding, that is, the effect of a green view on working memory, as measured by digit span tests. Since the analysis revealed no correlation between attention and stress changes, Li and Sullivan ( 2016 ) proposed that nature exposure was likely to have a direct impact on working memory performance rather than through the effect of a stress pathway. This study used only 10 min of exposure time, adding to the body of evidence on nature restorative capacities for attentional processes.

Wallner et al., ( 2018 ) explored psychological dimensions of well-being for positive effects of greenspaces on concentration performance measured by the D2-R test. They adopted the scale (Nitsch, 1976 ), which is designed to measure motivation and strain attributes for six categories (recuperation, tension/relaxation, state of mood, readiness for action, readiness for exertion, and alertness) of the Self-Condition Scale. They investigated how motivation and strain could help to explain their main findings and found that large greenspaces resulted in greater cognitive performance alongside several psychological dimensions of recuperation, tension/relaxation, mood state, readiness for action, and readiness for exertion. These dimensions are indicative of a higher degree of restorativeness, as well as psychological and physiological calming. Hence, these may be mediating factors for the effect of nature on cognition, suggesting that the key theories may be inter-connected.

Greenwood and Gatersleben ( 2016 ) reported improvement in concentration, as measured by the Necker Cube Pattern Control Task in a natural environment versus an indoor room, in three additional contexts for each condition, being alone, alone with a mobile phone, and being with a friend. They used Zuckerman's ( 1977 ) Inventory of Personal Reactions (ZIPERS) as their measure of positive affect, attentiveness, fear, sadness and anger to support their findings, and included objectively measured stress for this purpose as well. They reported a significant interaction effect for positive affect in a natural environment compared with an indoor room. This supports a biophilic response whereby nature feels both good and familiar. In addition, Greenwood and Gatersleben ( 2016 ) analyzed the role of social relations in the nature-cognition relationship. They concluded that even though improvements on the Necker Cube Pattern Control Task were observed across all contexts in the natural environment, for this particular age group of 16–18 year olds, nature appears to be especially restorative if it is undertaken with friends.

The social aspect is also a possible mediator in a longitudinal study on greening a schoolyard (van Dijk-Wesselius et al., 2018 ). In the second follow-up, after two years of exposure to a green schoolyard, children reported scoring significantly better on sustained/selective attention and processing speed compared to children with paved schoolyards. Self-reported questionnaires on aspects of well-being were also analyzed alongside the main results and a green schoolyard was found to benefit social well-being. By comparison, no improvements on emotional well-being were found. Children’s appreciation of the green schoolyard was suggested as an additional possible mediating factor, perhaps pointing to natural order and beauty as playing a bigger role than just purely aesthetic. As it is usually difficult to establish a direct effect of long-term nature exposure on cognitive functioning, many possible indirect mediators are possible.

Mygind et al. ( 2018 ) investigated the impact of nature on cognition in terms of the Stress Reduction Theory (Ulrich, 1983 ). They used tonic and phasic cardiac vagal tone for this purpose. Tonic vagal tone enables the modulation of the vagus nerve which fosters a calming effect on heart rate during rest and is linked with greater adaptability to external factors (Mygind et al., 2018 ). As predicted, they found that tonic vagal tone (but not event or phasic vagal tone) was higher in the natural environment than in indoor classrooms, but no significant difference was observed on the D2-R attention test in these two conditions. This increase in tonic vagal tone may lend some weight to the SRT.

Finally, the two remaining studies in our review (Fägerstam & Blom, 2013 ; Wells et al., 2015 ) align with the outdoor learning perspective—a body of research that mainly focuses on long-term knowledge acquisition rather than attentional functioning (Becker et al., 2017 ). Depending on the specific theory prescribing outdoor learning, studies may either attempt to explain psychological/physiological internal processes during learning out in nature or be more practical and explain in detail what aspects of the intervention appear to be most effective.

Wells et al. ( 2015 ) examined the effects of a school garden intervention on science knowledge, specifically on nutrition and plant science. A significant effect of garden lessons relative to indoor lessons, on science knowledge was found especially for interventions with high garden intervention fidelity. Fidelity was examined to provide details about how specific aspects of garden learning interventions contribute to the program’s success. Wells et al. ( 2015 ) found that higher intervention fidelity involved greater dosage of outdoor garden classes as well as having more success at growing and sharing fruits and vegetables. However, the study did not provide sufficient empirical evidence on underlying mechanisms such as how longer exposure to garden lessons might affect knowledge acquisition. Another outdoor learning study (Fägerstam & Blom, 2013 ) investigated children’s internal thoughts and emotions about the intervention using interviews, to further explain the main findings. The outdoor group described their outdoor lessons more clearly, used content-related words and showed more enthusiastic and participatory behavior compared with the indoor group. However, only children in Year 7, and not Year 8, demonstrated a significant improvement in their content knowledge, as measured by the biology essay-type questions. Hence, there is some uncertainty about how, or if, children’s emotions might contribute to the nature-cognition relationship and the significance of age on this relationship.

In sum, it would seem that the nature studies included in this review support a multitude of underlying factors influencing the nature-cognition relationship. However, the restorative factor is the one that has been most commonly tested with the use of specific self-report restoration measures such as the Perceived Restorativeness Scale. It is noteworthy however, that this measure includes items assessing dimensions such as relief from daily stressors and strains, feeling relaxed, free movement and curiosity. Hence, restoration can extend beyond cognitive relief to also include physical and psychological aspects. In particular, the increased physical activity and social interaction typically associated with outdoor learning may also be influencing factors (Becker et al., 2017). This lends weight to the possibility that multiple underlying factors might be at play potentially producing a synergistic impact as suggested by Kuo et al., ( 2019 ).

Effects of Nature interventions and the Influence of Age

The third aim of our review was to investigate possible differences of nature exposure effects on cognitive functioning for children of different age groups. Greenspace exposure does not seem to differentially effect child and adolescent cognitive functioning as it is generally beneficial for all age groups covered in this review. For high school students, however, the effect of greenspace on attentional functioning is found more consistently (Greenwood & Gatersleben, 2016 ; Li & Sullivan, 2016 ; Wallner et al., 2018 ) indicating that older children can benefit from a variety of nature interventions irrespective of whether it is a window view of nature, a walk in a park, or spending time playing in nature. These studies have shown that working memory, as well as selective and sustained attention, improve for high school students after green exposure, compared with urban exposures. For long-term knowledge acquisition the effect of nature produces mixed results with this older age group. Fägerstam and Blom ( 2013 ) found that outdoor lessons can improve students’ knowledge retention on biology for a seventh grade group but not for the eighth graders. Wells et al., ( 2015 ) found that across a diverse age range (6–12 years) experiential garden-based lessons on nutrition, horticulture and plant science resulted in significantly better knowledge retention assessed using a multiple-choice test, relative to those who completed classroom-based lessons.

Similar patterns for attentional functioning have been found in other age groups. For younger, mostly secondary school children, there is evidence that children can benefit from nature exposure in terms of working memory as well as selected and sustained attention (Amicone et al., 2018 ; Johnson et al., 2019 ; Stevenson et al., 2019 ) after a walk or play in a natural compared with urban environment. The remaining studies focusing on secondary school children (Amicone et al., 2018 ; Mygind et al., 2018 ) examined two additional attentional domains, namely, impulse control and selective/sustained attention, with an emphasis on visual scanning and processing speed, as measured by the Go/No-Go and D2-R tests, respectively. No observed significant positive effects of nature exposure were found in these studies. Finally, for the youngest group of school children (aged 7–12 years), nature exposure does not show similar patterns of effect in cognitive functioning as for middle and high school children. Had there been more experimental studies focusing on young children, perhaps a pattern could be established. Wells et al., ( 2015 ) have provided evidence that 6–12 year old children can benefit from a school garden intervention in terms of long-term knowledge retention on plant and nutritional science compared to children with no garden activity lessons. This finding adds to the body of research in nature exposure on long-term memory retention, but further work is needed since mixed results have been reported for older groups of children. With respect to attentional processes in young children, the effect of nature exposure on selective/sustained attention and information processing speed has produced mixed results (van den Berg et al., 2017 ; van Dijk-Wesselius et al., 2018 ).

Study duration

As can be seen from Appendix Table 8 , most interventions used in the studies reviewed were of a short duration and focused on attentional functioning as an outcome. Five studies used immediate post-intervention designs with a time range of 20–30 min (Amicone et al. (study 1 and 2), 2018; Greenwood & Gatersleben, 2016 ; Johnson, et al., 2019 ; Stevenson, et al., 2019 ). These studies were most consistent in reporting positive effects of nature exposure, in particular, on selective attention, working memory, concentration, alerting, orienting and speed, with exception of impulse control (Amicone et al. (study 1), 2018), exogenous attention (Johnson, et al., 2019 ) and executive attention (Stevenson, et al., 2019 ).

The remaining short-term exposure studies used post-intervention designs and during intervention designs (10 to 60 min) (Wallner et al., 2018 ; Li & Sullivan, 2016 ; Mygind, et al. 2018). Our review supports the effectiveness of short-term nature interventions to improve attentional functioning. However, mixed results were reported on sustained/selective attention, namely, positive effects were reported by Wallner et al. ( 2018 ), and no effects were reported by Mygind et al. (2018).

Four studies in our review applied longer-term exposures in their designs (Fägerstam & Blom, 2013 ; Wells et al., 2015 ; van Dijk-Wesselius et al., 2018 ; van den Berg et al., 2017 ). Specifically, there were two experiments (Fägerstam & Blom, 2013 ; Wells et al., 2015 ) that examined whether exposure to natural environments influenced knowledge retention over longer-time periods (5 and 6 months, 1 and 2 years follow-up). Both studies examined outdoor education in school-settings. Wells et al. ( 2015 ) provided support for benefits of outdoor education in school settings for primary school children, Fägerstam and Blom (2013), however, reported benefits for 7th graders but not for 8th graders.

The remaining two studies (van Dijk-Wesselius, et al., 2018 ; van den Berg, et al., 2017 ) examined long-term nature exposure (2 and 4 months, and 1 and 2 years, respectively) on attentional functioning rather than long-term knowledge. The studies were complex in their design and provided mixed findings of nature exposure on selective attention and processing speed. For example, the green wall study (van den Berg, et al., 2017 ) was designed to measure attentional functioning after a short-time exposure of looking at the classroom green wall (a few minutes), just before testing. In addition, this short exposure was also combined with longer-term exposures of 2 and 4 months, accumulating during the time children were studying in the green wall classroom. So, it is difficult to disentangle short-term effects from long-term effects. Similarly, van Dijk-Wesselius, et al. (2018) used 1 and 2 years of long-term exposures to school greenery and reported beneficial effects on processing speed at the second follow-up. However, the testing was administered after school recess, again adding a short-term exposure as a possible effect.

The primary aims of this review was to (1) systematically evaluate the body of experimental and quasi-experimental studies examining the effect of nature (greenspace) on cognitive functioning in children and adolescents; (2) to investigate the underlying processes involved in possible effects of nature on cognitive performance and to consider the adequacy of different theoretical models to explain any effects; and, finally to, (3) examine whether the effects of nature exposure differ according to age. In addition, possible differences in relation to the duration and type of nature intervention were examined. This review found that based on 12 relatively high-quality studies, there seems to be substantial evidence that exposure to nature can enhance cognitive functioning in children and adolescents. This review included an examination of a range of cognitive functions relating to attention and knowledge acquisition including working memory tests, selective attention tests (also including tests with varying degrees of sustained/selective attention tests, processing speed), impulse control tests and long-term memory (knowledge acquisition). Many positive effects were found especially across the sub-categories of working memory and sustained/selective attention. There were only three studies focusing on processing speed (n = 2) and impulse control (n = 1) and the findings of these were less favorable. These findings suggest that key cognitive processes relating primarily to attention and memory (working and long term) were enhanced following nature exposure. This was irrespective of the actual nature intervention being delivered (e.g., playing outdoors in greenspace, observing nature from a window or gardening). As all the included studies were of a high (n –10) or moderate standard (n = 2) using the EPHHP, the findings hold firm and have practical implications for learning environments with young people. Integrating nature interventions with teaching and learning practices can provide welcome cognitive relief for highly anxious young people feeling the pressures of academic performance and testing. Simply learning amidst nature and short-term nature interventions can have beneficial cognitive effects particularly for high school students.

This review also explored what the underlying mechanisms might be for nature exposure to lead to favorable cognitive outcomes for school aged children. There was substantial support for the restorative effects of nature on cognitive functioning. This was ascertained by improved attentional functioning after nature exposure, relative to being amidst built environments, as well as by self-reported accounts about how replenished the students felt after nature exposure. This is consistent with ART and previous studies such as van den Berg et al. ( 2016 ) who found that children reported feeling restored after being in nature. While stress reduction, relaxation and well-being were also reported as outcomes in a variety of studies, thus supporting SRT and the biophilia hypothesis respectively, the findings were not always consistently favorable for all outcomes. For example, Greenwood and Gatersleben ( 2016 ) found that participants improved their concentration, positive affect and heart rate after a break outdoors in nature (compared with an indoor condition) but their blood pressure did not improve. Interestingly, this study also found that the effects of nature on positive affect were strongest when participants were with a friend as opposed to being alone. Studies like this suggest that there may be a synergistic effect of numerous mediating factors as well as the potential for confounding factors such as social interaction, to contribute to the benefits. In addition, the ability to examine underlying mechanisms depends on the measures selected for the studies and the reliability and validity of these measures to accurately detect change. For example, it may be that certain physiological indices are more sensitive measures of change than others (e.g., heart rate compared with blood pressure) or that subjective experiences may be easier for researchers to measure than physiological outcomes. It is important in the future to design a priori nature studies that can effectively test the relative contributions of theories and mediating factors. This review has identified some likely contributors but a better understanding of the combination of factors that are most conducive to nature benefits will have positive implications for practice and achieving desirable outcomes for cognitive functioning and well-being.

Along these lines, the active or passive role nature plays in exposures may be an important factor to consider when examining cognitive outcomes of nature interventions. The scope of this review does not allow different mechanisms related to types of involvement in nature exposure designs to be identified; however, it would be worth knowing if different forms of engagement with nature lead to different cognitive outcomes. If we use Norwood’s (2019) definition of active/passive engagement with nature, most of the included studies in our review used passive rather than active nature exposure as the intervention treatment, that is, nature was used as a background for other activity like walking, active play and sitting quietly while reading. In contrast, in two outdoor education studies (Fagerstam & Blom, 2013; Wells et al., 2015 ) nature played a central role. In the remaining studies, nature may be argued to have played somewhat of an active role. One study involved a green walk with a series of added short talks to contemplate on nature (Stevenson, Dewhurst, Schilhab, & Bentsen, 2019), and another study (Amicone et al., 2018 , study 2) used free play in the garden with the intention of shifting children’s attention from an activity of a regular group game. Finally, the green wall study (van den Berg et al., 2017 ) used living plants designed as a visual focus during the rest period, as a short-term exposure, which would make it an active use of nature. However, the study also involved a long-term exposure to the green wall in its follow-up, which would make it a passive type of exposure.

The issue of passive/active role nature plays in exposure designs to explain underlying mechanisms in nature-cognition relationship often overlaps with active/passive involvement of participants themselves in how they use the natural environment. The underlying mechanisms may be similar. The nature exposure may facilitate physical activity (e.g., walking or playing in a garden) or simply involve being passive around nature (e.g., looking at nature from a classroom window). It appears that for younger students in primary school, physical activity in nature is common and beneficial. Benefits may be partly due to the physical development and coordination that occurs for young people during this age and their innate drive to play and explore (Fjørtoft, 2004 ). For high school students, nature exposure effects occurred with as well as without physical involvement—this is a promising finding given that adolescents tend to be at high risk of mental illness and can experience high levels of anxiety (Tiller et al., 2020 ). A limit to understanding how nature differentially affects children at various ages, is that the focus of the experimental studies has been on high school students. More high-quality research is needed with primary school students, particularly in the early years. Moreover, considering that studies report on various cognitive domains and that they differ substantially in design, study population and nature exposure, the comparison of subgroups is highly restricted. There are also additional differences on how the studies apply statistical adjustments for demographic and socio-economic confounders.

