Why Nature is Essential to Our Well-Being

In this 10 Minute Tuesday, host Rick Schwartz shares his "Is this even real life"experiences from a recent trip to the Redwoods. And he explores the scientific benefits of nature on well-being, and emphasizes the importance of reconnecting with the natural world for our health, not just conservation.

Animals, Nature, and You on IG

Links for Mentioned...
Redwoods Rising on IG
Save the Redwoods League

Sequoia Park Zoo

Find Griff Griffith here
Animals, Nature, and You Episode with Griff Griffith

Links to Studies Mentioned:
Exposure and Connectedness to Nature
Noticing Nature: Individual and Social Benefits

Find Rick here:
ZoologyRick.com

Rick's social media stuff...
Instagram
YouTube
Facebook
Threads
BlueSky



Podcast Music: Positive Carefree Folk Pop
Artist: Burgberg
Used with Full Music Standard Lic.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

There is something alive on this planet right now that measures well over 350 feet and comes in at thousands of tons. And I'm not talking about a whale. The blue whale, the largest living mammal that we know of, well, the biggest one we ever weighed was just around 200 tons, and I think the longest one was measured around 110 feet. So what am I talking about? I'm Rick Schwartz, educator, public speaker, and all-around curious guy. Over the years, my curiosity and experiences, along with the many people I have worked with, revealed to me we all have a desire to feel connected to the natural world. You're listening to Animals, Nature and You, a podcast that explores a connection between animals, nature, and humans. A podcast that celebrates learning more, following our curiosity, and reconnecting with the natural world. Welcome to another 10-minute Tuesday here on Animals Nature and You. I'm your host, Rick Schwartz, and I'll back away from the screen a little bit if you're watching this on YouTube to reveal. I am talking about the Redwoods. If you've been following along, if this is not your first episode, you know, uh two, well, I guess, yeah, about two episodes ago, I took a break. I did a couple of replays from earlier in the season. Last episode was with Andrew Mooney at the Dublin Zoo, talking about conservation of the humans and all that stuff. But I want to take this 10-minute Tuesday to reflect back on my adventure I had earlier this month. Uh I went up to the Redwoods, and I the last time I've been there, for context, California is huge. If you don't live here, it's a very, very north to south long state. It took many, many hours to drive up to Northern California where the Redwoods are. I have lived in California most of my life, grew up in the Northwest, and as a child, we did a lot of camping and road trips. I did spend time in the Redwoods as a child, have very, very fond memories of it, but have not been through that area since. And so to go back up there, spend time up there to get back into it was wonderful. If you haven't already to, I want to make a note here. Go back uh several episodes, I think probably I want to say eighth, ninth episode, I'll have to double check those numbers, but I did an interview with Griff Griffith. He spends a lot of time in the Redwoods doing restoration work, has been doing it for most of his life, and also doing a lot of communication about what that restoration work is like and about the Redwoods and just nature in general. If you aren't following his work, I highly recommend. Unfortunately, his schedule and my schedule didn't match up. We were trying to connect all the way up to the very last day, it just didn't work out. So, some other time, Griff will definitely meet in person. But I encourage you to follow his work, listen to that episode, get to know him if you want to learn more about the Redwoods. I also had the opportunity to go up to the Sequoia Park Zoo, spend some time there. So the shirt I'm wearing for watching on YouTube. It's a Redwood Skywalk at the Sequoia Park Zoo. What an amazing experience that was. This is a walkway that is put into the Redwoods, and you are several hundred feet off the ground. So you get to experience and see the Redwoods from a much higher level. Instead of just that constant crank of the head looking up, you're not all the way up in the canopy, of course, but you're pretty far up there. And to actually look down on other trees is pretty impressive as well. The whole Sequoia Park Zoo experience was wonderful. Shout out to my friends there, my new friends there. And also just that experience. The experience in Redwoods at that height is just such it's almost unreal, honestly, for someone who doesn't spend a lot of time in large forests like that. There were a lot of moments where I found myself just exclaiming out loud, this does not feel real. And there's the meme, is this even real life? Yes, that's that was my my go-to expression for many days in a row. And this is not just a fanboy about it. And again, if you're watching on YouTube, you've seen the pictures coming, going for my trip. I'm not just fanboying about it. The the point being is I am someone who is acutely aware of the value of spending time in natural spaces. I spend a lot of time here in the San Diego area going into natural spaces. We have a lot of oak groves and sycamore groves and creeks and canyons and hills and mountains. And I was still reminded, almost through fresh eyes, in this new environment, this new habitat, how important it is to reconnect with nature. And with that, this episode then