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    Nature therapy posts

    Why cycling and walking are great for your mental health

    Keeping active has huge benefits for physical helath – and walking and cycling are the perfect low impact exercise. Read more

    Sacred forests of Ethiopia: how they can be recreated anywhere

    In these days of gloom and confusion it is good to remember that our world is not ONE continuous story where everything inexorably gets worse – or better – but that our world is full of many stories that are unfolding in parallel. This weekend I was uplifted by the moving account of the holy… Continue reading Sacred forests of Ethiopia: how they can be recreated anywhere Read more

    Establishing urban orchards to benefit people, communities and nature

    The Orchard Project are a superb group establishing and maintaining urban community orchards. The are beneficial in so many ways, including biodiversity, community cohesion, local food, carbon storage and human well-being. Here, they explain an approach called ‘nature-based solutions’. Read more

    Zero food miles, zero packaging and plenty more: in praise of allotments

    Monday marked the beginning of National Allotments Week 2020, at a time when the number of prospective allotmenteers far exceeds the number of available allotments. So what do allotments have to offer that means so many of us are itching to get our hands dirty? Read more

    Is the Western mindset the source of our current ecological and social problems?

    Dorian Cavé of IFLAS | 23-Oct-2018 | 20

    What was it about European cultural development that led to the Scientific and Industrial Revolutions, capitalism and environmental destruction? Why didn’t it happen in the apparently much more fertile ground of China, India or the Arab world? Read more

    Is technology the problem? Conversation with Dave King of Breaking the Frame and the New Lucas Plan

    Dave King of Breaking the Frame | 14-Oct-2018 | 16

    This is a conversation between Dave Darby of NonCorporate.org and Dave King of Breaking the Frame and the New Lucas Plan. Dave (K) is opposed to the ‘technocracy’ that he describes as the root cause of environmental destruction and lack of democracy. Read more

    ‘Homegrown well-being’ and alternatives to corporate drug companies: interview with GP Simon Lennane

    Another of our interviews, first posted on NonCorporate.org, with people working on providing alternatives to multinational corporations – this time in the health sector. Read more

    Reclaiming our ancient indigenous wisdom and a sense of ‘the village’

    Rebecca Card of Nature Wisdom | 03-Apr-2018 | 3

    I think I am unusual. I can find a confidence inside that allows me to take risks. This confidence allows me to initiate things that I feel passionate about and because I see their worth in the world. I can do this even if I think I don’t know what I’m doing. Read more

    Why we’d be better off living like the Saxons (with a few mod cons)

    Dave Darby of Lowimpact.org | 05-Feb-2017 | 11

    If you spend your life trying to promote low-impact living, you sometimes get asked the most ridiculous questions. More than once I’ve been asked something along the lines of: ‘you want to take us back to the Middle Ages, don’t you?’ Read more

    How Ernest Thompson Seton realised that nature grounds, educates and heals children

    Imagine a man whose response to youths repeatedly vandalising his property is to invite them onto his land to learn about it. Pretty right on, maybe, though not that unlikely given what we now know about nature’s importance as a healer and educator, but this was 1902. Read more

    Reimagining progress: what we can learn about ‘lean thinking’ from indigenous communities

    Here’s a living example of a ‘lean’ economy (outlined by David Fleming in our last blog post), and how you can help to preserve it. The ‘unlean’ economy is encroaching onto the territory of the Kichwa and Sapara communities in the Ecuadorean Amazon, in the form of large oil corporations, and will destroy their communities, as… Continue reading Reimagining progress: what we can learn about ‘lean thinking’ from indigenous communities Read more

    How to leave the city and regain a connection with the land

    Many city people yearn to be involved with the land hands-on—and to do so on a long-term basis. But leaving the city for good is too big a step for most people; they need to keep a stake in the city for work or social reasons. Read more

    Ageing: rejecting cosmetic surgery and embracing the crone

    When I sit in a coffee shop people-watching other older women, I am often drawn to two main types. First there is the older woman keen to retain an image of youth to whom ageing successfully is to be seen to be as young as possible for as long as possible by whatever means.  Read more

    What are we supposed to teach children about nature nowadays, without frightening them?

    Paul Jennings of Criafolen | 06-Nov-2015 | 4

    My little boy Alfred, just turned 6, pays close attention to what he hears. Sometimes this means that we need to be very careful in case he remembers something and then blurts it out in front of just the wrong person. It’s already clear that he’d make an awful spy. Read more

    Is hanging out in nature therapeutic?

    As the founder of Nature Therapy CIC I am often asked ‘exactly what is nature therapy?’ Having studied the subject for a Doctorate and travelled extensively across the UK, Europe and the USA to research how nature is used to improve human wellbeing, I am sometimes at a loss to give a short answer.  Read more

    Are we forgetting what pristine nature looks like?

    Paul Jennings of Criafolen | 25-Mar-2015 | 7

    Singing about the environment, Joni Mitchell reminded us “that you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone”; maybe the truth is that very quickly after things are gone they are forgotten, not only lost, but unmissed Read more

    How my cat taught me that nature is merciless

    Dave Darby of Lowimpact.org | 12-Nov-2013 | 0

    Here’s my cat – Keith. He looks cute, doesn’t he? But actually, he’s a killer. I’ve seen him torture things for his amusement – he wasn’t hungry and he didn’t want them to die quickly (less fun). Read more

    There’s a crash coming – a slap from Mother Nature. This isn’t pessimistic; it’s realistic.

    The human impact on nature and on each other is accelerating and needs systemic change to reverse.

    We’re not advocating poverty, or a hair-shirt existence. We advocate changes that will mean better lives for almost everyone.

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