Despite a lack of consistency in findings on long-term nature exposure benefits for cognitive functioning, one should not dismiss positive findings in the area of greening or outdoor education interventions used in short-term school settings. Studies on everyday exposure to greenness for all age groups provide insight into the methods of reducing attentional difficulties and the ways to support academic development (Faber Taylor and Kuo, 2011 ; Tallis, et al., 2018; Wu et al., 2014). In consideration of education becoming increasingly important for children, particularly as they spend more time in the school environment when they progress through primary, middle and high school levels, more research is focused on school surrounding greenness (Li, et al., 2019 ; Matsuoka, 2010 ). Li, et al. (2019) measured greenness as tree cover density and reported a positive association with adolescents’ academic performance. More sophisticated measurement of school greenness was applied in Matsuoka’s (2010) study to examine how particular nature features around school buildings would be best associated with students’ grades. Student performance was positively associated with greater quantities of trees and shrubs, particularly as viewed from their cafeteria. Conversely, large area features like parking lots, campus lawns and athletic fields were negatively related to academic performance.

Hence, greenspace exposure seems to be correlated with children’s and adolescents’ cognitive functioning in different ways depending on their developmental level. Further investigation of long and short-term effects of well-defined nature exposure over the child’s life course has the potential to provide guidance for parents and school leaders on how nature exposure may help students better engage with their learning or improve their overall academic achievement. While research indicates nature exposure benefits across a child’s life span, more attention should be given to identifying specific greenspace features for well-defined and diverse populations. For example, it may be useful to distinguish children with mild symptoms of attention disorders from those with severe symptoms. Findings from Faber et al.’s (2011) study indicate that relatively open grass settings could better alleviate attention symptoms for hyperactive children than settings with trees and grass. School-based short-term interventions may play an important role in self-regulation issues as it is important in everyday school tasks and essential for effective attention functioning (McClelland, et al., 2010 ). Correspondingly, direct attention—described in ART theory as having limited mental resources and requiring restoration—would equally benefit from nature exposure. Children are being challenged with increasing cognitive demands and nature exposure can be restorative for each age group in different ways. To establish exactly how this occurs, precise descriptions of nature exposure are required. Furthermore, measurements of cognitive functioning should be sensitive enough to detect meaningful differences across the child and adolescents’ age span so that age-appropriate nature strategies can be developed.

Strengths, limitations and implications

The high quality of studies included in this review is a strength. This was examined using the EPHPP which assessed six domains (selection bias, study design, confounders, blinding, data collection methods, withdrawals and dropouts). Ratings were conducted by both authors with near perfect consistency, indicating that 10 of the 12 studies adhered strongly to quality standards and two moderately to quality standards. The main areas of bias occurred mainly in the study design and blinding domains. This is not surprising for nature interventions with ecological validity, where blinding is not really feasible. Another limiting factor concerns the suitability of the comparison group. While it can be argued that greenspace interventions can be compared with alternative conditions that are commonly used in schools, if the comparisons are barren concrete areas like car parks, then the relative benefits of greenspace would not be surprising. Comparing greenspace with other spaces that are aesthetically pleasing, such beautifully designed buildings would make a fairer comparison. Overall, however, the high quality of studies included in this review provide confidence in the findings obtained and the case for investing in nature interventions for improved cognitive health and well-being, particularly for school children.

Our main objective was to establish if the causal effects of nature on cognitive functioning could be demonstrated experimentally in variety of settings involving both short-term and long-term cognitive outcomes. However, this objective presents a challenge to explain precisely how the process occurs. A closer analysis would require refinement of the definition of nature exposure itself. Norwood et. al. (2019) advocate the need to isolate the role of nature exposure in research away from possible confounders. For example, nature exposure in adventure or wilderness therapy is an integral part of such interventions and they use nature in an active way alongside the counselling process itself. For this purpose, they define passive nature exposure in an attempt to remove it from possible factors like social engagement. Such passive exposure may "take place in a natural environment which itself is not actively integrated or consciously used in an activity" (Norwood et. al., 2019, p.72).

The studies in this review were not designed to examine nature exposure in its pure form that would eliminate the influence of other possible variables, such as being with other people or engaging in various types of physical activity, and they differ in the degree of passive/active use of nature in their exposure settings. The selected studies also focused on real-world settings, including potential confounders such as social interaction and physical activity (see Appendix Table 8 for passive/active dimension of interventions).

Thus, a strength of this review lies in the inclusion of a variety of types of nature exposure in terms of duration and settings to demonstrate causal effect of greenspace on cognitive functioning. However, because of the wide inclusion criteria it was difficult to determine the exact mechanism of impact. Although further analysis of short-term and long-term exposures allowed for identifying factors described in ART theory on attentional processing, there was not enough evidence for explaining mechanisms involved in long-term nature exposures (see Appendix Table 8 for short-term/long-term duration of interventions).

Similarly, this review includes a variety of outcome measures. Some of them are used in a traditional school environment, others, coming from laboratory test settings. This wide inclusion criteria on our outcome measurement is a strength as well as a limitation. Comparing different outcome measures limits generalizing to overall cognitive functioning. However, a wide range of possible cognitive benefits provide an opportunity to further explore the greenspace-cognition relationship. The majority of outcome tests adopted in the included studies are of particular interest. They relate to attentional functioning such as direct attention, selective attention and also mental processing involving tedious activities. These mental functions are in constant demand in school classrooms (Diamond & Taylor, 1996 ) and require frequent restoration. The studies included in our review show how to restore attention through short-term exposure to nature to maintain students' focus and optimal attentional functioning. We also included studies with traditional outcome measures of academic performance that are mainly designed to examine possible long-term effects of nature exposure. Our findings suggest that employing both types of nature exposures can be beneficial. The short-term nature breaks would maintain basic healthy attentional functioning in the classroom and, at the same time, long-term nature exposure is recommended to provide a supportive environment for other restorative aspects of students' functioning, including social, physical and mental dimensions. Further research is required to identify the exact underlying mechanisms of long-term nature interventions involving holistic approaches to student functioning.

Another limitation is the narrow range of geographical areas of the papers included in this review, with different climates and cultures. Greenness as measured by NDVI most often excludes other colors that are part of nature. For example, autumn color foliage has been perceived as especially restorative by elementary school children when compared to green foliage (Paddle & Gilliland, 2016 ). The findings indicate that greenspace measures should expand to include orange and perhaps other colors that we can find in high mountainous areas or deserts.

Recommendations for Future Research

A number of design issues warrant attention in experimental studies of nature exposure on cognition. Nature exposure needs to be well described at every stage of the experiment for both short-term and long-term studies. For example, studies that are designed to examine short-time effects of nature on attentional functioning should also be accounting for long-term exposure to the natural environment (like surrounding school, neighborhood, or home greenery) with the same scrutiny as socio-economic status is routinely checked in many studies. Correspondingly, for long-term studies, most often measuring surrounding greenness, the testing environment itself also needs to be described, with special consideration given to any natural green features (e.g., does the testing room have windows with green views, or is there a living plant in the area?).

There is also the issue of lack of consistency between nature exposure experiments of pre-exposure activities. For example, studies in school settings may have specific classes like maths or art before testing. These classes need to be described as they may vary in the extent to which they are cognitively demanding. Likewise, for long-term exposure studies examining for example, school greenness on academic performance, pre-testing conditions like their environment on the way to school, need to be accounted for. For example, some students may need to walk through busy urban streets to get to school for an exam, while some may be walking through a park. Thus, pre-testing conditions need to be accounted for in most experimental designs in order to control possible differences in nature exposure effects.

The positive findings from this review are heartening given the modern-day pressures faced by many young people in westernized society (Blake et al., 2018 ; Michaelson et al., 2020 ; Vancampfort et al., 2018 ) including the pressure to perform well academically (Tiller et al., 2020 ). The diminishing opportunities for nature exposure, and immersion in the technology saturated lives of young people, heighten the importance of embedding nature in the everyday experiences of young people to enhance mental health (Capaldi et al, 2015 ; Diaz et al., 2015; Hartig et al., 2014 ). Hence, exposure to nature during school time is ideal. The findings that short-term active and passive nature interventions were effective for promoting cognitive functioning makes the integration of nature into school life feasible. It is also worthwhile given that nature exposure facilities cognitive qualities such as attention, memory and knowledge acquisition that are conducive to learning (Mason et al., 2021 ). Urban planners and educators need to consolidate efforts to create a range of short and long duration nature interventions including school yard greening, internal greening, classroom views of nature and curriculum focused on biology, horticulture, sustainability and biodiversity. Preliminary findings suggest this would create a physiologically calming and restorative environment conducive to improved attention and knowledge acquisition—both of which are essential for learning. Support for school-based exposure to nature is growing and this systematic review focusing on high quality experimental studies, has contributed to a tipping point of evidence favoring the dissemination of nature interventions for enhanced cognitive functioning with children and adolescents.

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Dianne Vella-Brodrick would like to thank the Higgins family for supporting her role as Gerry Higgins Chair in Positive Psychology. This role has enabled the development of a new research program on Nature and Wellbeing which has commenced with this review paper.

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Vella-Brodrick, D.A., Gilowska, K. Effects of Nature (Greenspace) on Cognitive Functioning in School Children and Adolescents: a Systematic Review. Educ Psychol Rev 34 , 1217–1254 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-022-09658-5

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Essay on Nature And Environment

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100 Words Essay on Nature And Environment

What is nature.

Nature is everything around us that wasn’t made by humans. It includes the air we breathe, the parks where we play, and the animals we watch. Nature is the mountains, rivers, forests, and oceans that make our planet beautiful. It gives us food, water, and air.

Our Environment

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Why Nature Matters

Nature is important because it helps us live. Trees give us oxygen, and plants give us food. Without nature, we wouldn’t have clean water to drink or soil to grow our crops. Nature also makes us feel happy when we spend time in it.

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To protect our planet, we must keep our environment clean and safe. This means not littering, recycling our waste, and using less plastic. We should also save water and energy by turning off lights and taps when we’re not using them.

250 Words Essay on Nature And Environment

Nature is everything that was not made by humans. It includes trees, rivers, animals, mountains, and all the other things we see outside that are not buildings or roads. Nature is very important because it gives us air to breathe, water to drink, and food to eat. It also makes our world beautiful.

The environment is like a big home where all living things, including humans, animals, and plants, live together. It has different parts like air, water, land, and all the living things. We all share this home, and we must take care of it so it remains a good place to live.

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Taking Care of Our Environment

Taking care of our environment means we use things wisely. We should not waste water, throw trash everywhere, or cut down too many trees. We can also help by planting more trees and cleaning up rivers and beaches. When we look after our environment, we make sure it stays healthy for us and for all the animals and plants.

Nature and our environment are gifts that we must protect. It’s up to us to make sure they are safe so that we, and all the living things we share the Earth with, can have a good life. Let’s promise to be good friends to nature and our environment.

500 Words Essay on Nature And Environment

Introduction to nature and environment.

Nature is all around us. It includes the trees, the mountains, the oceans, and even the air we breathe. When we talk about the environment, we mean everything that surrounds us, including living things like plants and animals, and non-living things like water, soil, and climate. Nature and the environment are important because they give us food to eat, water to drink, and air to breathe.

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Nature is full of wonders. Think of the bright colors of flowers, the songs of birds, and the vastness of the sky. All these beautiful things are gifts from nature. They can make us feel happy and calm. When we take a walk in a park or go for a hike in the mountains, we can see how amazing nature is. It is not only nice to look at but also a home for many creatures.

Plants and Animals

Plants and animals are a big part of nature. They live in forests, deserts, oceans, and even in cities. Plants are very important because they make oxygen, which is the air we need to live. Animals, including insects, birds, and fish, each play a special role in nature. They help plants grow by spreading their seeds and keeping the soil healthy.

Our Role in Protecting the Environment

It is very important for us to take care of nature and the environment. Sometimes, people make the air dirty by using cars and factories that let out smoke. They also throw away trash that can hurt land and water. We need to keep our environment clean by recycling, using less plastic, and not wasting water.

Climate Change

The weather is changing in ways that can be bad for nature. This is called climate change. It makes it hotter in some places and colder in others. It can also cause big storms and make it hard for animals and plants to live. We can help stop climate change by using less energy from things that burn oil and coal, and by planting more trees.

Nature and the environment are very special. They give us a place to live, food to eat, and air to breathe. We should remember to look after them so they can stay beautiful and healthy. By doing simple things like recycling and saving water, we can make a big difference. Let’s promise to protect our nature and environment for ourselves and for the animals and plants that share this earth with us.

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Nature Essay

Everything we see around us is a part of nature, from towering mountains to microscopic organisms, from dry deserts to vast oceans. Everything that we see, touch, hear, feel, and even taste is part of nature. Here are some sample essays on the topic "Nature”.

100 Words Essay on Nature

Nature is everything around us; even those things that we cannot see, such as microorganisms, are part of nature. Mankind is so dependent on nature; it provides everything that we need. The spices that make our food delicious, the water without which the existence of life is impossible—all are provided by nature, which is why we call it “Mother Nature." Though there are people who ignore the fact that our lives depend on it and, for some temporary benefit, tend to destroy it without even caring about the consequences. We all must pledge to protect nature at any cost, for us and for future generations.

200 Words on Nature Essay

Nature in its purest form is a gift to humanity. One cannot even fathom living without nature.

Nature Provides | Just like a tree depends on the connection of its roots, mankind’s roots are deeply connected to nature. Directly or indirectly, everything that we use and depend upon is provided by nature, which is why we respect it as our mother. Our nature provides us with a variety of beautiful flowers, attractive birds, animals, and green plants; a blue sky, land, running rivers, sea, forests, air, mountains, hills, and much more.

Threats To Nature | Though there are people who, for their own profits, do not hesitate to harm it, they can go to even the lowest of the low, like cutting down trees, destroying lands, and poisoning water sources, just to make a fortune. We need to realise that our selfish and bad activities have disturbed nature to a great extent.

Our Responsibility | We all should try to maintain nature’s beauty. It is our responsibility to protect our nature, as it protects and nurtures us. Because nature is a silent teacher, we must all pledge to protect this valuable asset bestowed upon us. It does not scold, but if the man does not pay attention properly, it does not hesitate to punish.

500 Words on Nature Essay

Nature is both humanity's most valuable and most beautiful asset. It can be said that God designed nature to show his love and care for the beings living on this planet. Today, everyone has less time to enjoy nature. In the increasing crowd, we forgot to enjoy nature and improve our health. We started using technological instruments for our health and fitness. And some of the things we do have a negative impact on nature.

Mother Nature

We respect nature as our mother and call it “Mother Nature” because, just like a mother for her child, Mother Nature fulfils our needs and nurtures us like her children. She provides us food to eat, water to relieve our thirst, a place to live, scenes to enjoy, and medicines, and just like a mother, she teaches us important lessons, sometimes even through hard experiences. But above that, we are totally dependent on her existence.

Things to Learn from Nature

Nature has a plethora to teach human beings. Here are a few of them:-

Essential Resources | Using the healthy food and drink that nature provides, we can live a healthy lifestyle. In a similar way, it gives us food and water so we can function. The two essential components for survival, rainfall and sunshine, are produced by nature.

Discipline | Nature also teaches us to appreciate the time and use it wisely because life is short and time is fleeting. Every day, the sun rises. The uninterrupted cycle of nature teaches us the value of discipline and punctuality.

Patience And Perseverance | It teaches us to work tirelessly toward our objective while continuing to flow forward like a river. Additionally, it conveys a message of bravery and hope. Even though nature suffers, it continues. With patience, we can continue and are certain to succeed, just as the sun emerges from the darkness of night after the darkest hour.

Necessity of Conservation

Recently, our family went to a neighbouring state. It was beautiful and scenic the last time we visited, but this time it was not the same; the air was polluted and the water was black due to industrial waste. The industries and construction had ruined the place; it used to be a sight to see, but now the pollution won’t even let us see the clear blue sky.

If we want to protect the environment, we must act quickly and forcefully to stop any further harm. Preventing deforestation at all levels is the most crucial action. All industries must strictly avoid polluting ocean water because it significantly worsens water scarcity. The excessive use of appliances like ovens, air conditioners, and cars results in large amounts of chlorofluorocarbons, which deplete the ozone layer. As a result, there is global warming, which results in thermal expansion and glacier melting.

In conclusion, nature possesses a potent transformative force that is essential for the continuation of life as we know it. It is our responsibility to protect it for the benefit of future generations because it is necessary for humanity to thrive. To ensure that life on Earth can last indefinitely, we must work hard to preserve natural resources.

Explore Career Options (By Industry)

• Construction
• Entertainment
• Manufacturing
• Information Technology

Data Administrator

Database professionals use software to store and organise data such as financial information, and customer shipping records. Individuals who opt for a career as data administrators ensure that data is available for users and secured from unauthorised sales. DB administrators may work in various types of industries. It may involve computer systems design, service firms, insurance companies, banks and hospitals.