is to also describe that there are scientific studies out there. Or I should say this episode is to help talk about. There are scientific studies out there and studies being done to help show and explain the value of the human experience outside. One particular one I want to mention here. I have it on my side computer. Noticing nature, individual and social benefits of two-week intervention. And this study, it is a paywall study. I'll have the link down below, but you can look at the abstract. Essentially, what they did is they're examining the effect of two-week nature-based well-being intervention. So they ask participants to take time. There are three groups. One is the control, but just take note about how you're feeling throughout the day, no matter what space you're in. The other group was asked to purposely look for man-made structures and how do they make you feel? How does it feel at the end of the day? And another group then to look for nature and natural things. They did not ask them to go into nature. They did not ask them to go into the city. Just do your normal routine, but be mindful of there's a tree, there's a shrub, there's grass, there's a squirrel, there's a bird. Be mindful of for the other group then the building, the structure, etc. And at the end of that two weeks, then they asked a series of questions to then get an idea of how they were feeling. And this does tie into now, so you're you're basically creating a conscious effort to be aware of something in your environment. And the outcome, of course, was that those were nature-focused, felt much better, more connected, and not only more connected to nature, but more connected to their fellow people, their family, their friends. They felt a little more at ease. I'll come back to why this is the case, uh, as far as my knowledge. The other study, too, that I want that I'll have linked down below. This one is called Exposure and Connectedness to Natural Environments. And essentially it is studying across not just then the nature space experience, but then across different nations, languages, gender identities, and age groups, and the effectiveness of nature in that space, because a lot of times our studies are in countries or areas or cities that perhaps have a higher economic experience than others. So this one takes it a bit further. I'll have both of these linked down below, but essentially what we're getting at here is I noticed as someone who spends a lot of time in nature and is conscious of the value of that, experience something new and special in the Redwoods. And I'll also have links, by the way, to the Redwood League and uh other things about the Redwoods. It's phenomenal. Highly recommend. That got me thinking about, though, the impact this will have on people in general and why it's important to remember this. I know it is very easy for us in our modern days, modern times to get sucked into our daily routines and just getting through the day and getting things done. The value of the first study was shows you don't even have to purposely set aside going outside. Just make an effort to notice natural things has an impact. And here's the deal. Going back to my time where I was a coach and mentor for a long time, I did a lot of deep dive into how we can look at our current habits and shift those habits to create space for us to start doing things that serve us better, to be more conscious and thoughtful of it. There are several studies out there that show that when we choose to purposely look for something, we find it more often because our subconscious mind catches on and says, hey, Rick's looking for these things. We want to make sure we're pointing it out to him. So if you are constantly listening to negative things and start to get in the trope of everything is negative and bad, which I get it, there's a lot going on out there. I'm not saying it's not. And I'm not saying toxic positivity of just painting everything with a rainbow crayon and look for unicorns only, but I'm saying for our own personal health and well-being, there's value in consciously choosing to look for nature. So many of us in the modern world that I live in here in the United States, especially California, a very car-centric environment and culture. If you're thinking about getting a new car, or your friend of yours just got a new car, and it's, let's say it's a, I don't know, red pickup truck, right? Let's say you're thinking about getting a red pickup truck, you've been looking at pictures online, you've been looking for ones for sale. And now all of a sudden, as you're driving along, you start to notice more pickup trucks that are that style you're looking at, that brand. And then also you start to notice more red ones. And all of a sudden now it's like, wow, they're everywhere. I've been thinking about getting well now. It looks like everyone's gotten one. Where the week before, when you weren't even thinking about it yet, or your friend hadn't bought theirs yet, you weren't seeing them. They were still there though. That's the thing, is that our conscious and subconscious mind work to justify our thoughts. The subconscious mind especially is working to justify your conscious thought process. Your mind is on that new pickup truck quite a bit, so your subconscious is like, hey, it's in the peripheral, we can see it. So when it comes to the value of nature, we know there's so many benefits to being in nature, green spaces, parks, on your balcony with a plant, whatever it might be for you. Now, take