12-09-2014 Clearing the way for people accessing nature

Establishing access all along the way

Wednesday saw the completion of the 2014 nature trail clearance. Three afternoons of vegetation clearance by education staff in July, KUBAG volunteers in August and nursing students on their Alternative Health Week in September; helped get the trail back to being ship shape for exploring.

The trail is used by the education team to take groups of local school children out into the wild, getting them to explore and reconnect with their natural environment.

Agi and Jade clearing the entrance to the trail

Connecting with the natural environment is important for people; various studies have been conducted over years looking at the positive effects of exposure to the natural environment. Widely supported claims and studies ‘have shown that contact with nature is therapeutic, restorative, relaxing, and emotionally and physically beneficial’ (Dickinson, 2013).

A little bit of cutting back and...

There are theories or expressions used to discuss some of the issues that can exist when people are disconnected from their environment, many of which have been discussed both scientifically as well as in the media.

...hey presto

While it may be too soon to quantify theories’ such as Nature Deficit Disorder (a term used to describe the effects of being disconnected from the natural world as opposed to an actual diagnosable disorder); the enjoyment that is seen in outdoor visits to parks, woodlands and nature reserves for all ages is something that can only be a positive thing.

By providing facilities such as the nature trail to allow easier access to parts of the campus that people don’t normally see, hopefully everyone will be able to enjoy a bit of nature this year.

Juliet, Sheri, Mojisola, Raquel, Mercy and Virginia 

Third year nursing students banded together during their Alternative Health Week placements to help clear the final sections of the path.

Once they started they didn't want to stop :)

If you would like to help out with biodiversity events at KU check out our new 2014-2015 calender and sign up by emailing biodiversity@kingston.ac.uk


Further reading:

Dickinson, E., 2013. The Misdiagnosis: Rethinking ‘‘Nature-deficit Disorder’’ Environmental Communication Volume 7, Issue 3. p 315-335. [Accessed online] http://www.unc.edu/~dickins/DickinsonTheMisdiagnosis.pdf


Moss, S., 2012. Natural childhood. National Trust. [Accessed online] http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/document-1355766991839/

RSPB, 2013. Connecting with nature: finding out how connected to nature the UK’s Children are.
Sandy. [Accessed online] http://www.rspb.org.uk/Images/connecting-with-nature_tcm9-354603.pdf