Bio Medical Engineer

The field of biomedical engineering opens up a universe of expert chances. An Individual in the biomedical engineering career path work in the field of engineering as well as medicine, in order to find out solutions to common problems of the two fields. The biomedical engineering job opportunities are to collaborate with doctors and researchers to develop medical systems, equipment, or devices that can solve clinical problems. Here we will be discussing jobs after biomedical engineering, how to get a job in biomedical engineering, biomedical engineering scope, and salary. 

Ethical Hacker

A career as ethical hacker involves various challenges and provides lucrative opportunities in the digital era where every giant business and startup owns its cyberspace on the world wide web. Individuals in the ethical hacker career path try to find the vulnerabilities in the cyber system to get its authority. If he or she succeeds in it then he or she gets its illegal authority. Individuals in the ethical hacker career path then steal information or delete the file that could affect the business, functioning, or services of the organization.

GIS officer work on various GIS software to conduct a study and gather spatial and non-spatial information. GIS experts update the GIS data and maintain it. The databases include aerial or satellite imagery, latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates, and manually digitized images of maps. In a career as GIS expert, one is responsible for creating online and mobile maps.

Data Analyst

The invention of the database has given fresh breath to the people involved in the data analytics career path. Analysis refers to splitting up a whole into its individual components for individual analysis. Data analysis is a method through which raw data are processed and transformed into information that would be beneficial for user strategic thinking.

Data are collected and examined to respond to questions, evaluate hypotheses or contradict theories. It is a tool for analyzing, transforming, modeling, and arranging data with useful knowledge, to assist in decision-making and methods, encompassing various strategies, and is used in different fields of business, research, and social science.

Geothermal Engineer

Individuals who opt for a career as geothermal engineers are the professionals involved in the processing of geothermal energy. The responsibilities of geothermal engineers may vary depending on the workplace location. Those who work in fields design facilities to process and distribute geothermal energy. They oversee the functioning of machinery used in the field.

Database Architect

If you are intrigued by the programming world and are interested in developing communications networks then a career as database architect may be a good option for you. Data architect roles and responsibilities include building design models for data communication networks. Wide Area Networks (WANs), local area networks (LANs), and intranets are included in the database networks. It is expected that database architects will have in-depth knowledge of a company's business to develop a network to fulfil the requirements of the organisation. Stay tuned as we look at the larger picture and give you more information on what is db architecture, why you should pursue database architecture, what to expect from such a degree and what your job opportunities will be after graduation. Here, we will be discussing how to become a data architect. Students can visit NIT Trichy , IIT Kharagpur , JMI New Delhi . 

Remote Sensing Technician

Individuals who opt for a career as a remote sensing technician possess unique personalities. Remote sensing analysts seem to be rational human beings, they are strong, independent, persistent, sincere, realistic and resourceful. Some of them are analytical as well, which means they are intelligent, introspective and inquisitive. 

Remote sensing scientists use remote sensing technology to support scientists in fields such as community planning, flight planning or the management of natural resources. Analysing data collected from aircraft, satellites or ground-based platforms using statistical analysis software, image analysis software or Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is a significant part of their work. Do you want to learn how to become remote sensing technician? There's no need to be concerned; we've devised a simple remote sensing technician career path for you. Scroll through the pages and read.

Budget Analyst

Budget analysis, in a nutshell, entails thoroughly analyzing the details of a financial budget. The budget analysis aims to better understand and manage revenue. Budget analysts assist in the achievement of financial targets, the preservation of profitability, and the pursuit of long-term growth for a business. Budget analysts generally have a bachelor's degree in accounting, finance, economics, or a closely related field. Knowledge of Financial Management is of prime importance in this career.

Underwriter

An underwriter is a person who assesses and evaluates the risk of insurance in his or her field like mortgage, loan, health policy, investment, and so on and so forth. The underwriter career path does involve risks as analysing the risks means finding out if there is a way for the insurance underwriter jobs to recover the money from its clients. If the risk turns out to be too much for the company then in the future it is an underwriter who will be held accountable for it. Therefore, one must carry out his or her job with a lot of attention and diligence.

Finance Executive

Product manager.

A Product Manager is a professional responsible for product planning and marketing. He or she manages the product throughout the Product Life Cycle, gathering and prioritising the product. A product manager job description includes defining the product vision and working closely with team members of other departments to deliver winning products.  

Operations Manager

Individuals in the operations manager jobs are responsible for ensuring the efficiency of each department to acquire its optimal goal. They plan the use of resources and distribution of materials. The operations manager's job description includes managing budgets, negotiating contracts, and performing administrative tasks.

Stock Analyst

Individuals who opt for a career as a stock analyst examine the company's investments makes decisions and keep track of financial securities. The nature of such investments will differ from one business to the next. Individuals in the stock analyst career use data mining to forecast a company's profits and revenues, advise clients on whether to buy or sell, participate in seminars, and discussing financial matters with executives and evaluate annual reports.

A Researcher is a professional who is responsible for collecting data and information by reviewing the literature and conducting experiments and surveys. He or she uses various methodological processes to provide accurate data and information that is utilised by academicians and other industry professionals. Here, we will discuss what is a researcher, the researcher's salary, types of researchers.

Welding Engineer

Welding Engineer Job Description: A Welding Engineer work involves managing welding projects and supervising welding teams. He or she is responsible for reviewing welding procedures, processes and documentation. A career as Welding Engineer involves conducting failure analyses and causes on welding issues. 

Transportation Planner

A career as Transportation Planner requires technical application of science and technology in engineering, particularly the concepts, equipment and technologies involved in the production of products and services. In fields like land use, infrastructure review, ecological standards and street design, he or she considers issues of health, environment and performance. A Transportation Planner assigns resources for implementing and designing programmes. He or she is responsible for assessing needs, preparing plans and forecasts and compliance with regulations.

Environmental Engineer

Individuals who opt for a career as an environmental engineer are construction professionals who utilise the skills and knowledge of biology, soil science, chemistry and the concept of engineering to design and develop projects that serve as solutions to various environmental problems. 

Safety Manager

A Safety Manager is a professional responsible for employee’s safety at work. He or she plans, implements and oversees the company’s employee safety. A Safety Manager ensures compliance and adherence to Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) guidelines.

Conservation Architect

A Conservation Architect is a professional responsible for conserving and restoring buildings or monuments having a historic value. He or she applies techniques to document and stabilise the object’s state without any further damage. A Conservation Architect restores the monuments and heritage buildings to bring them back to their original state.

Structural Engineer

A Structural Engineer designs buildings, bridges, and other related structures. He or she analyzes the structures and makes sure the structures are strong enough to be used by the people. A career as a Structural Engineer requires working in the construction process. It comes under the civil engineering discipline. A Structure Engineer creates structural models with the help of computer-aided design software. 

Highway Engineer

Highway Engineer Job Description:  A Highway Engineer is a civil engineer who specialises in planning and building thousands of miles of roads that support connectivity and allow transportation across the country. He or she ensures that traffic management schemes are effectively planned concerning economic sustainability and successful implementation.

Field Surveyor

Are you searching for a Field Surveyor Job Description? A Field Surveyor is a professional responsible for conducting field surveys for various places or geographical conditions. He or she collects the required data and information as per the instructions given by senior officials. 

Orthotist and Prosthetist

Orthotists and Prosthetists are professionals who provide aid to patients with disabilities. They fix them to artificial limbs (prosthetics) and help them to regain stability. There are times when people lose their limbs in an accident. In some other occasions, they are born without a limb or orthopaedic impairment. Orthotists and prosthetists play a crucial role in their lives with fixing them to assistive devices and provide mobility.

Pathologist

A career in pathology in India is filled with several responsibilities as it is a medical branch and affects human lives. The demand for pathologists has been increasing over the past few years as people are getting more aware of different diseases. Not only that, but an increase in population and lifestyle changes have also contributed to the increase in a pathologist’s demand. The pathology careers provide an extremely huge number of opportunities and if you want to be a part of the medical field you can consider being a pathologist. If you want to know more about a career in pathology in India then continue reading this article.

Veterinary Doctor

Speech therapist, gynaecologist.

Gynaecology can be defined as the study of the female body. The job outlook for gynaecology is excellent since there is evergreen demand for one because of their responsibility of dealing with not only women’s health but also fertility and pregnancy issues. Although most women prefer to have a women obstetrician gynaecologist as their doctor, men also explore a career as a gynaecologist and there are ample amounts of male doctors in the field who are gynaecologists and aid women during delivery and childbirth. 

Audiologist

The audiologist career involves audiology professionals who are responsible to treat hearing loss and proactively preventing the relevant damage. Individuals who opt for a career as an audiologist use various testing strategies with the aim to determine if someone has a normal sensitivity to sounds or not. After the identification of hearing loss, a hearing doctor is required to determine which sections of the hearing are affected, to what extent they are affected, and where the wound causing the hearing loss is found. As soon as the hearing loss is identified, the patients are provided with recommendations for interventions and rehabilitation such as hearing aids, cochlear implants, and appropriate medical referrals. While audiology is a branch of science that studies and researches hearing, balance, and related disorders.

An oncologist is a specialised doctor responsible for providing medical care to patients diagnosed with cancer. He or she uses several therapies to control the cancer and its effect on the human body such as chemotherapy, immunotherapy, radiation therapy and biopsy. An oncologist designs a treatment plan based on a pathology report after diagnosing the type of cancer and where it is spreading inside the body.

Are you searching for an ‘Anatomist job description’? An Anatomist is a research professional who applies the laws of biological science to determine the ability of bodies of various living organisms including animals and humans to regenerate the damaged or destroyed organs. If you want to know what does an anatomist do, then read the entire article, where we will answer all your questions.

For an individual who opts for a career as an actor, the primary responsibility is to completely speak to the character he or she is playing and to persuade the crowd that the character is genuine by connecting with them and bringing them into the story. This applies to significant roles and littler parts, as all roles join to make an effective creation. Here in this article, we will discuss how to become an actor in India, actor exams, actor salary in India, and actor jobs. 

Individuals who opt for a career as acrobats create and direct original routines for themselves, in addition to developing interpretations of existing routines. The work of circus acrobats can be seen in a variety of performance settings, including circus, reality shows, sports events like the Olympics, movies and commercials. Individuals who opt for a career as acrobats must be prepared to face rejections and intermittent periods of work. The creativity of acrobats may extend to other aspects of the performance. For example, acrobats in the circus may work with gym trainers, celebrities or collaborate with other professionals to enhance such performance elements as costume and or maybe at the teaching end of the career.

Video Game Designer

Career as a video game designer is filled with excitement as well as responsibilities. A video game designer is someone who is involved in the process of creating a game from day one. He or she is responsible for fulfilling duties like designing the character of the game, the several levels involved, plot, art and similar other elements. Individuals who opt for a career as a video game designer may also write the codes for the game using different programming languages.

Depending on the video game designer job description and experience they may also have to lead a team and do the early testing of the game in order to suggest changes and find loopholes.

Radio Jockey

Radio Jockey is an exciting, promising career and a great challenge for music lovers. If you are really interested in a career as radio jockey, then it is very important for an RJ to have an automatic, fun, and friendly personality. If you want to get a job done in this field, a strong command of the language and a good voice are always good things. Apart from this, in order to be a good radio jockey, you will also listen to good radio jockeys so that you can understand their style and later make your own by practicing.

A career as radio jockey has a lot to offer to deserving candidates. If you want to know more about a career as radio jockey, and how to become a radio jockey then continue reading the article.

Choreographer

The word “choreography" actually comes from Greek words that mean “dance writing." Individuals who opt for a career as a choreographer create and direct original dances, in addition to developing interpretations of existing dances. A Choreographer dances and utilises his or her creativity in other aspects of dance performance. For example, he or she may work with the music director to select music or collaborate with other famous choreographers to enhance such performance elements as lighting, costume and set design.

Social Media Manager

A career as social media manager involves implementing the company’s or brand’s marketing plan across all social media channels. Social media managers help in building or improving a brand’s or a company’s website traffic, build brand awareness, create and implement marketing and brand strategy. Social media managers are key to important social communication as well.

Photographer

Photography is considered both a science and an art, an artistic means of expression in which the camera replaces the pen. In a career as a photographer, an individual is hired to capture the moments of public and private events, such as press conferences or weddings, or may also work inside a studio, where people go to get their picture clicked. Photography is divided into many streams each generating numerous career opportunities in photography. With the boom in advertising, media, and the fashion industry, photography has emerged as a lucrative and thrilling career option for many Indian youths.

An individual who is pursuing a career as a producer is responsible for managing the business aspects of production. They are involved in each aspect of production from its inception to deception. Famous movie producers review the script, recommend changes and visualise the story. 

They are responsible for overseeing the finance involved in the project and distributing the film for broadcasting on various platforms. A career as a producer is quite fulfilling as well as exhaustive in terms of playing different roles in order for a production to be successful. Famous movie producers are responsible for hiring creative and technical personnel on contract basis.

Copy Writer

In a career as a copywriter, one has to consult with the client and understand the brief well. A career as a copywriter has a lot to offer to deserving candidates. Several new mediums of advertising are opening therefore making it a lucrative career choice. Students can pursue various copywriter courses such as Journalism , Advertising , Marketing Management . Here, we have discussed how to become a freelance copywriter, copywriter career path, how to become a copywriter in India, and copywriting career outlook. 

In a career as a vlogger, one generally works for himself or herself. However, once an individual has gained viewership there are several brands and companies that approach them for paid collaboration. It is one of those fields where an individual can earn well while following his or her passion. 

Ever since internet costs got reduced the viewership for these types of content has increased on a large scale. Therefore, a career as a vlogger has a lot to offer. If you want to know more about the Vlogger eligibility, roles and responsibilities then continue reading the article. 

For publishing books, newspapers, magazines and digital material, editorial and commercial strategies are set by publishers. Individuals in publishing career paths make choices about the markets their businesses will reach and the type of content that their audience will be served. Individuals in book publisher careers collaborate with editorial staff, designers, authors, and freelance contributors who develop and manage the creation of content.

Careers in journalism are filled with excitement as well as responsibilities. One cannot afford to miss out on the details. As it is the small details that provide insights into a story. Depending on those insights a journalist goes about writing a news article. A journalism career can be stressful at times but if you are someone who is passionate about it then it is the right choice for you. If you want to know more about the media field and journalist career then continue reading this article.

Individuals in the editor career path is an unsung hero of the news industry who polishes the language of the news stories provided by stringers, reporters, copywriters and content writers and also news agencies. Individuals who opt for a career as an editor make it more persuasive, concise and clear for readers. In this article, we will discuss the details of the editor's career path such as how to become an editor in India, editor salary in India and editor skills and qualities.

Individuals who opt for a career as a reporter may often be at work on national holidays and festivities. He or she pitches various story ideas and covers news stories in risky situations. Students can pursue a BMC (Bachelor of Mass Communication) , B.M.M. (Bachelor of Mass Media) , or  MAJMC (MA in Journalism and Mass Communication) to become a reporter. While we sit at home reporters travel to locations to collect information that carries a news value.  

Corporate Executive

Are you searching for a Corporate Executive job description? A Corporate Executive role comes with administrative duties. He or she provides support to the leadership of the organisation. A Corporate Executive fulfils the business purpose and ensures its financial stability. In this article, we are going to discuss how to become corporate executive.

Multimedia Specialist

A multimedia specialist is a media professional who creates, audio, videos, graphic image files, computer animations for multimedia applications. He or she is responsible for planning, producing, and maintaining websites and applications. 

Quality Controller

A quality controller plays a crucial role in an organisation. He or she is responsible for performing quality checks on manufactured products. He or she identifies the defects in a product and rejects the product. 

A quality controller records detailed information about products with defects and sends it to the supervisor or plant manager to take necessary actions to improve the production process.

Production Manager

A QA Lead is in charge of the QA Team. The role of QA Lead comes with the responsibility of assessing services and products in order to determine that he or she meets the quality standards. He or she develops, implements and manages test plans. 

Process Development Engineer

The Process Development Engineers design, implement, manufacture, mine, and other production systems using technical knowledge and expertise in the industry. They use computer modeling software to test technologies and machinery. An individual who is opting career as Process Development Engineer is responsible for developing cost-effective and efficient processes. They also monitor the production process and ensure it functions smoothly and efficiently.

AWS Solution Architect

An AWS Solution Architect is someone who specializes in developing and implementing cloud computing systems. He or she has a good understanding of the various aspects of cloud computing and can confidently deploy and manage their systems. He or she troubleshoots the issues and evaluates the risk from the third party. 

Azure Administrator

An Azure Administrator is a professional responsible for implementing, monitoring, and maintaining Azure Solutions. He or she manages cloud infrastructure service instances and various cloud servers as well as sets up public and private cloud systems. 

