J. Interesting article in the New York Times Sunday magazine today, questioning whether there is an Ecological Unconscious. "A branch of psychology says that there is ~ and that ignoring it puts not just the planet but also our minds at risk".

Glenn Albrecht, a philosopher and professor of sustainability at Murdoch University in Perth, Australia coined the term 'solastalgia' in a 2004 essay to describe "the pain experienced when there is recognition that the place where one resides and that one loves is under immediate assault...a form of homesickness one gets when one is still at home."

Now, I have never been a lover of labels for common-sense issues, but I do agree that we all do better when we connect with nature. When we are able to put our feet on the earth, to look at the beauty that surrounds us in the most purest of forms, we are healthier, happier, human beings. That somewhere within us we have a primal need to connect with this Earth.

For me, there aren't very many everyday anxieties that cannot be resolved by going for a walk. And it doesn't have to be in the grandest of surroundings.

In the early 90s I had the great fortune of living in Tokyo, Japan. For anyone who has been there, you would have to agree that, on the surface, it is an overcrowded, sometimes dirty, often noisy city. However, the Japanese have an uncanny ability to balance this concrete jungle with some of the most beautiful parks I have ever been to. And not just parks...in the middle of a congested street, with towering buildings and masses of dangling overhead wires you will find one exquisitely, perfect cherry tree.

So, to encounter nature where humans have contrived to remove or overrun it, you have to look with intention and a focused eye. And you will find it, Mother Nature never lets you down. It might be a single flower, a vine which has forced it's way through a crack in a wall, or the tiny peep of a birdsong, but it is most definitely there.