it a step further, if you can't, even in your daily routine or weekends, get out in nature, start noticing it on a daily basis. Your drive or walk to work, the trees by the bus stop, uh, the the shrubbery that is outside your office building, whatever it might be, taking time to notice a bird or a lizard or a moth, what all of that stuff, and having a moment of appreciation for it, you start to build that habit, your subconscious mind wants to look for that, and then you start to notice it. The current studies that I'll have again have linked down below show that this does benefit us greatly because, again, going back to the conversation with Griff, he points out in that conversation that look at our hands. Our hands are made to grasp things, hold on to things, pick up things. Yes, we designed the smartphone to fit in our hand and be touch sensitive to our fingers, but the reality is we evolved over thousands and thousands of years, or if you are on the other side of the camp and say we were intelligently designed, we were intelligently designed to grasp, hold on, pick things, eat, touch, etc. But in our modern times, we find it very easy to get further and further away from that. The value in reconnecting to that, being more attuned to that, is so important for our well-being. It's where we are based. We are not separate from nature, we are a part of nature. And that that's really what this episode is about, is to share with you that I was reminded of the value of getting out in new spaces in nature and acknowledging it and seeing it and being more attuned to it, but also recognizing that sometimes we can't take a two-day road trip up to Northern California or perhaps longer, depending upon where you live, and put ourselves in these massive giant forests where we feel very small. And again, if you're watching on YouTube, you'll see there's pictures of trees. They'll say, Yeah, those look like pine trees. But if you look carefully at the bottom of some of them, there's a human there. And that's me. And he's really, really small. And it's not photoshopped, it is just truly unreal how big some of these trees are. And it gave me a brand new appreciation for so much about nature. And yes, a lot of my podcasts, a lot of my episodes, and a lot of what I bring in for audiences, we talk about conservation. We talk about that human connection and the value in making sure we preserve and conserve these spaces. And that always comes back to it's not just about saving the animal or saving the plant, it's also for saving us. We talk about the practical side of it: clean air, clean water, clean spaces, because it's practical to preserve that for ourselves as well. These studies, this thought process goes further into also we benefit as a living creature having acknowledgement for nature and animals and spaces like that. So, really, I want the the takeaway here, nothing else. If there's absolutely nothing you get from this episode, I hope you just are reminded that taking the time to look out your window, go out for a walk, while you're commuting, whatever it might be, find a bit of nature, find a bit of green space, and be appreciative of it. Ask yourself, what species is that? How can I find out what species that is? And maybe you know, maybe you are a bit of a nature nerd like myself, and you know what species these are you're looking at. So then perhaps the next question is what other species benefit from that plant, tree, bird, lizard, etc. from being there? How is it all connected? Those kind of questions help inspire us to get a little more curious, and that's that's really what Animals, Nature, and You is all about. The Curious Odyssey. The Curious Odyssey of getting outside of our usual routine and getting curious about nature and animals, and obviously ourselves too. And that brings us to the conclusion of this episode. I want to thank you for being a part of this Curious Odyssey. Oh, and by the way, those of you who have sent fan mail, and if you aren't familiar with it, if you're watching on YouTube, it's not there, but if you listen to the podcast, any podcast player, the very first link at the very top of the episode description, there's a thing called fan mail. Some of you have been sending in some questions. I'll get around to getting another fan mail episode out. I did one a few of about a month ago, two months ago. Uh I'll get another episode of that out collecting some of these questions. Some of you have just responded to directly. But yeah, that's a thing too. The connectedness in our community that we have here for Animals, Nature and You, I really appreciate it. You can follow Animals Nature and You on Instagram. Of course, all my social media will be down below in the show notes too. ZoologyRick.com is my website, Zoology Rick is my social media. I really appreciate everybody who's come together for this little community as we grow. Whether you are a fan of somebody who is a guest and you've joined us or you've come across it some other way, thank you all so much for being here. I appreciate it very much. And we will continue this Curious Odyssey with more episodes every Thursday. We do our interview episodes every Tuesday, our 10-minute Tuesdays, which of course run a little bit longer than 10 minutes sometimes. But nonetheless, here we are. So if you haven't already, make sure you subscribe or follow so you don't miss any of those cool episodes coming up. All right, with that, I hope you are doing well. Have a good one, everybody.