Ask yourself a simple question: do you feel better after spending time in nature? This could be in the form of a dive, a walk in the park, tending to your garden or simply sitting on the grass. Most likely, your answer will be yes, and this is the basis of the biophilia hypothesis - the idea that humans have an innate desire to seek out nature and engage with other forms of life.
Where it started
A love for life and living things isn't a new or evenly relatively modern concept. Aristotle, the ancient Greek philosopher, explored the concept of love of life and of living things in his works. While he may not have explored 'biophilia' specifically, his works paved the way for subsequent thinkers, such as Erich Fromm, who popularised the term 'biophilia', and later E. O. Wilson, who further developed the concept. Fromm's book The Heart of Man: Its Genius for Good and Evil (1964) describes 'biophilia' as a psychological orientation, attracted to all that is alive and vital. This attraction is described as a fundamental building block for a healthy person who is rooted in love and life. Wilson took this further in his 1984 book Biophilia. Here, he takes humans' inherent biological affinity for nature beyond the psychological and cultural, by stressing that our desire to be with nature is embedded within species through evolution.
Understanding the biophilia hypothesis
The biophilia hypothesis is the idea that humans have an innate connection to nature, and a natural tendency to seek out and feel good in natural environments. This connection to nature is believed to have positive effects on our mental and physical well-being. For example, as Blue Mind has highlighted, spending time in a body of water or even just looking at the ocean can reduce stress, improve mood and enhance creativity. In simple terms, nature makes us feel good because it's deeply ingrained in us to feel love and be at home within natural environments. This concept reminds us that nature isn't just nice to experience but is also essential for our well-being.
As divers, this rings true for us. We love exploring nature, watching creatures go about their lives and feeling the tumble of a current drifting us along a reef. But for any sceptics out there who may disagree with humans' innate connection to nature or simply not regard it as very powerful, consider biophilia's opposite: biphobia, the fear of nature. Studies have been conducted among humans, whereby measurable physiological distress is observed when people are shown images of snakes or spiders. This response is the result of evolution, as our ancestors learned what to avoid in the wild. The studies demonstrate the continuation of an inherent connection to nature in the present day (albeit not the connection we would like).
The problem of our disconnect from nature
It appears that humans started to become more removed from the natural world during the technological revolution of the 19th and 20th centuries. This led to a reduction in biophilic behaviours, such as losing physical connection to nature and therefore losing interest in and respect for nature. And as humans appeared to lose connection and interest, environmental destruction, climate issues and species extinction began to rise.
Luckily, thinkers became more prominent around this time, such as Fromm and Wilson, who highlighted our innate connection to nature as being vital to our mental and physical health. So, guess what? Conversation groups, urban planning with biophilic design and environmental education began to rise as a result.
Incorporating the biophilia hypothesis
These days, the biophilia hypothesis plays a big role in fields like environmental psychology, architecture and urban planning. It's shaping how we design spaces that bring nature into our lives, aimed at boosting our health and happiness. As we mentioned, it's ingrained in us to feel at home within natural environments. That's why biophilia design and architecture have gained such prominence.
Environmental education is also vital in the modern age. In a world where we're constantly plugging into technology through our phones, laptops, cars, TVs - you name it - it's important to remind everyone, old and young, that we are nature and we must connect to it for our own health and the health of our planet.
Clearly, the most important and impactful way of incorporating the biophilia hypothesis into our lives is by physically connecting with nature. Get outdoors, put your feet in the grass, hands in the soil and, if you can, your whole body in the ocean. The biophilia hypothesis is not an abstract concept. It's a call to action for us humans to reconnect with nature. After all, it's ingrained within us.