Computer Programmer

Careers in computer programming primarily refer to the systematic act of writing code and moreover include wider computer science areas. The word 'programmer' or 'coder' has entered into practice with the growing number of newly self-taught tech enthusiasts. Computer programming careers involve the use of designs created by software developers and engineers and transforming them into commands that can be implemented by computers. These commands result in regular usage of social media sites, word-processing applications and browsers.

Information Security Manager

Individuals in the information security manager career path involves in overseeing and controlling all aspects of computer security. The IT security manager job description includes planning and carrying out security measures to protect the business data and information from corruption, theft, unauthorised access, and deliberate attack 

ITSM Manager

Automation test engineer.

An Automation Test Engineer job involves executing automated test scripts. He or she identifies the project’s problems and troubleshoots them. The role involves documenting the defect using management tools. He or she works with the application team in order to resolve any issues arising during the testing process. 

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Nature Essay in English for School Students

Despite nature's blessings, we forget that we are plundering her treasures. In Nature Essay, children can explore nature's abundance and variety.

November 18, 2023

Table of Contents

Nature Essay: Nature encompasses the interaction between physical surroundings and all living beings, including the atmosphere, climate, natural resources, ecosystem, flora, fauna, and humans. It is a precious gift from God to our planet, providing everything necessary for sustaining life. Often referred to as ‘Mother Nature’, she continuously nurtures us with her abundant offerings. From the food we eat and clothes we wear to our homes, nature provides it all. Everywhere we look presents a glimpse of nature’s beauty – trees, flowers, landscapes, insects, sunlight, breeze – all elements of our environment. Simply put, our environment is nature itself. And it has existed since long before the dawn of humanity.

Nature Essay in 100 words in English

Our planet, Earth, is undeniably stunning with its pristine and alluring nature abundant in lush greenery. It generously provides us with all the necessary resources for our sustenance. From clean water to breathe, nourishing food to eat, and land to call home – nature truly is our closest companion. However, we must appreciate and cherish nature’s blessings without disrupting its delicate balance. Let us take responsibility for preserving its peacefulness and cleanliness, preventing destruction so we may continue relishing its wonders indefinitely. After all, nature is a precious gift bestowed upon us by God for enjoyment, not harm.

Nature Essay in 150 words

The natural world is a source of immense beauty and joy, providing us with a healthy environment in which to live. It offers diverse flowers, birds, animals, plants, sky, land, rivers, seas, forests, air, mountains, valleys, and hills. This wondrous creation is the work of God, and it sustains our well-being.

These gifts from nature should be cherished and protected; we must not harm or exploit them for our gain. We are responsible for maintaining the balance of the ecosystem and preserving nature’s originality. Our surroundings offer us endless opportunities for enjoyment, and we must keep it clean and free from destruction. Sadly, many human activities in today’s world disregard this responsibility and have caused great harm to nature. However, we must all strive to uphold the beauty of our natural environment.

Nature Essay in 200 words

Nature is the encompassing beauty that surrounds us. We have the privilege to witness and appreciate it in every passing moment, from its vibrant transformations to its soothing sounds and sensations. It is essential to embrace nature’s gifts by stepping out for a morning walk, breathing in fresh air and basking in its magnificence. Throughout the day, we can marvel at how nature continuously changes, like when the sun rises, painting everything in a bright orange glow, and as it sets, casting a dark orange hue before turning into a soft dusk.

Despite nature’s abundant resources, we fail to reciprocate and instead continue to deplete its assets for our selfish desires. With the constant stream of technological advancements, we often overlook the environmental impact. We must take action to preserve our dwindling natural resources to ensure the sustainability of life on this planet. Neglecting this responsibility puts future generations at risk. Let us recognise and appreciate the value of nature and work towards preserving its natural state.

Nature Essay in 250 words

Nature is a precious and invaluable gift bestowed upon us by God for our life on Earth. It facilitates daily living by providing essential resources, and we should express gratitude for its role as a nurturing mother figure. Sitting peacefully in an early morning garden allows us to appreciate nature’s soothing sounds and captivating scenery. However, seeing this gift gradually diminishing due to human ignorance and technological advancement is disheartening.

Like a loving mother, nature always nourishes us and never causes harm. Walking in nature’s embrace early in the morning strengthens our physical health. It protects us from various dangerous illnesses such as diabetes, heart diseases, high blood pressure, liver problems, digestive issues, infections, and brain diseases. The gentle melodies of birds chirping, the rustling of the breeze, and the sound of fresh air and running water in the river contribute to our well-being. 

Nature Essay in 300 words

The natural world is an essential and inseparable aspect of our existence. We have all been graced with God’s steadfast love in the magnificent form of nature. It would be a shame to overlook the joy and wonder nature offers. Artists, poets, writers, and painters have long been drawn to depict the beauty of nature in their works. This divine creation is a precious gift bestowed upon us by God. Nature encompasses everything around us: from water and air to land and sky, fire and rivers, forests and animals, birds and plants, sun and moon, stars and sea, lakes and rain, thunder and storms. It is a vibrant display of both living beings and inanimate objects.

The natural world holds its strength and distinctiveness given by a higher power. It takes on various shapes and shades that shift with time – from morning to noon; for example, the sea transforms from a brilliant blue to a deep emerald green. Similarly, the sky undergoes a colourful transformation throughout the day: a soft pink sunrise, vibrant blue midday, fiery orange sunset, and dusky purple twilight. The changing nature also influences our emotions – feelings of contentment and optimism in sunny or rainy seasons and joy under moonlight, yet fatigue can set in during peak sunlight.

The transformative power of nature can affect our mood and behaviour. It can also aid in the recovery of patients when a pleasant environment is provided. Therefore, we must maintain a clean and conserved natural environment for the well-being of not only ourselves but also future generations. We must refrain from damaging actions such as deforestation or polluting our oceans and rivers, as well as contributing to adverse effects like the depletion of the ozone layer or global warming through selfish activities. We must become fully aware of our impact on nature and try to preserve its natural state for its ability to sustain life on Earth indefinitely.

Nature Essay in 400 words

The forces of nature, including the environment, offer us constant protection and sustenance. We are wholly dependent on air, land, water, fire, and the sky for our survival on this planet. Nature encompasses all living things, such as plants and animals, as well as natural phenomena like rivers, forests, rain, lakes, birds, oceans, thunderstorms, the sun and the moon. The weather conditions in our surroundings shape the atmosphere and physical features like mountains and deserts. Despite being a source of nourishment for us, nature also holds immense power to cause destruction.

In modern society, people have less time to appreciate nature. Amid a growing population, we often overlook the benefits of connecting with nature for our well-being. As a result, we rely on technological devices to maintain our health and fitness. However, it is undeniable that nature can rejuvenate and sustain us in the long term. Countless writers have praised the beauty and advantages of nature in their works. Nature has a powerful effect on our mental well-being and can even aid in healing physical ailments. Unfortunately, we are witnessing a gradual decline in our natural surroundings due to technological advancements. It is now more important than ever to raise awareness and take action towards preserving our precious resources.

We have never been tired of seeing how beautiful God created everything. Still, we have forgotten that we are also responsible for nature, especially the relationship between nature and humans. After a long day of crush, it looks like such a beautiful scene in the morning with the sunrise, the sounds of birds, the sounds of lakes and rivers, and the happy gatherings of friends in the evening in the garden. But we should have enjoyed the beauty of nature in fulfilling our duties towards our families.

On our vacations, we often spend the entire day indoors, whether watching TV, reading the news, playing games, or using the computer. However, we must remember that there are many fascinating things to do outside in nature. Unfortunately, we tend to leave all our lights on and unnecessarily use electricity at home, contributing to global warming. Additionally, our actions, such as cutting down trees and forests, release excess amounts of CO2 into the environment and contribute to the damaging effects of greenhouse gases and global warming.

If we want to be happy and healthy always, we should try our best to stop our foolish and selfish activities and save our planet and its beautiful nature. We should keep ecosystems in balance by not cutting trees and forests, conserving energy and water, and so on. Since we are the ultimate users of nature, we should care for it as much as we can.

Nature Essay FAQs

Nature refers to the natural world around us, encompassing everything from landscapes and living organisms to the elements. It includes the flora, fauna, and the physical environment in which they exist.

Nature plays a crucial role in our lives, providing essential resources like air, water, and food. Additionally, spending time in nature has proven benefits for mental and physical well-being, fostering a connection to the environment and promoting a sense of tranquillity.

Nature encompasses various elements, including landscapes, plants, animals, weather patterns, and geological features. It encompasses the entirety of the physical world, both living and non-living, outside human-made environments.

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Blog > Essay Advice , Personal Statement , Supplementals > Writing a College Essay About Nature? 5 Questions to Ask First

Writing a College Essay About Nature? 5 Questions to Ask First

Admissions officer reviewed by Ben Bousquet, M.Ed Former Vanderbilt University

Written by Kylie Kistner, MA Former Willamette University Admissions

Key Takeaway

Writing an effective college essay about nature requires a focus on outcomes and personal growth. Ask yourself questions about what you've gained, whether it relates to your field of study, and how it presents your interdisciplinary interests.

Working in admissions at a college in the Pacific Northwest, I can’t tell you how many essays I read that were about nature. It can be a great topic, especially if you’re applying to a school that prides itself on its outdoor opportunities.

But you can’t just write any old essay about nature. It still has to serve the purpose of a personal statement .

In this post, we’ll go through five questions that will help you assess whether to write about nature and, if so, how to approach it. Plus, stick around until the end to see a few examples of college essays about nature.

A quick word

I want to start with a quick refresher on why you write college essays in the first place.

Each part of your application works together to form a cohesive application narrative . Your personal statement anchors this narrative, and your supplementals add to and diversify it.

Remember that admissions officers are strapped for time and overwhelmed with applications. Your application has to make a good first impression and keep your admissions officers’ attention.

It also has to tell admissions officers something distinctive about you that will make them want to offer you one of their limited spaces on campus. Everything must connect back to who you are.

Whether you’re writing a personal statement or a supplemental about nature, never lose sight of this question: what do I want my admissions officers to learn about me from this essay?

Let that question guide your topic selection.

5 Questions to Ask Yourself When Writing a College Essay About Nature

Alright, with that quick note out of the way, let’s move on to these questions. College essays about nature can take on endless shapes and sizes, but these questions should get you started out on the right foot.

1. What is the outcome of my time in nature?

There’s no point in writing about a topic in your college application if it’s not clear what the outcome was. Is your story related to an internal, contemplative hobby? Or did you build something, hike a challenging trail, or go on some sort of distinctive outdoor adventure?

What were the intangible outcomes? In other words, what did you learn, how did you grow, how did it change who you are today?

And what were the tangible outcomes? Did you improve yourself or the world around you? Did you clean up a park? Feel physically empowered after climbing a mountain you thought you couldn’t?

Writing with an eye toward outcomes will keep your essay focused on what matters most.

2. What new knowledge have I gained through my interactions with nature?

The outcome of your time in nature can also be about what you learned.

Whether your big takeaways were academic, intellectual, creative, or personal, exploring the knowledge you gained while interacting with nature can be a compelling way to emphasize the personal meaning nature has in your life.

Let’s pretend you want to take a more academic approach. You might choose to write about how looking through your telescope was the first time you felt like a physicist. Or maybe you did fieldwork for your biology class and it made you realize you actually hate the outdoors and want to be in a lab all day.

Or perhaps the way a sunset reflected on the water inspired a painting you created. Or a walk you took resulted in the biggest epiphany of your life. The possibilities are endless.

3. Is nature related to my field of study?

Your essay doesn’t have to relate to your intended major, but finding a connection is one way to approach writing about nature.

If you want to go into biology or environmental studies, for example, then writing about your love of nature, a conservation project you worked on, or a special outdoor skill you have might make a lot of sense.

In these cases, focusing on outcomes is especially important. You want to show admissions officers that your academic interest is also something deeply and personally meaningful to you. You aren’t just interested in it as an academic matter. You’re ready to step out into the real world and make it happen.

4. If not, how does nature show my interdisciplinary interests?

If your topic doesn’t relate to your intended major, then you might also consider how you can relate the idea of nature to any interdisciplinary interests you have.

Whether you’re applying for a major in the humanities or the sciences, interdisciplinary thinking skills are always good to demonstrate.

Taking this approach can help you tie together your application narrative. Maybe you want to study public health but are also an avid rock climber. Your personal statement about rock climbing could lead into the idea that everyone has a right to access outdoor recreation as a public health matter.

5. Am I writing a supplemental essay?

Of course, how you approach your college essay about nature will depend on whether you’re writing a personal statement or a supplemental essay.

A personal statement should be a meaningful representation of who you are, while a supplemental essay should show strong school or academic fit.

If you’re writing a supplemental essay about nature, think about what kinds of connections to the school you might be able to make. Are there relevant natural features nearby, like mountains, wetlands, or lakes? Are there co-curricular clubs that you can reference, like ecology club or backpacking club?

In supplemental essays, making specific connections between your interests and what the school has to offer can show admissions officers that you’re a natural fit.

College Essay About Nature Examples

Ready to read some great examples of college essays about nature?

Our first example, Gone Fishing , talks about the writer’s journey learning to love nature.

Kayaking the Missouri shows a student’s leadership in nature, and Ski Patrol dives into the lessons the writer learned while working on ski patrol.

Key Takeaways

Nature is a common college essay topic, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t write about it. The topic can lead to really impactful personal statements and supplemental essays, as long as you keep your focus on outcomes and meaning.

Ask yourself these questions before you get started on your college essay about nature to make sure you’re keeping your attention on what will have the greatest effect on admissions officers.

And when you’re ready to take your college essays to the next level, consider signing up for the Essay Academy, our all-in-one digital college essay course.

Liked that? Try this next.

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Essay About the Beauty of Nature: 4 Examples and 9 Prompts

Read this article for essay examples and prompts to use so you can start writing essay about the beauty of nature.

Nature is complex and beautiful. Our ecosystem covers every aspect of Mother Earth, including the evolution of the earth & life, the various cycles, all the living things, and more. Collectively, they create something so beautiful and perfect that it can be hard to believe it exists. 

The beauty and power of nature can be pretty overwhelming. Whenever you want to feel these emotions, reading or writing essays about the beauty of nature can help you grasp those ideas. 

Below are examples of essays on nature and its beauty and prompts to help you get started on your next essay.

1. Essay on Beauty of Nature for Children and Students on Study Mentor

2. descriptive essay on beauty of nature on performdigi, 3. essay on beauties of nature by gk scientist, 4. descriptive essay on mother nature by neetu singh, 1. activities that appreciate nature, 2. the beauty of nature in renaissance art, 3. mindful methods of appreciating the beauty of nature, 4. literature pieces that define the beauty of nature well, 5. video games that captured the beauty of nature, 6. beautiful nature photo ideas and tips you can do with a phone, 7. difference between nature and science, 8. philosophical understanding of nature, 9. biomimicry: nature-inspired engineering.

“Each and everything in nature, including living or non-living organisms, play an important role in maintaining the balance to create a viable environment for all of us, which is called ecological balance. We need to make sure that the ecological balance should be maintained at all times to avoid a catastrophic situation in the future.”

The first essay discusses nature’s significance, the natural resources, and how to conserve them. It has an educational tone, encouraging the reader to care for nature and protect its beauty. The second essay focuses on the non-harmful ways of enjoying nature and protecting it from modern daily processes. You might also like these authors like Wendell Berry .

“Nature has many faces. They are everywhere. The human eye is always in contact with good things.”

This descriptive essay about the beauty of nature discusses the immortal, infinite, and eternal beauty of nature and nature as a reflection of the art of Allah. It covers the beauty of everything found in nature, including the changing seasons, birds, beasts, fish, reptiles, humans, the environment, and more.

“To enjoy these beauties of nature, one has to live in nature’s company. A countryman enjoys nature well. A town dweller cannot enjoy the beauties of nature.”

This essay on nature talks about nature and personifies it as a woman by using the pronouns she and her. The essay considers the various elements in nature, seasons, and unique environments. It also provides some wisdom to encourage the reader to care for nature.You might also be interested in these articles about the beauty of nature .

“As nature is the main life force of all living beings on earth. It is our duty to preserve and protect nature and all its creations alike. We must also love her in return as she loves us.”

In this essay, nature is God’s most tremendous boon to humanity. Thus, we must protect it from corruption, pollution, and other artificial and harmful manufactured things. The essay also gave examples of environmental problems that have impacted nature significantly. The end of the essay states that we must stand, preserve, and protect nature.

9 Prompts for Writing an Essay About the Beauty of Nature

Writing an essay about the beauty of nature can feel repetitive and overdone. You can avoid repeating the usual themes or ideas you saw above. Instead, use the essay prompts on nature below.

Here’s a tip: If writing an essay sounds like a lot of work, simplify it. Write a simple 5 paragraph essay instead.

