Articles
Composting global peril: horticultural therapy’s relevance for climate emergency
Article number
1459_1
Pages
1 – 8
Language
English
Abstract
People-plant research and horticultural therapy have advanced our appreciation of the role of plants in human health and well-being.
The growing climate emergency calls for expanding people-plant research and horticultural therapy’s focus to include contributions to creating a healthy ecosystem.
Ecotherapy suggests that what fuels our global crisis arises from an imbalance in the human psyche.
This stems from an internalized human exceptionalist paradigm.
This paradigm suggests humans can operate independently from nature and contributes to the exploitation of the earth’s resources without consideration of environmental impacts.
The rise of anxiety and depression globally linked to climate change suggests we are intricately bound with all of life.
Some psychiatrists have begun to identify this anxiety as a pre-traumatic stress disorder.
The stressor here is the anticipation of ever-increasing losses and instability.
Christiana Figueres, one of the creators/facilitators of the Paris Climate Agreement highlights the importance of advancing human environmental consciousness.
She notes that climate impacts from the concentration of gasses in the atmosphere are increasing exponentially.
Technological advances to reduce greenhouse emissions are also growing at an exponential rate.
Human awareness of being a part of nature is also growing but slower.
She states that promoting exponential growth in human consciousness is essential to stop global warming.
Facing our climate catastrophe is exceedingly difficult because it evokes feelings of grief, powerlessness, and despair.
Taking pro-environmental actions reduces the adverse impacts of climate anxiety.
Robin Wall Kimmerer differentiates indigenous thought from the human exceptionalist paradigm in noting that reciprocity is the central guiding principle of engagement with life.
So too, horticultural therapy directly fosters engagement between people and plants.
Working with plants deepens clients’ understanding of their human nature.
Horticultural therapy can empower clients through activities that emphasize the interrelationship of humans and plants in actively adapting, thriving, and healing the earth.
The growing climate emergency calls for expanding people-plant research and horticultural therapy’s focus to include contributions to creating a healthy ecosystem.
Ecotherapy suggests that what fuels our global crisis arises from an imbalance in the human psyche.
This stems from an internalized human exceptionalist paradigm.
This paradigm suggests humans can operate independently from nature and contributes to the exploitation of the earth’s resources without consideration of environmental impacts.
The rise of anxiety and depression globally linked to climate change suggests we are intricately bound with all of life.
Some psychiatrists have begun to identify this anxiety as a pre-traumatic stress disorder.
The stressor here is the anticipation of ever-increasing losses and instability.
Christiana Figueres, one of the creators/facilitators of the Paris Climate Agreement highlights the importance of advancing human environmental consciousness.
She notes that climate impacts from the concentration of gasses in the atmosphere are increasing exponentially.
Technological advances to reduce greenhouse emissions are also growing at an exponential rate.
Human awareness of being a part of nature is also growing but slower.
She states that promoting exponential growth in human consciousness is essential to stop global warming.
Facing our climate catastrophe is exceedingly difficult because it evokes feelings of grief, powerlessness, and despair.
Taking pro-environmental actions reduces the adverse impacts of climate anxiety.
Robin Wall Kimmerer differentiates indigenous thought from the human exceptionalist paradigm in noting that reciprocity is the central guiding principle of engagement with life.
So too, horticultural therapy directly fosters engagement between people and plants.
Working with plants deepens clients’ understanding of their human nature.
Horticultural therapy can empower clients through activities that emphasize the interrelationship of humans and plants in actively adapting, thriving, and healing the earth.
Publication
Authors
J.S. Rice
Keywords
human exceptionalism, reciprocity, biomimicry, plant intelligence, climate anxiety
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