Why Nature Connection is Important for the BIPOC Community

By: Terri

As a lover of nature and all things involving the outdoors, I am blessed to have a job that allows me to expand my love and connection to the earth weekly. I am a Nature Connection Guide to Homeschooled children here in Portland Connecticut, a budding Herbalist as well as a lover of all plants. At least once a week, I am outside for about 8hrs, playing, exploring and expanding the knowledge of my students as well as myself.

Being outdoors for that amount of time weekly for the past year has healed my inner child in a multitude of ways.I see the earth as a mother and she has always welcomed me back with open arms every time I am feeling down and in need of a deeper connection from source.

I was born and raised in the Caribbean on the beautiful island of Jamaica; since I could remember I always choose being outdoors playing in my yard over hours in front of a television. I migrated to the US when I was 16 and honestly lost my connection with the earth; I was in an unknown land, feeling lost, confused and alone and for the first time in my life I was depressed. It was not until I one day decided to go for a hike, that I instantly felt a difference in myself; just being outside and observing my surroundings, breathing in the fresh air. I felt caressed in the loving arms of mother nature.

"To forget to dig the earth and tend the soil is to forget ourselves" -Mahatma Gandhi

The term "connectedness" can be used to describe the way we relate and experience nature. There are multiple ways in which we can expand and develop a better connection with nature. We can do so by performing activities that involve the use of our senses. For instance, we can notice the beauty of nature by listening to the songs of birds, touching the bark of trees, inhaling the smell of flowers in the air and also feeling the soil between our fingers while working in a garden or with indoor plants. This helps improve your mental health by lowering depression and anxiety levels.

Research shows that when people are more connected with nature they are usually happier in life and more likely to feel their lives are more worthwhile. Being in nature can help generate a multitude of positive emotions, such as calmness, joy, creativity as well as facilitate concentration. It also has positive effect on children and adults with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), asthma and obesity.

Our relationship with nature is based on how much we notice, think about and appreciate in our natural surroundings and is a critical factor in supporting good mental health and prevention of distress.

Both children and adults have only gotten more hooked on digital gadgets and technology within the past 10 years. The problem is that as we spend more time in the electronic world, we are spending less in the natural one.

Often today I notice that more adults and children suffer from what Author of "Last Child in the Woods" Richard Louv calls "nature-deficit disorder" which is a reduced awareness and a diminished ability to find meaning in the life around us.

During the pandemic when we were forced to stay indoors, many of us were struggling to maintain a positive mindset. For me, Instead of being in bed at home reading a book, I opted to go to a near by park and lay in the grass and read that book. I also reached out to friends I know were struggling to offer an outlet from working inside all day to instead come to the park to study, relax or play games. Most times we would take hikes to engage in discussions about our current mental health and just anything that we needed to share at the time and there was also a lot of other people doing the same; but there was always one thing missing for me when I was there with my friends; there was not enough people from the BIPOC community and I wondered in what ways can I get more people from that community outdoors.

There are numerous parks available to us here in the city but it is not the same as being surrounded by a diverse amount of trees and wildlife. High Quality Nature means a higher biodiversity of plants and wildlife, absence of pollution from the air, noise and litter. Whether we are in rural or urban spaces, these characteristics are particularly important. The amount of "green" in trees, plants and grass all play a part in making a landscape more serene in order to create a feeling of peace and quiet.

When I first began hiking, I would go to a lot of the sites closer to Hartford and I always thought these spots were boring and more easily accessed with paved paths. I started my job in the summer of 2021 and prior to that I had only visited a few sites which were further away from the city to really see the beauty of the landscapes that Connecticut has to offer. I had never seen such rich vegetation anywhere in the United States until then; realising the difference between the spots closer to home than those further away from the city. There was way less pollution and the serenity began to feel way different and I would leave feeling so revitalized and filled with positive vibrations.

Nature is everywhere, but it is not as easily accessed by everyone unless you have your owns means of transportation. Public Transportation to some these places are either non existent or highly expensive. In order to provide a bit of a solution to this problem I have launched a new project called "Moor Hikes CT" as a way to create a network for the BIPOC community to come together and begin the exploration of these spaces and share ways to connect with nature to improve our mental health. If we wish to protect our environment and biodeiversity, creating opportunities to reconnect with nature is crucial for both adults and children by unplugging and finding ways to let nature balance our lives.

Moor Hikes CT is a group focused on bringing together more people from the BIPOC community outdoors to develop a better connection with the earth and allow time to unplug from technology and see that there is way more out there to explore than being on the internet. If you are interested in being apart of this group, you can follow our Instagram page @moorhikesct to stay updated on future hikes, or join us for our first hike on March 20th to Giuffrida Park in Meriden.