Do you want other people to enjoy and appreciate nature? With this essay, you can list the various methods of appreciating nature. The activities can be simple such as planting a tree, hugging a tree, and watching sunsets.

For help with this topic, read this guide explaining what persuasive writing is all about.

Renaissance art is rich with meanings and symbolism portrayed through nature. For example, although flowers universally stand for beauty, different flower types can have different meanings. Dark clouds and streaks of lightning in the skies can portray dark moods or omens. Many renaissance male artists saw nature as a mother, mistress, or bride. If you like interpreting renaissance art, you’ll enjoy this essay topic.

Mindfulness and nature share a very positive relationship. Being in nature can make you more mindful. Being mindful while in nature enhances your connectedness to it. This essay focuses on mindfulness in nature.

 Consider your connection to it, be aware of your surroundings, and actively appreciate its various parts. Connecting to nature will open you to change, the natural cycle of life and death, and more.

Literature is more flexible than visual art because it taps the imagination through ideas and concepts rather than images. For example, various poets, writers, and playwrights have likened the beauty of nature to love, characters, powerful forces, and intense emotions. 

Avid literature readers will enjoy writing about the beauty of nature through their favorite authors, themes, and stories.

No matter what their genre, more video games today feature realistic graphics. One of the best ways to show off these high-tech graphics is by showing nature’s beauty in a scene or environment. 

Some examples of the top video games that have captured the beauty of nature include Ghost of Tsushima, Red Dead Redemption II, and The Last of Us: Part Two. Write about how the beauty of nature can be captured in a video game and the methods used to create vivid digital worlds.

Are you an enthusiast of nature photography and amateur photography? Bring these two things together by writing an essay about taking nature photos with a phone. Write what you learned about taking nature photos. 

You can also provide sample nature photos you or others took with a smartphone. Remember, nature photography can cover many subjects, like animals, plants, landscapes, etc.

Have you ever stopped to think about the difference between nature and science? Science has many methodical and measurable aspects and is as young as humanity. The opposite is true for nature because it has existed far longer than humans have. Yet, we can use science to study nature. 

When you pick this essay idea, discuss the loose ideas mentioned above in more detail. Researching and reading about nature vs. science can also help. Discuss this in your next essay for an inspiring and intriguing essay topic.

Philosopher students will enjoy writing an essay about the beauty of nature. You can argue that nature does not exist because it is not measurable. It doesn’t exist outside of any solid examples we can give, like the environment, animals, weather, and plants. 

You write about the philosophical aspects of nature and use key research to back up your ideas and arguments made in the essay. Look for scientific research papers, books by philosophers, and opinion essays to create this essay.

Biomimicry is a sustainable solution to human challenges. It imitates the designs found in nature’s time-tested strategies and patterns and incorporates them into technology. 

This is a fascinating essay topic that can inspire your next written piece. Conduct research into biomimicry, and let the reader know your thoughts and opinions on this subject.

 Do you need more inspiration? Read these 13 essays about nature .

Maria Caballero is a freelance writer who has been writing since high school. She believes that to be a writer doesn't only refer to excellent syntax and semantics but also knowing how to weave words together to communicate to any reader effectively.

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Essay on Nature

Here we have shared the Essay on Nature in detail so you can use it in your exam or assignment of 150, 250, 400, 500, or 1000 words.

You can use this Essay on Nature in any assignment or project whether you are in school (class 10th or 12th), college, or preparing for answer writing in competitive exams. 

Topics covered in this article.

Essay on Nature in 150-250 words

Essay on nature in 300-450 words, essay on nature in 500-1000 words.

Nature is a precious gift that surrounds us, encompassing the world’s landscapes, ecosystems, and living beings. It is a source of immense beauty, inspiration, and solace. From towering mountains to vast oceans, lush forests to serene meadows, nature provides us with breathtaking sights and a sense of awe.

Nature is not only visually captivating but also essential for our survival and well-being. It sustains life by providing clean air, fresh water, and fertile soil. It is home to a diverse array of plants and animals, each playing a vital role in maintaining ecological balance.

Furthermore, spending time in nature has numerous benefits for our physical and mental health. It rejuvenates our spirits, reduces stress, and enhances our overall well-being. Immersing ourselves in nature’s tranquility allows us to disconnect from the fast-paced world and reconnect with our inner selves.

However, human activities have taken a toll on nature. Deforestation, pollution, and climate change threaten the delicate balance of ecosystems and the survival of countless species. It is our responsibility to protect and conserve nature for future generations.

Appreciating nature’s beauty and recognizing its significance is crucial. We must strive to live in harmony with nature, practicing sustainable lifestyles and preserving natural resources. By valuing and respecting nature, we can ensure its preservation and continue to enjoy its countless gifts.

In conclusion, nature is a precious and awe-inspiring entity that sustains life and provides solace and inspiration. It is essential for our physical and mental well-being. As stewards of the Earth, it is our responsibility to protect and conserve nature, ensuring its preservation for future generations to cherish and enjoy.

Nature is a magnificent and awe-inspiring gift that surrounds us, encompassing the diverse landscapes, ecosystems, and living beings that make up our planet. From the majestic mountains to the serene lakes, from the vibrant forests to the vast oceans, nature captivates us with its beauty, power, and serenity.

Nature provides us with numerous benefits and is essential for our survival and well-being. It is the source of clean air, freshwater, and fertile soil that sustains life on Earth. The intricate web of ecosystems, comprising plants, animals, and microorganisms, works together to maintain the delicate balance of nature.

Beyond its practical importance, nature has a profound impact on our physical and mental health. Spending time in nature has been shown to reduce stress, improve mood, and enhance overall well-being. The sight of a breathtaking sunset, the sound of waves crashing on the shore, or the touch of grass beneath our feet can have a soothing and therapeutic effect, allowing us to reconnect with ourselves and find solace in the beauty of the natural world.

Unfortunately, human activities have had a detrimental impact on nature. Deforestation, pollution, climate change, and habitat destruction threaten the delicate balance of ecosystems and the survival of countless species. It is imperative that we recognize the urgency of preserving and protecting nature for future generations.

Conservation and sustainable practices are vital for ensuring the continued well-being of our planet. We must strive to live in harmony with nature, embracing sustainable lifestyles and adopting practices that minimize our ecological footprint. This includes reducing waste, conserving energy and water, practicing responsible consumption, and supporting conservation efforts.

Furthermore, education and awareness play a crucial role in fostering a deeper appreciation and understanding of nature. By learning about the intricate interconnectedness of ecosystems and the importance of biodiversity, we can develop a sense of responsibility and take action to protect and conserve the natural world.

Preserving nature is not just about ensuring our own well-being; it is a moral obligation to future generations and a commitment to the intrinsic value of all living beings and ecosystems. By valuing and respecting nature, we can create a more sustainable and harmonious future, where humans coexist with the natural world in a mutually beneficial relationship.

In conclusion, nature is a source of wonder, beauty, and vital resources. It sustains life, nourishes our souls, and provides us with a profound sense of connection. As custodians of the Earth, it is our responsibility to protect and preserve nature, adopting sustainable practices and fostering a deep appreciation for the natural world. By doing so, we can ensure a vibrant and thriving planet for ourselves and future generations to enjoy and cherish.

Title: Nature – A Pristine Gift Nurturing Life and Inspiring the Human Spirit

Introduction :

Nature, with its awe-inspiring landscapes, diverse ecosystems, and intricate web of life, is a pristine gift that surrounds us. It captivates us with its beauty, serenity, and transformative power. This essay explores the profound relationship between humans and nature, highlighting its importance for our physical, mental, and spiritual well-being. It also emphasizes the urgent need to protect and preserve nature in the face of environmental challenges.

The Beauty and Diversity of Nature

Nature encompasses a vast array of breathtaking landscapes, from snow-capped mountains to lush forests, from vast oceans to tranquil meadows. Each holds its unique charm, captivating us with its grandeur, tranquility, and raw beauty. From the vibrant colors of blooming flowers to the graceful flight of birds, nature’s diversity evokes wonder and ignites our imagination.

Nurturing Life and Ecosystems

Nature sustains life on Earth, providing vital resources and supporting intricate ecosystems. It supplies us with clean air, freshwater, and fertile soil, enabling the growth of crops and the survival of diverse species. The delicate balance of ecosystems ensures the survival of plants, animals, and microorganisms, each playing a crucial role in maintaining biodiversity and ecological harmony.

Physical and Mental Well-being

Spending time in nature has numerous physical and mental health benefits. It reduces stress, anxiety, and depression, promoting a sense of calm and well-being. The healing power of nature can be seen in activities such as forest bathing, where individuals immerse themselves in natural environments to enhance their overall health. Nature provides a respite from the fast-paced urban life, allowing us to disconnect, recharge, and rejuvenate our spirits.

Inspiration and Spiritual Connection

Nature inspires us and stirs our innermost emotions. The grandeur of a mountain range, the rhythmic crashing of waves, or the delicate beauty of a flower can evoke a profound sense of awe and wonder. Nature’s beauty stimulates our creativity, kindles our imagination, and nurtures our spirit. It serves as a reminder of our place in the larger tapestry of life, connecting us to something greater than ourselves.

Environmental Challenges and the Need for Conservation

Nature is facing unprecedented challenges due to human activities. Deforestation, pollution, climate change, and habitat destruction pose significant threats to the delicate balance of ecosystems and the survival of countless species. The urgency to protect and preserve nature has never been greater. Conservation efforts, sustainable practices, and environmental awareness are crucial in mitigating these challenges and ensuring a sustainable future.

Cultivating a Connection with Nature

To protect and preserve nature, it is essential to cultivate a deep connection and appreciation for the natural world. Education plays a vital role in fostering environmental awareness and instilling a sense of responsibility. Encouraging outdoor experiences, nature-based activities, and environmental stewardship programs can nurture a love for nature and promote a sense of guardianship of the planet.

Conclusion :

Nature is a remarkable and invaluable gift, nurturing life, inspiring the human spirit, and offering solace and serenity. It is essential for our physical, mental, and spiritual well-being. However, it faces significant challenges that threaten its delicate balance and the well-being of future generations. By protecting and preserving nature, adopting sustainable practices, and fostering a deep connection with the natural world, we can ensure a vibrant and thriving planet for ourselves and future generations to enjoy and cherish. Let us embrace our role as stewards of the Earth and work collectively to safeguard nature’s invaluable gifts.

Save Nature Essay

Introduction

We are always happy to get gifts from others, as they make us feel special and valued. Nature is such a gift given to us that it must be treated equally like any other gift. We might think that since nature and its resources are available for free, we can utilise them in whichever way we want. This approach towards nature is not good, and this is what is discussed in this save our nature essay.

The minute we step out of our homes, we are entering the space of nature, and everything we see around us forms a part of it. The plants, trees, flowers, sky, soil, water, sun, insects, and wind all fall under nature. Therefore, we must keep our nature as beautiful as it is.

Importance of Saving Nature

Even though nature has a significant role in supporting our lives, each component has a specific role in maintaining the balance of nature. While we get food to eat, air to breathe and water to drink from nature, we also enjoy the natural beauty and sounds as they lift our moods. Nature provides us with many resources, and we return its kindness by overexploiting and harming nature. Thus, as people living on Earth, we need to be conscious of our actions on surroundings that disrupt its natural flow.

Human activities are the main villain that harms nature. Earlier, it was not evident the dangerous effects of human exploitation on nature. When we think that we have only cut down a single tree, which might not damage nature, remember that there would be hundreds of others who think like you. So, one tree becomes hundreds, thousands and millions. At this pace, nature will soon exhaust its resources, and we will be suffering from various natural disasters and diseases. To put it simply, our mere existence would be threatened. This is why we need to preserve nature. In this how to save nature essay, we explore a few ways to coexist with nature.

Ways to Save Nature

We must be mindful of the fact that though nature has infinite resources, they will soon get depleted if we use them carelessly. As people started moving to cities, this led to the clearance of land and deforestation. The impact is environmental threats, such as green gas emissions, global warming, extinction of natural flora and fauna, etc. And the price we will have to pay will be huge.

To save ourselves from natural calamities and protect nature, let us move towards sustainable practices. By using eco-friendly products and discarding plastic and other non-degradable materials, we are doing a huge favour to our nature. We can also join our hands to reduce pollution by segregating wastes, using public transport and avoiding the use of pesticides. This save our nature essay from BYJU’S will be helpful for children to understand that if we take care of these trivial things, we can ensure the long life of nature.

You can explore more essays similar to the save nature essay on BYJU’S website to enhance kids’ learning experience. Also, access a wide range of kid-friendly learning resources on the website.

What is meant by nature?

The things that we see around us, which are not made by humans, constitute nature. It includes all living and nonliving things like air, water, sun, wind, animals, trees, mountains, oceans, etc.

What are some of the ways to save nature?

We can save nature if we stop over utilising the resources given to us by nature. We must preserve our environment as it is and not loot its materials. Moreover, we must take an environment-friendly approach, which must be reflected in our actions.

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Essay on Nature for Students and Childrens in 1000 Words

On this page, you will read an Essay on Nature for Students and Childrens in 1000 Words. This post tells us the importance of nature in our life.

Let’s start this Essay on Nature…

Table of Contents

Introduction (Essay on Nature – 1000W)

Understanding nature should be a part of everyone’s life. In today’s time, most people spend most of their time watching television and running the internet . Mostly he spends his time inside the house.

The Beauty of nature

The most significant disease in the world today is provoking mental stress. In addition to our work, we must also enjoy the view for a few days because nature is the power that everything in this world gives us whether it is our food or our lives.

Nature has the power to remove many diseases from the body. Greenery reduces stress and provides peace of mind. So if you have a high workload most of the time and you are surrounded by psychological stress, enjoy nature to calm your mind.

A man should never hurt nature. Today’s man realizes that nature has to be according to him, which is the biggest mistake. We, human beings, live in harmony with our nature and should not bring about some change in it.

Nature is our best friend

Nature is our great friend because we live on this planet, and all of its parts look natural. By nature, we get water to drink, clean air, animals, trees, plants, good food, and houses to live in so that man can live a good and useful life.

Every human being on earth should enjoy this beautiful nature without disturbing the ecological balance. We need to keep it clean to prevent the destruction of the environment and nature. Nature is a lovely gift from God. Nature is gorgeous, many important forces give us happiness and healthy life.

How to Protect Nature?

We can protect nature by taking care of a few key things like-

• By planting more and more trees. Soil erosion can be prevented by planting trees.
• By preventing soil erosion, we can protect nature’s beautiful oceans, rivers, and the ozone layer.
• Sources Prevent excessive use of natural resources. There is a need to use wisely without wasting available resources.
• Hunting for wild animals should be stopped for wildlife protection.
• Farmers should be taught for mixed cropping systems, fertilizers, pesticides, pesticides, and crop rotation. There is a need to promote the use of fertilizers and organic fertilizers
• Deforestation should be regulated.
• Eating a Rainwater Harvesting System should be installed.
• The use of renewable resources, such as solar, water, and wind energy, should be promoted.
• Water used in agricultural processes must be recycled.
• Car-pooling is the best way to diminish fossil fuel consumption .
• As per limit to use of paper and promote recycling.
• Save energy by using fluorescent bulbs instead of old light bulbs. Also, turn off light and electronic items when not needed.
• We must try our best to keep the nature around us clean.
• All measures should be taken to prevent all types of environmental pollution .
• We must never distort the balance of nature for our own sake because it will eventually become the most significant cause of human destruction.

Importance of Nature

Our nature has given us a wide variety of flowers, birds, animals, trees, blue skies, lands, rivers, oceans, and mountains. God created all these things to improve man’s life, so we must never harm this natural wealth.

Nature has given much to man, but man is always busy destroying it. Humans have created many natural-destructive causes for their benefit, such as environmental pollution, global warming , and the greenhouse effect.

There are so many innovations in the world of technology today, but nobody cares how these innovations affect nature. Therefore, before doing anything, we must assume that doing so would benefit or harm nature.

We need to keep our environment as clean as possible, not spread pollution and promote deforestation in our area. Millions of houses are being built every day, for which millions of trees are being cut down; we need to plant new plants every day so that the trees in nature are balanced.

Just as important as man is in nature, animals are just as important. Life on earth is impossible without animals. Therefore, to protect our environment, the protection of the organism is also critical.

Many countries of the world have built wild sanctuaries to protect animals. Besides, in every country, there are government agencies for the protection of organisms that live there.

