Connection: The Formation of Relationships with Nature

Abstract

Every participant told stories about feeling connected to the nature they were defending and/or nature generally. A central element of connection, which is implicit in its name, is the experience of relationship with nature. This seems to stem from interaction and deepening sensitivity and familiarity with nature over time. Some participants spoke about interaction with single entities such as trees, birds or cetaceans. For example, Isabella is a wildlife scientist, with particular expertise in herpetology. Her research has broadened, since completing her honours degree, to include sharks and other marine life. Her description of forming a relationship with a lizard extends my earlier reflection upon the temporal element of developing sensitivity to nature. Isabella was asked to tell a story about an experience communicating with an animal:

Isabella I worked as a zoo keeper at the Adelaide Zoo and we had some banded Fijian Iguanas and for some reason the female every morning as soon as she saw me come in would come down, she would wait by the glass window, and as I would walk through the cage she would follow me the whole way round. And she never did it to anyone else except me.