10 Lines on Nature

• Wordsworth, a loyal nature lover, believes that nature is a storehouse of joy and happiness.
• It is the eternal source of divine beauty.
•  It is healing to a friend, guide, and stewardship and person. A sick body or a broken mind feels very relaxed, courageous, and relaxed in the lap of nature.
• It gives new energy and emotion to a person in the form of God.
• The immense beauty of nature is full of blessings for humanity.
• Flowing rivers, flowing noise, flowing winds, raging waterfalls, mighty flowers, and high mountains add to the natural beauty of the moon.
• Nature fills our lives with genuine happiness, goodness, and happiness.
• For the lover of nature, every object of the earth is alive as a person.
• Great nature lover Wordsworth wrote: “Nature is a soul.”
• We must respect the gift of nature and use nature according to the rules.

The Bottom Line

There are some major transformational forces in nature that control our mood and behavior. Nature is essential to a healthy life . Therefore, we must keep it clean and safe for future generations. We cut down trees and forests. We have to keep it intact. We must not pollute the oceans and rivers to save the ozone layer safe. And all our lives are undisturbed.

By simplifying nature, we must control the problems of the greenhouse effect, global warming, and so on. To make our nature pleasant, we must always work hard to keep it safe so that all life on earth can be saved. Finally, we can say nature is our father and mother and the breathing of our life. I hope you like this Essay on Nature.

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Essay on Nature for Children and Students

Table of Contents

Nature Essay: Nature is an integral part of our lives. But even while we appreciate the blessings she bestows on us, we forget that we are plundering her treasures and thereby denying our children the pleasure of enjoying nature in all her abundance and variety.

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Find very simple and easy to understand essay on nature. Bring some creativity in the education of your lovely kids, children and students who are studying in nursery, KG, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10. Nature is the most important thing for our life and our kids should know about this. So motivate their learning through following nature essay.

Long and Short Essay on Nature in English

Nature essay in 100 words.

We live on the most beautiful planet, Earth which has very clean and attractive nature full of greenery. Nature is our best friend which provides us all the resources to live here. It gives us water to drink, pure air to breathe, food to eat, land to stay, animals, plants for our other uses, etc for our betterment. We should fully enjoy the nature without disturbing its ecological balance. We should care our nature, make it peaceful, keep it clean and prevent it from the destruction so that we can enjoy our nature forever. Nature is a most precious gift given by the God to us to enjoy but not to harm.

Nature Essay in 150 words

Nature is the most beautiful and attractive surrounding around us which make us happy and provide us natural environment to live healthy. Our nature provides us variety of beautiful flowers, attractive birds, animals, green plants, blue sky, land, running rivers, sea, forests, air, mountains, valleys, hills and many more things. Our God has created a beautiful nature for the healthy living of us. All the things we use for our living are the assets of nature which we should not spoil and damage.

We should not destroy the originality of the nature and should not imbalance the ecosystem cycle. Our nature provides us beautiful environment to live and enjoy so it is our responsibility to keep it clean and away from all the damages. In the modern era, many selfish and bad activities of the human being have disturbed the nature to a great extent. But we all should try to maintain our nature’s beauty.

Nature Essay in 200 words

The nature is everything around us which surrounds us with beautiful environment. We see and enjoy it every moment. We observe natural changes in it, hear it and feel it everywhere. We should take full advantage of the nature and go out of home for the morning walk daily to breathe pure air and enjoy morning beauty of nature. All though the day it changes it beauty like in the morning when sun rises everything looks bright orange and then yellowish. In the evening when sun sets it again becomes dark orange and then light dark.

The nature has everything for us but we do not have anything for it even we are destroying its property day by day to just fulfill our selfish wishes. In the modern technological world lots of inventions are getting launched daily without its advantage and disadvantage to the nature. It is our responsibility to save the declining assets of our nature to make possible the existence of life forever on the earth. If we do not take any step towards nature conservation, we are keeping our future generations at danger. We should understood its worth and value and try to maintain its natural shape.

Nature Essay in 250 words

Nature is the most precious and valuable gift to us from the God to live our life here on the earth. Nature makes our life easy by providing all the required resources for daily living. We should thankful to our nature for helping, caring and nurturing us like a mother. We can enjoy the sweet sound and scenery of the nature if we peacefully sit in the early morning in the garden. Our nature is adorned with lots of scenic beauty which we can enjoy anytime. Earth has geographical beauty and known as the city of garden or heaven. But it is sad to say that such beautiful gifts of God are declining day by day due to the technological advancement and high level of ignorance of the human beings.

Nature is like our real mother which never harms us but always nourishes us. Walking in the lap of nature in the early morning makes us healthy and strong as well as keeps us away from many lethal diseases like diabetes, chronic heart diseases, high blood pressure, liver problem, digestive system ailments, infections, brain disease, etc. It is good for our health to hear the soft sound of the birds, rattle of the breeze, sound of running fresh air, sound of running water in the river, etc in the early morning. Most of the poets, writers and people used to of yoga and meditation are seen in the early morning in the garden to re-energize their body, mind and soul.

Nature Essay in 300 words

Nature is the most important and integral part of the lives of everyone. Everyone has been blessed with the true love of God in the form of beautiful nature. We should never miss the pleasure of enjoying the nature. Nature has been the most favourite topic of the works of many famous poets, writers, painters and artists. Nature is the beautiful creation of the God which he blessed to us as a precious gift. Nature is everything which surrounds us like water, air, land, sky, fire, river, forests, animals, birds, plants, sun, moon, stars, sea, lake, rain, thunder, storm, etc. Nature is very colourful and has both living and non-living things in its lap.

Everything in the nature has their own power and uniqueness provided by the God. It has its many forms which are changing by season to season and even from minute to minute such as sea looks bright blue in the morning but by noon it looks emerald green colour. Sky changes its colour all through the day from pale pink at sunrise, dazzling blue in late morning, bright orange in evening at sunset and purple by twilight. Our mood also gets changed according to the nature such as happy and hopeful at sun shine, rainy season and spring season. We feel heartily happy at moonlight and little bored and tired in high sun light.

Nature has some powerful transformative power which changes our mood and behaviour accordingly. Nature has power to recover the patients from their diseases if they are provided with the required and pleasant environment. Nature is very essential for our healthy life so we should keep it clean and conserve it for our future generations. We should cut trees and forests, should not despoil the ocean, rivers, should not make hole in ozone layer, should not increase green house effect, global warming and many more through our selfish activities. We should get fully aware about our nature and try our best to keep it natural so that it can nourish life on the earth forever.

Nature Essay in 400 words

Nature is the natural environment which surrounds us, cares us and nourishes us every moment. It provides us a protective layer around us to prevent from the damages. We are not able to survive on the earth without nature like air, land, water, fire and sky. Nature includes everything around us like plants, animals, river, forests, rain, lake, birds, sea, thunder, sun, moon, weather, atmosphere, mountain, desserts, hills, ice, etc. Every form of nature is very powerful which has ability to nourish as well as destroy us.

Now a day, everyone has less time to enjoy nature. In the increasing crowd we forgot to enjoy nature and improve health. We started using technological instruments for our health fitness. However it is very true that nature has power to nourish us and fit us forever. Most of the writers have described the real beauty and advantage of the nature in their writings. Nature has ability to make our mind tension free and cure our diseases. Because of technological advancement in the life of human being, our nature is declining gradually which needs a high level of awareness to keep it in balance and to conserve natural assets.

God has created everything very beautifully seeing which our eyes can never be tired. But we forgot that we too have some responsibility towards our nature to relationship between nature and human beings. How beautiful scenery it looks in morning with sunrise, songs of birds, sounds of lakes, rivers, air and happy gatherings of friends in the evening in garden after a long day of crush. But we forgot to enjoy the beauty of the nature in just fulfilling our duties towards our families.

Sometimes during our holidays we spend our whole day by watching TV, reading news paper, playing indoor games or on the computer but we forgot that outside the door we can do something interesting in the lap of nature ad natural environment. Unnecessarily we left on all the lights of home, we use electricity without need which ultimately increases the heat in the environment called global warming. Our other activities like cutting trees and forests increase the amount of CO2 gas in the environment causing green house effect and global warming.

If we want to be happy and healthy always we should try our best to save our planet and its beautiful nature by stopping our foolish and selfish activities. In order to keep ecosystem in balance we should not cut trees, forests, practice energy and water conservation and many more. Ultimately we are the real user of the nature so we should really take care of it.

Essay on Nature FAQs

What is the nature essay.

A nature essay is a written piece about the natural world, often describing its beauty and significance.

What is nature in simple English?

Nature, in simple terms, refers to the outdoors, including plants, animals, and the environment around us.

What is nature 5 points?

Nature comprises trees, rivers, animals, mountains, and the sky. It's where we find beauty and life.

What is the beauty of nature?

The beauty of nature is seen in its landscapes, from colorful sunrises to lush forests, evoking awe and serenity.

What can I write about the beauty of nature?

You can write about breathtaking sunrises, calming lakes, diverse wildlife, and the peace nature brings.

How do you describe a nature walk?

A nature walk is a leisurely stroll in the outdoors, appreciating the scenery and observing plants and animals.

What is the purpose of a nature walk?

The purpose of a nature walk is to connect with nature, enjoy its tranquility, and learn about the environment.

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BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article

How social background and interest in science are linked to junior high school students’ perceptions of the ecological transition.

• 1 Laboratoire de Recherche sur les Apprentissages en Contexte (LaRAC), Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France
• 2 Laboratoire de Psychologie: Cognition, Comportement, Communication (LP3C), Psychology, Rennes 2 University, Rennes, France
• 3 Laboratoire Inter-Universitaire de Psychologie, Personnalité, Cognition, Changement Social (LIP/PC2S), Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Savoie Mont Blanc, Grenoble, France

Junior high school students are tomorrow’s key protagonists in the ecological transition. They need enlightened education to face the uncertainty and challenges of climate change. The development of climate change education programs requires a clear understanding of how young people perceive the issue. This study deals with social representations. Its aim was to understand how social background and interest in science are linked to the way young people perceive the concept of the ecological transition. Four hundred twenty-nine junior high school students took part in this study. Data were collected and subjected to prototypical analysis and factorial correspondence analysis. Three main findings emerged from the analysis: (1) the participants had significant knowledge of the ecological transition, (2) their awareness of the social aspects of climate change was limited, and (3) their representations of the ecological transition were linked to their interest in science and their parents’ social background. To conclude, these results underline the importance of educating all social classes about effective solutions for the ecological transition. Our findings also highlight the need to consider existing representations and prior knowledge when designing educational programs on climate change issues.

1 Introduction

Climate change is defined “ as the shift in climate patterns mainly caused by greenhouse gas emissions” ( Fawzy et al., 2020 , p. 2,070). There are multiple consequences for humans and our ecosystems: extreme weather events, species extinction, food shortages, population displacement, and increased health risks, etc. (e.g., Pachauri et al., 2014 ; Haines and Ebi, 2019 ). To tackle these consequences, governments have repeatedly pledged to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions (e.g., Kyoto Protocol; 21st Conference of the Parties), undertaking to keep temperature rises below 2°C. These commitments have led to the choice of an ecological transition which, although based on ecological, economic, regulatory and social issues ( Geels, 2011 ), has mainly focused on scientific and technological solutions in favor of ecology in Europe (e.g., Kemp et al., 2007 ; Kreinin, 2020 ). This choice necessarily involves developing scientific knowledge in order to encourage individual commitment to climate change (e.g., Fouad and Smith, 1996 ; Ojala, 2021 ), especially as 2,100, the impacts of climate change will have profoundly altered the health of the planet ( Whitmee et al., 2015 ). Children born today will suffer the consequences of climate change throughout their lives ( Watts et al., 2019 ), so they need to be given the scientific and technological tools that will enable them to adapt to tomorrow’s world ( Lopoukhine et al., 2014 ).

The young people of today will be the main actors of tomorrow’s ecological transition (e.g., Kagawa and Selby, 2012 ; Burke et al., 2018 ; O’Brien et al., 2018 ; Cianconi et al., 2020 ). A study of 10,000 young people aged 16 to 25 in 10 countries (i.e., Australia, Brazil, Finland, France, India, Nigeria, Philippines, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States) found that they questioned the consequences of climate change and seemed particularly uncertain about the future ( Hickman et al., 2021 ). To overcome the inaction of previous generations and tackle the problem of climate change ( Lee, 2013 ), they will need to be well informed ( United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, 2015 ). Karsgaard and Davidson (2023) suggest that school is the place for the “ development of youth knowledge, creativity, efficacy and collective action skills in the face of climate change ” (p. 4). Educating young people about the challenges of climate change can give them the skills to cope with the forthcoming disruption and the power to act ( Schreiner et al., 2005 ; Cambers and Diamond, 2010 ). However, as pointed out by Rousell and Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles (2020) , climate change education is a field that is in its infancy. While it is clear that young people today have strong feelings and considerable knowledge of climate change ( Lee et al., 2020 ), little is known about how they perceive the ecological transition. According to the National Research Council (2012) , developing climate change education “ begins with a clear picture of how students currently understand the issue ” (2012, p. 11).

Social Representation Theory (SRT; Moscovici, 1961 ) can help us to analyze the social construction of perceptions. This theory explains how individuals and groups give meaning to an issue, a risk or a social object ( Höijer, 2011 ). In other words, how people build naive theories about their social environment ( Jodelet, 1984 ), in order to attribute meaning to their world. These naïve theories are constructed around opinions, attitudes, beliefs and information related to an object or situation ( Rateau et al., 2011 ), and their representations are linked to people’s social affiliations ( Doise, 1990 ; Wagner et al., 1999 ; Joffe, 2003 ; Rateau et al., 2012 ). As social agents ( Beauvois, 1984 ; Dubois and Pansu, 2021 ), individuals have a relationship with objects according to their cultural values ( Howarth, 2006 ). This in turn gives them their social anchorage ( Palmonari and Emiliani, 2016 ). These socially constructed representations can be studied according to their internal structures, in particular using the structural approach to social representations ( Abric, 1994 , 2003 ). According to this approach, social representations are made up of peripheral elements (i.e., dependent on the social contexts in which the individual evolves) organized around central elements (i.e., stable elements resulting from the history and ideology of the collective). Central elements have three functions: (1) signifying (i.e., the meaning given collectively by the group); (2) organizing (i.e., by repercussion on all the contents of the representation) and (3) stabilizing (subject to a strong consensus). Peripheral elements are based on the core consensus elements and express the variability of individual experiences in different social contexts. SRT therefore provides an understanding of how communication conveying scientific knowledge is transformed into common sense ( Moscovici and Hewstone, 1984 ). SRT is an interpretative framework which may help to understand the representations of young people ( Parrott et al., 2023 ) especially when it comes to environmental issues ( Buijs et al., 2012 ).

The objective of this study was to: (1) analyze the representations of junior high school students (14–15 years old) in France with regard to the ecological transition; (2) understand how social and psychological filters structure the way they perceive the ecological transition. As socioeconomic status is a predictor of educational achievement ( von Stumm et al., 2020 ), it has been hypothesized that the structuring of representations may depends on social determinants: such as parents’ socio-professional categories. Since scientific knowledge plays a central role in the ecological transition ( Kreinin, 2020 ), it is also hypothesized that the participants’ interest in science contributes to the structuring of representations ( Fouad and Smith, 1996 ). Finally, this paper aims to provide a stronger understanding of how young people’s representations of the ecological transition are structured.

2.1 Participants and procedure

The study proposal was reviewed and approved by the “Research Ethics Committee, Grenoble Alpes” (CERGA) of the University of Grenoble Alpes – Ethical approval number: Grenoble CERGA-Avis-2023-09. The study was carried out in partnership with the territorial services of the French Ministry of Education and conducted between May 2023 and October 2023. Four Hundred Thirty-nine junior high school students from 11 schools in the Auvergne Rhone Alpes region took part in the study (M age  = 14.1, SD age  = 0.619, range = 12–16, 53% female). Students were divided into three categories based on the socio-professional categories (SPC) of the first parent mentioned in the questionnaire. If the parents belonged to two different categories, participants were placed in the category corresponding to the higher SPC: SPC+ (self-employed trades professions; engineers; teachers; managers – 52.6%); SPC- (agricultural, factory and office workers – 37.8%); Inactive (students; retirees; unemployed – 6.4%). The three categories were based on information from the INSEE, which is the French Office for National Statistics and Economic Studies (see Supplementary materials for further details).

A few weeks before the study was carried out, the parents were asked to read an information leaflet and fill in the consent form to authorize (or not) their children’s participation. The researcher then visited the schools volunteering to carry out the study. The study took place in a computer room at predefined time slots. After presenting the study, the first author asked each pupil to go to a computer to complete an online ecological transition questionnaire on the Limesurvey © platform.

2.2 Measures

2.2.1 perceptions of ecological transition.

A free association task was used to collect perceptions of the ecological transition (e.g., Lo Monaco et al., 2016 ; Moliner and Lo Monaco, 2017 ). In this task, the junior high school students were presented with the stimulus words: “ecological transition.” On the basis of this induction, participants were free to associate four words or phrases that came to mind. This methodology yielded spontaneous associations from the participants.

2.2.2 Interest in science

Fourteen items were used to measure interest in science adapted from Fouad and Smith (1996) . This scale was originally developed for secondary school students to assess their interest in mathematics and science. Here, the mathematics items have been removed. Students were asked how much they liked to do certain things (e.g., Visit a science museum), rated from 0 (“I do not like it at all”) to 10 (“I like it very much”). The scores were aggregated. Internal consistency was satisfactory (α = 0.93).

2.3 Results

The corpus was composed of productions from 439 participants. A total of 1,578 verbal associations were collected from all participants, some of whom did not provide the expected 4 words. The corpus was cleaned up by the use of Excel ® (version 16.74) and Python ® (version 3.11), and then categorized by the authors, independently, using standard content analysis rules ( Jones and Rosenberg, 1974 ; Dl Giacomo, 1980 ). 288 different words were obtained (167 are hapax, 57.98% of this corpus). Data were analyzed using JAMOVI ® (version 2.3.18), R ® (version 4.1.3), FactoshinySR (version 1.1 – Brosset and Delouvée, 2022 ) and two analyses were carried out.

Firstly, a prototypical analysis ( Lo Monaco et al., 2016 ; Moliner and Lo Monaco, 2017 ; Delouvée et al., 2021 ), traditionally used in the structural approach to social representations, was conducted on the words given by the participants. This analysis was used to highlight the salience of elements in the representation by producing a table cross-referencing word frequency (i.e., below and above 10% of the number of evocations excluding hapaxes) and the order in which the word was produced, i.e., average occurrence rank (i.e., based on 2.5, the median of the four numbers of ranks – see Table 1 ).

Table 1 . Prototypical analysis: results in terms of frequency and average importance associated with the categories of words reported by the participants for the stimulus words “ecological transition.”

Cross-referencing the evocations with the highest frequency and rank of appearance revealed three sub-categories (i.e., top left cell). The first category describes the causes and consequences of climate change (i.e., pollution, global warming). The second category describes the idea of moving toward a more ecological model (i.e., ecology, change, transition). Finally, the third sub-category expresses some of the best-known responses to the problem of climate change that have already been widely implemented (i.e., recycling, waste sorting, wind turbines). Moreover, for these young people, the main challenge of the ecological transition is to respond to climate change issues for the “planet” and its “flora.” These descriptive elements constitute the core representations of the ecological transition (e.g., Abric, 2003 ; Galli and Fasanelli, 2020 ). This suggests that young people are aware of the issues at stake in the ecological transition, both in terms of the problems it seeks to solve and the ways of achieving it.

The top right cell (peripheral; Abric, 2003 ) contains the frequent words, which do not appear quickly in the associative chain. Elements in this cell clarify the content evoked for the core. In fact, 2 categories can be identified. The first one concerns elements which refer to the idea of preserving natural environments for the future (i.e., nature, future, good for the planet, preserving the environment). The second category mentions solutions that are harder to implement in response to the consequences of climate change (i.e., water management, alternative transport, dams). Finally, it seems that for these young people, the “economy” is fundamental to the ecological transition.

The bottom left cell represents the contrasting elements that may not reach a consensus, but appear quickly in the associative chain, and are therefore considered very important by certain minority groups ( Pianelli et al., 2010 ). Also, some individuals will emphasize the idea of turning to more virtuous models (i.e., transformation, evolution, consuming less and better). Participants also mentioned alternative solutions (e.g., tidal turbines, electric cars or solar energy, etc.). Finally, for the words in the second periphery (i.e., bottom right cell), i.e., the least salient of the peripheral system of representation that could be described as contextual (e.g., Delouvée et al., 2021 ), participants mention energy sources that produce greenhouse gasses (fossil fuels), and nuclear power, and their associated uses (i.e., plastics). Finally, participants express the idea of a better world as a possible consequence of the ecological transition. Although these elements are infrequent and unimportant, they seem to emerge in the content of the representation and are linked to the social context in which these young people evolve.

Secondly, a correspondence factor analysis (CFA; Benzécri, 1976 ) was carried out on participants’ evocations. This descriptive analysis was conducted to study how the words given by young people are associated with the parents’ socio-professional categories and the participants’ interest in science ( Mouret et al., 2013 ; Nadarajah et al., 2022 ). In accordance with the work of Piermattéo et al. (2014) and the recommendations of Deschamps (2003) , evocations whose frequency was greater than or equal to 6 were selected ( n  = 42 categories, 89.50% of the corpus without hapax). The relationship of these evocations with two variables was studied: (1) Interest in science was divided into two categories (“weak” and “strong”), which were defined with a distribution by the median 5; and (2) parents’ socio-professional categories were separated into 3 categories in accordance with the SPC groupings used for economic analyses by the French Office for National Statistics: SPC +, SPC −, and Inactive.

The CORR. F. A. highlights two factors that explain 75.70% of the table’s inertia (Factor 1 = 43.29%; Factor 2 = 32.41%). Factor 1 has a contribution from the terms of the variables “Socio-Professional Category”: CF (SPC+) = 0.07, CF (SPC−) = 0.10 “Science Interest”: CF (Science.Interest.Strong) = 0.37 + CF (Science.Interest.Weak) = 0.45, i.e., a contribution of 99%, to the formation of the factor. Factor 2 has a contribution from the terms of the variables “Socio-Professional Category”: CF (SPC+) = 0.36, CF (SPC-) = 0.47 “Science Interest”: CF (Science.Interest.Strong) = 0.07 + CF (Science.Interest.Weak) = 0.08, i.e., a contribution of 99%, to the formation of the factor. Figure 1 illustrates this configuration.

Figure 1 . Graphical representation of the results produced by the factorial correspondence analysis for Factor 1 (Solid line block) and 2 (Dotted line block) concerning the “ecological transition” stimulus term. Shaded blocks refer to experimental conditions. The “Socio-Professional Category and Interest in Science variables” contribute to the formation of Factor 1; the “ Socio-Professional Category and Sciences Interest variables ” refer to the variables and measures that contribute to the formation of Factor 2; the “Socio-Professional Category and Interest in Science variables” refer to the variables and measures that contribute to the formation of Factors 1 and 2. “Perceptions” refers to perceptions that contribute to the formation of Factor 1; “ Perceptions ” refers to perceptions that contribute to the formation of Factor 2; “ Perceptions ” refers to perceptions that contribute to the formation of both Factors 1 and 2.

The vertical axis (factor 1) draws a distinction between young people according to their interest in science. Factor 1 indicates that the perceptions of participants with a strong interest in science differ from those of young people with a weak interest in science. Participants with a strong interest in science associate the ecological transition with the idea of evolution and the preservation of the environment. They also mention the changes in habits that are needed in order to achieve this (e.g., alternative transport). Finally, they mention “nuclear power,” probably because of its resurgence in the media as a “clean” energy that could enable the ecological transition. At the bottom of the vertical axis, the participants with a weak interest in science refer to individual actions to talk about the ecological transition (e.g., sorting waste). They are aware of the problem of climate change (e.g., planet) through the issue of fossil fuel scarcity. They also mention the “solar panel” as a technology that could play a part in the energy mix. However, they remain rather vague and descriptive when it comes to characterizing types of energy (e.g., electricity). Finally, they mention “ecologists” as being a category of the population that does not include themselves.

The horizontal axis (factor 2) shows young people according to their parents’ socio-professional category. Factor 2 indicates that the perceptions of participants whose parents belong to a high socio-professional category differ from those of young people whose parents belong to a low socio-professional category. Thus, participants whose parents belong to a high socio-professional category associate the ecological transition and the resolution of climate change with strategies or technologies to be implemented (i.e., water management, wind turbines, dams), or specific energy sources (i.e., renewable energy). Finally, these participants also refer to the idea of cutting through the old system of over-consumption to move toward more environmentally-friendly consumption (i.e., consuming less and better). On the other side of the axis, participants whose parents are in lower socio-professional categories use more general terms to refer to the ecological transition (i.e., change, nature, transformation, good for the planet). Furthermore, the “economy” takes on a predominant character for these participants when they think of the ecological transition.

3 Discussion

The aim of this study was to clarify the way the junior high school students perceive the ecological transition and to analyze their representations. Three mains’ results were obtained: the participants (1) have significant knowledge of the ecological transition and its underlying principles, (2) have little awareness of the social aspects linked to climate change, and (3) their representations of the ecological transition are structured by their interest in science and the socio-professional categories to which their parents belong.

Young people perceive the causes and consequences of climate change and link them to the need to switch to a more ecological model, through individual behaviors and technological solutions in favor of ecology ( Kemp et al., 2007 ; Kreinin, 2020 ). Some research has shown that young people have misconceptions about climate change that persist despite the emphasis placed on climate change education ( Jeffries et al., 2001 ). In this study, no misconceptions were observed. On the contrary, their representations of the ecological transition provide the foundations upon which learning in the classroom can be built. These results support the findings of Corner et al. (2015) showing that today’s 18-25-year-olds are probably the most well-informed age group. Nevertheless, in the corpus of this study, the social aspects inherent to climate change are barely mentioned. Indeed, the representations of the participants are oriented toward causes and consequences and have a technocentric vision of the ecological transition. For example, factors such as social justice, inclusion, citizen participation do not feature in the participants’ responses (e.g., Favreau, 2017 ; Huntjens, 2021 ). Another explanation for this technocentric vision could come from the chosen inductor term. The term “ecological transition” immediately implies thinking about the methods and technologies that could make this transition possible. However, other terms such as “sustainable development,” anchored in the three pillars: economic, environmental and social, could have enabled students to produce words related to social aspects ( Mensah, 2019 ). Nevertheless, these factors should be considered when designing education programs for the ecological transition. As such, the concept of socio-ecological transition could provide an interesting theoretical foundation, while opening up a research program to study how it is perceived in non-scientific contexts ( Larocque, 2023 ). Additionally, our results show that differences in the representational content are mainly linked to interest in science and the parents’ socio-professional category. Indeed, participants with a strong interest in science tend to describe the ecological transition by placing it in the broader context of environment preservation, while those whose interest in science is weaker only evoke solutions. Similarly, young people whose parents are in the low socio-professional category contrast with those whose parents are in the high socio-professional category. The former mentions a change for a better world, but remains relatively vague, whereas the latter develops strategic orientations and suggests technologies to break with an old system rooted in over-consumption. In both groups, the principles of objectification (transforming an abstract object to make it concrete), and anchoring (integrating the object into a pre-existing thought system), do not seem to have operated identically ( Doise, 1990 ; Moliner, 2015 ). It is as if the objectifying and anchoring processes rely on psychological and social affiliations to elaborate the content of their representations of the ecological transition.

These results must be interpreted with the limitations in mind. First, the fact that there was only one time point of measurement calls for caution. Second, only 11 schools agreed to take part (out of 389). As a result, there may have been a sampling bias due to the school selection. To reduce this bias, we made sure that the schools were located in both urban and rural areas. Future studies could endeavor to recruit a greater number of schools in a wider geographical area.

To conclude, the ecological transition is a major issue for junior high school students, even if it manifests itself differently depending on their interest in science and the social group to which their parents belong. These results are important because new knowledge is embedded in a pre-existing system of representations. They can help us build a new way of designing educational programs by taking account of young people’s representations and prior knowledge of climate change issues. Today, young people do not need to be convinced of the reality of climate change, but it is essential to educate all social classes toward the development of a common knowledge base that will foster the implementation of solutions for the ecological transition. The ultimate goal is to educate all young people so that they are able to debate climate change issues in an organized and structured way, which would mean that they can (1) listen to each other’s differing viewpoints, and (2) work together constructively to develop strategies for the ecological transition. The principles of cooperative learning could be applied in order to facilitate productive ecological transition debates, thereby improving the knowledge acquisition process.

Data availability statement

The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.

Ethics statement

The studies involving humans were approved by Research Ethics Committee, Grenoble Alpes. The studies were conducted in accordance with the local legislation and institutional requirements. Written informed consent for participation in this study was provided by the participants’ legal guardians/next of kin. Written informed consent was obtained from the minor(s)’ legal guardian/next of kin for the publication of any potentially identifiable images or data included in this article.

Author contributions

KN: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Methodology, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. AS: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing – review & editing. CB: Conceptualization, Methodology, Supervision, Writing – review & editing. PP: Conceptualization, Methodology, Supervision, Writing – review & editing.

The author(s) declare that financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. Research supported by the French government as part of the “Territoires d’Innovation Pédagogique” program of the “Programme d’investissements d’avenir,” operated by Caisse des Dépôts (La Banque des Territoires).

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the partners in this project for their collaboration: la caisse des dépôts; la banque des territoires; l’académie de Grenoble; l’académie de Lyon; L’Université Grenoble Alpes; Le Campus des Métiers et des Qualifications d’excellence Smart Energy Systems; La Région Auvergne Rhône Alpes; and Engie. The authors would also thank, the colleges and young people who volunteered to take part in this study.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher’s note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Supplementary material

The Supplementary material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1360166/full#supplementary-material

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Keywords: climate change, ecological transition perceptions, social representation, interest in science, social background, junior high school

Citation: Nadarajah K, Somat A, Baeyens C and Pansu P (2024) How social background and interest in science are linked to junior high school students’ perceptions of the ecological transition. Front. Psychol . 15:1360166. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1360166

Received: 28 December 2023; Accepted: 12 March 2024; Published: 12 April 2024.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2024 Nadarajah, Somat, Baeyens and Pansu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Kévin Nadarajah, [email protected] ; Céline Baeyens, [email protected] ; Pascal Pansu, [email protected]

† These authors share senior authorship

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News from the Columbia Climate School

Why New Yorkers Long for the Natural World

Cate Twining-Ward

Adrienne Day

On April 9th, the city’s first glorious spring day of the year, over seventy New Yorkers, students and faculty eschewed the fresh air to gather inside Columbia University’s Butler Library. Why? To learn about owls, of course. 

The event, “What Flaco Taught Us: Thoughts on Urban Wildlife and the Human Connection,” was hosted by ecologist Carl Safina and science journalist Claudia Dreifus . 

Safina, who holds a PhD in ecology, is a MacArther fellow, nonprofit founder and author of 10 books that examine human relationships with the living world. 

Dreifus, who teaches the popular class “Writing about global science for the international media” at Columbia, opened her weekly lecture to the public this past Tuesday. The invitation drew in dozens of listeners, many of whom were either familiar with Safina’s books or with Dreifus’ contributions to the New York Times. 

Their conversation, spanning topics from philosophy to pigeons, captivated audience members for close to two hours—demonstrating just how many urban dwellers have a deep fascination with the natural world. 

The discussion was centered around Safina’s newest book “Alfie and Me: What Owls Know, What Humans Believe,” where Safina describes in detail his family’s efforts rehabilitating an injured and orphaned screech owl. But in recounting his relationship with Alfie, the owl, Safina explores far more expansive ideas about humanity’s relationship with nature. In particular, he seeks to unpack, and resolve, our profound disconnect with the living world. 

“I’ve spent my entire life with animals,” said Safina, “and yet, I was still amazed at the extent of Alfie’s relatability and her recognition of individuals.” 

This prompted Safina to think: Why are we so disconnected from the living world? In his latest book, Safina arrives at two possible conclusions. Either there is a limitation of human intellect, or humans are taught to be nature-disconnected. 

Safina began to investigate how environmental values differ from culture to culture, teachings which are rooted in comparative religion and philosophy. Out of the four main cultural realms he identified—indigenous land-based people, Dharmic and South Asian people, East Asian people and the West—Safina found the West’s devaluation of the physical world was a “total outlier” when compared to all other major philosophies and religions. And this devaluing, he argues, “ is not the automatic response of the human mind to the natural world or to the things that live on this planet with us.”

Instead, Safina tells the audience that we long for nature. Which is precisely why owls become relevant. 

This phenomenon, a longing for nature, was demonstrated by Flaco, the famous Eurasian eagle owl who escaped the Central Park Zoo last year. Flaco, who captivated New Yorkers by landing on water towers and skyscrapers, was found dead in late February. His death prompted Safina to publish an essay with the New York Times, where he asked readers to reckon with what his death really meant.

“For so many of us, Flaco was relatable,” Safina says to the audience. “He was an alien in New York, someone with an uncertain future, and who needed help.” The room fell silent. “From the human side,” he continued, “I think the legend of Flaco reflects some kind of hidden longing among New Yorkers for the natural world. Because if Flaco could survive in the city, there was hope that we could find some kind of coexistence with the environment too.” 

The air became heavy as the audience absorbed the loss of Flaco, the crowd perhaps reflecting on their own relationships with nature. Two photographers from the New York Times, Jacqueline Emery and David Lei, were then brought on stage. Claudia Dreifus thanked them both for their work in capturing Flaco’s triumphant story through their cameras. 

“His life of 13 months outside of the zoo was a gift for him and it was a gift for us as well,” Jacqueline said, with tears in her eyes. In that moment, the meaning and metaphor of Flaco became evident: nature, even from a distance, touches all of us.

As the evening drew to an end, audience members full of questions competed for the mic. My question for Safina was what his advice was for cultivating the next generation of nature-connected New Yorkers. 

His advice began with a story, recalling when a woman decided to take her kids to Botswana for one summer, to teach them to love nature. To this Safina responded: “Do you have a bird feeder?” 

His point was that nature is everywhere; and often, the most meaningful interactions are those that exist in one’s day-to-day reality, from which one can observe and learn. Admittedly, there’s less wildlife in megacities than in the countryside, but regardless, “it’s enough to keep you going.” 

For Safina, who was raised in Brooklyn, “it was the pigeons, it was those dioramas in the natural history museum…those things meant the world to me.” Being connected with nature is something that is learned from a young age, through your parents, surroundings and culture—not necessarily from extravagant summer trips. 

“It just takes teaching a kid one way or another,” said Safina. “If you raise your kids to delight in nature, to not be afraid of it, to see it as part of your living family, that is what they will have.” 

If we learn anything from the life of Flaco, and that of Alfie too, it’s that nature impacts all of us. The plight of these two owls serves as reminders that at the end of the day, the built environment in which we exist is just one small part of a larger, thriving ecosystem. One that’s as fragile as it is precious. 

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Geography students are losing access to nature as fieldwork falls

Steve Brace of the Geographical Association on how young people can be supported to get into nature at a local level

The director general of the National Trust, Hilary McGrady, is correct when she says that “the benefit of ensuring access to nature is plain to see but there is unequal access to it” ( Three-quarters of children want more time in nature, says National Trust, 1 April ). Sadly, evidence shows that this situation is also reflected in our schools.

Over the last 20 years, Ofsted reports have shown that school fieldwork has been declining. And a survey of geography teachers in 2023 indicated that since Covid, up to 40% of secondary schools may have cut their provision of fieldwork. This trend affects smaller schools and those serving disadvantaged pupils the hardest.

A combination of costs, Covid catch-up and other administrative hurdles are limiting the work of many geography teachers who want to offer their pupils high-quality fieldwork.

So as well as trips that might take place farther afield, at the Geographical Association we are supporting teachers to explore local, low-cost fieldwork – whether investigating carbon storage in a local wood, soil infiltration in the school grounds or the health of a local stream.

Regardless of the weather, it is in the field where young people encounter the messy, complicated real world and develop a deeper understanding of how our human and natural worlds interact. It will be this understanding that is essential if young people are to become the future custodians of our environment. Steve Brace Chief executive, Geographical Association

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Global CO 2 emissions for 2023 increased by only 0.1% relative to 2022 (following increases of 5.4% and 1.9% in 2021 and 2022, respectively), reaching 35.8 Gt CO 2 . These 2023 emissions consumed 10–66.7% of the remaining carbon budget to limit warming to 1.5°C, suggesting permissible emissions could be depleted within 0.5–6 years (67% likelihood).

Data from the Carbon Monitor indicate 35.8 Gt CO 2 were emitted globally in 2023.

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India overtook the EU as the third highest emitter globally.

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Annual global CO 2 emissions dropped markedly in 2020 owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, decreasing by 5.8% relative to 2019 (ref. 1 ). There were hopes that green economic stimulus packages during the COVD crisis might mark the beginning of a longer-term decrease in global emissions toward net-zero emissions, but instead emissions rebounded and quickly exceeded pre-pandemic levels by 2021. However, year-on-year growth has slowed, with 5.4% increases in 2021 (ref. 2 ) (reaching 35.1 Gt CO 2 ) and 1.9% increases in 2022 (ref. 3 ) (reaching 35.7 Gt CO 2 ), rapidly using up the remaining carbon budget. Here, we outline global CO 2 emissions (encompassing fossil fuel combustion and cement production) from the Carbon Monitor project ( https://carbonmonitor.org ) for the year 2023.

Global CO 2 emissions in 2023

Overall, global CO 2 emissions in 2023 reached 35.8 ± 0.3 Gt CO 2 , an all-time high (Fig.  1 ). Total emissions were 35.3, 33.3, 35.1 and 35.7 in 2019–2022, meaning year-on-year changes of –5.8% from 2019 to 2020, 5.4% from 2020 to 2021, 1.9% from 2021 to 2022 and 0.1% from 2022 to 2023. This slight increase of 0.1% (–0.6 to + 1.1%) from 2022 to 2023 is less than the 1.1 ± 1.0% increase forecast by the Global Carbon Project (GCP) 4 . Although difficult to predict, the continued deceleration in growth rates might signal a plateauing or peaking of global CO 2 emissions in 2023, as has been suggested by the International Energy Agency (IEA) 5 . The trajectory of emissions in 2024 will offer further evidence.

Historical CO 2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion and the process of cement production (‘Fossil CO 2 ’) 8 coloured by industry sector, and those with land-use change (LUC) emissions 4 (‘Fossil + LUC’). International bunkers describe emissions from international aviation and international shipping. The inset displays daily near-real-time CO 2 emissions since 2019 from the Carbon Monitor 1 initiative and year-on-year percent changes. Note that total emissions and percent changes have been revised slightly from earlier estimates 2 , 3 owing to revised data and updated methodologies 9 , 10 . Global CO 2 emissions continued to grow after a brief decline in 2020, but the rate of that growth slowed in 2023; if these progressions continue, the remaining 1.5 °C carbon budget could be used within 0.5–6 years.

The sectoral contributions to these emissions are broadly similar to previous years. The power sector accounted for 38.4% of global CO 2 emissions, industry for 29.0%, ground transportation for 18.6%, residential for 9.4%, international bunkers (international aviation and shipping) for 3.5%, and domestic aviation for 1.0%. Moreover, the pattern of decelerating growth of 2023 global emissions is also evident at the sectoral level. For instance, year-on-year changes in power sector emissions went from + 0.9% in 2022 to –0.2% in 2023, industry emissions from + 1.6% to –0.8%, residential emissions from + 0.9% to –5.5%, and international bunkers from + 18.1% to + 8.9%. However, there were exceptions: ground transportation growth increased from + 2.5% in 2022 to + 3.1% in 2023, while domestic aviation rebounded from –1.0% in 2022 to + 14.0% in 2023. Nevertheless, both domestic and international aviation remain below pre-pandemic levels (2023 emissions were –1.9% and –9.6% less than 2019, respectively).

At the country level, combined emissions from the top five emitters remain similar to previous years. In descending order, China, the United States, India, the European Union (excluding the UK), and Russia collectively accounted for 64% of global emissions, or 23.0 Gt CO 2 . However, interannual fluctuations are apparent when comparing 2022 and 2023, making it difficult to predict long time trends toward zero emissions. For instance, emissions from China (the largest emitter) decreased by 1.9% to 11.0 Gt CO 2 in 2022 but rebounded + 2.9% to 11.3 Gt CO 2 in 2023. By contrast, other regions have maintained earlier increases. Emissions from India, for example, surged by 6.9% to 2.6 Gt CO 2 in 2022 and by another 4.4% to 2.8 Gt CO 2 in 2023; in doing so, India surpassed the EU to become the third highest emitter. Russia exhibited a similar increase, whereby emissions increased by 1.0% to 1.5 Gt CO 2 in 2022 and grew by 2.4% to 1.6 Gt CO 2 in 2023. Meanwhile, emissions began to decrease in other regions. In the United States, emissions increased by 3.0% to 5.0 Gt CO 2 in 2022 but decreased by 2.4% to 4.9 Gt CO 2 in 2023. Similarly, the European Union’s emissions increased by 0.3% to 2.8 Gt CO 2 in 2022 but decreased by 6.2% to 2.6 Gt CO 2 in 2023.

Carbon budget countdown

Global CO 2 emissions are rapidly depleting reported carbon budgets — that is, the amount of carbon that can be released while limiting anthropogenic warming to 1.5 °C and 2 °C above pre-industrial temperatures, as outlined by the Paris Agreement. At 67% likelihood, the IPCC set this budget (starting from 2020 and assuming no overshoot) at 400 Gt CO 2 for 1.5 °C warming 6 . The years 2020, 2021 and 2022 depleted the budget by 9.4% (38 Gt CO 2 ), 9.9% (39 Gt CO 2 ) and 10.0% (40 Gt CO 2 ), respectively, with 2023 emissions using a further 10% (40 Gt CO 2 ). A total of 243 Gt CO 2 remain, which could be exhausted within 6.1 years unless emissions fall sharply. At 83% likelihood, the post-2020 budget to avoid 1.5 °C is only 300 Gt CO 2 . In this case, 2023 emissions depleted 13.3% of the budget, with the remaining 143 Gt CO 2 potentially exhausted within 3.6 years. The carbon budgets for 2 °C warming are larger. At 67% likelihood, the 2°C budget is 1,150 Gt CO 2 , 3.5% of which was used in 2023; the remaining 993 Gt CO 2 could be exhausted within 24.8 years unless growth rates fall. At 83% likelihood, the 2 °C budget is 900 Gt CO 2 , 4.4% of which was used in 2023; 743 Gt CO 2 remains that could be used within 18.6 years.

Other estimates of the remaining carbon budget imply much lower permissible emissions 7 . Under those tighter constraints, only 250 Gt CO 2 or 60 Gt CO 2 remain from January 2023 to achieve the 1.5 °C target at 50% and 66% likelihood, respectively. Accordingly, they convey a more dire timeline. Focusing on the 66% scenario to facilitate comparison with the IPCC likelihoods above, 2023 emissions used 66.7% of the budget, leaving only 20 GtCO 2 ; at the current pace, the entire 1.5 °C target could be depleted halfway through 2024. By comparison, 1,200 Gt CO 2 or 940 Gt CO 2 remains to constrain warming to 2 °C at 50% and 66% likelihood, respectively. For the 66% scenario, 2023 emissions used 4.2% of the budget, leaving 900 Gt CO 2 , which could be diminished within 22.6 years.

Detailed and near-real-time monitoring of CO 2 emissions since 2019 has enabled timely insights into changes in CO 2 emissions worldwide. In 2023, global annual emissions reached an all-time high of 35.8 Gt CO 2 , which reflects a very slight increase of 0.1% year-on-year. While these estimates indicate that post-pandemic emissions growth is slowing, there is not yet convincing evidence of a peak in global emissions — CO 2 emissions continue to rise, particularly in China, India and Russia. Given dwindling carbon budgets to constrain warming to 1.5 °C — the threshold above which climate impacts will become even more disastrous — the absence of a clear downward trend in emissions is troubling. The window of opportunity to meet the most ambitious international climate goals is rapidly closing. Meeting such goals would entail nations accelerating their decarbonization efforts and embracing the consensus from COP28 to “transition away from all fossil fuels in energy systems” as quickly as possible. This call to action is particularly pressing for countries with energy systems heavily reliant on coal, like China, India and Russia, where power generation accounts for approximately half of national carbon emissions. Transitioning these countries’ power sectors away from coal is critical for international climate mitigation efforts. Continued monitoring of global and national carbon emissions could be instrumental in evaluating the efficacy of these efforts.

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Zhu Liu & Zhu Deng

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Liu, Z., Deng, Z., Davis, S.J. et al. Global carbon emissions in 2023. Nat Rev Earth Environ 5 , 253–254 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-024-00532-2

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SEFS Associate Professor, Laura Prugh, pens Guest Essay for New York Times

SEFS Associate Professor, Dr. Laura Prugh, writes that ditching daylight savings, as many are in favor of, would be a mistake.

Prugh writes, “It’s not just that our afternoons and evenings would be shrouded in more darkness, which often comes with higher crime, more vehicle collisions and fewer opportunities to enjoy the outdoors after work or school. There’s another problem with standard time, and it’s gone all but unnoticed until now. Last year, my research team showed that standard time leads to far more vehicles colliding with deer .” We aren’t just talking deer deaths. Human deaths and injuries as well as collision costs are also at stake. “The switch from daylight saving to standard time in autumn causes peak traffic volumes to shift from before sunset to after sunset, leading to a 16% spike in deer-vehicle collisions. By reducing traffic after dark, our model predicts that year-round daylight saving time would prevent 36,550 deer deaths, 33 human deaths, 2,054 human injuries, and US$1.19 billion in collision costs annually.”

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I reviewed my Yale admissions file to see what the Ivy League school really thought about my application. What I learned surprised me.

• I reviewed my Yale admissions file to see what the Ivy League school thought about my application. 
• Most of my scores weren't that impressive, but they really liked my genuine attitude and excitement.
• Reviewing my application reminded me how far I have come as a student. 

"Brian spoke so fast it was electrifying."

This was the first quote from my Yale interviewer. She wrote those words in my admissions file, a document I finally got my hands on three years after being accepted into Yale University .

I remember that interview like it was yesterday. It was a Zoom call — my application cycle happened at the crux of pandemic remote learning — and I was wearing my father's old, oversize dress shirt. The interviewer was lovely. Some of my answers to her questions probably didn't make sense, and she was right. I definitely forgot to breathe in between my sentences.

But viewing my admissions file years later gave me a peek into what my interviewer was actually thinking that day, and I learned what really got me into Yale.

I reviewed my application as a junior with the registrar

Every student in the US can review their college admissions file under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. I emailed my university registrar, and within 45 days, a member of their support staff reached back out to schedule a virtual meeting. Picture-taking and recording were not allowed, so I jotted notes by hand.

There was very little verbal interaction between me and the staff member. She screen-shared my admissions file and let me read in silence. Something told me she understood the emotional weight of this moment for students, and I appreciated that. It is intimidating for any teenager to package their identity into a 650-word common application essay and a questionnaire — but it is arguably even more so to witness retrospectively how everything was judged.

I got a behind-the-scenes look into Yale admissions when they read my application

Each aspect of my application was rated out of nine points. My readers gave me a six for my extracurriculars and for my first teacher recommendation. They gave me a seven for my second teacher recommendation and my counselor's recommendation. I received an "outstanding" for my interview and a 2++ for my overall rating. The overall rating is given on a scale from 1 to 4, with 1 being the highest, and pluses were a good sign.

Related stories

In all, my ratings weren't exactly bad, but they weren't extraordinary either. The numbers on the pages stared back at me — cold, formulaic, and transactional. It felt strange to be reduced to a system of numbers, knowing that something as qualitative as extracurricular activities could still be broken down and scored.

Beyond the ratings, however, what truly stood out were the comments left by the admissions officers . Many of the comments were on my character, my essays, and the possible contributions I would make as a student.

"I teared up reading Essay 1," one reader wrote of my common application essay. Another said of the same essay: "His Chinese New Years are untraditional in that they remind him of his family's financial struggles."

I got emotional. All the memories of writing that essay came flooding back. I remembered how difficult it was to start it. I knew there was no easy way for someone to understand me without first knowing my background. I wanted to prove that I deserved a seat at the table where legacy students and the wealthy continue to outnumber their first-generation, low-income peers like myself.

I kept reading and found more comments from admissions officers that moved me: "He treats his mom well;" "He seems to have a truly good heart;" "One of the most intelligent, sincere, jovial students ever met;" "I have no doubt that Brian would push his peers at Yale to stand up for what's right;" and "I come away with compelling impressions that the student would contribute significantly to the undergrad community."

I searched for a negative comment. There were none.

I didn't deserve this, I muttered under my breath. Here I was, a junior in college, no longer a 4.0 student , my post-grad plans murky, balancing two part-time jobs and hoping to make it out of midterms alive. It felt good knowing that someone had rooted for me to be here.

The process reminded me how far I have come

Coming from an underserved household where no one had gone to college, I had always looked at the Ivy League application process skeptically.

Without the resources to enroll in SAT test prep and the financial safety net to pursue unpaid leadership positions and resume-boosting activities at school, I had doubted the "holistic" admissions process many colleges boast. My critiques about Yale remain numerous.

But at least in their comments, the admissions committee gave me grace in that they reviewed my application in light of my circumstances. I might never know exactly what happened in that reading room. Still, a couple of lessons ring true, based on my own viewing experience and my conversations with others who had done the same: Good character and potential are the key; I didn't need to be perfect.

And finally, I — not anyone else — needed to give me the fighting chance of applying in the first place.

"GPA is outstanding, especially in context," an admissions officer said. "This is a home run."

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