Life Matters, ABC Radio National
Spending more time in nature, on doctor’s orders
Thursday, 28 Dec 2023
New research suggests doctors could soon be handing out nature prescriptions to help treat health conditions like anxiety and cardiovascular disease.
Guests: Professor Xiaoqi Feng School of Population Health, University of NSW, and Dr Anita Pryor Director of Adventure Works Australia
Credits: Greg Muller, Producer
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What a place for a daydream
Neuroscience Says 1 Brainless Habit Improves Memory, Boosts Creativity, and Reduces Stress, Marcel Schwantes Inc. Australia. January 17, 2024
There are memory benefits, creativity benefits, Problem-solving, Mental Health and Workplace benefits.
Take your school students and staff, work colleagues, family and friends for some time out daydreaming at Munibung Hill.
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After the death of his beloved wife, textile artist Allan Brown embarks on a seven-year quest to weave a hand-spun dress from stinging nettles foraged in the woods surrounding his home.
A love story about Nature
How a feared plant that stings can be the source for fashioning a garment of beauty.
From plant to fibre, fibre to thread, thread to cloth, cloth to dress. From a slow craft to a deeper relationship with Nature. Film-maker Dylan Howitt has been documenting this process from the beginning. Three short videos he made with Allan went viral and clocked up millions of views. They helped inspire the creation of the ‘Nettles for Textiles’ Facebook group, a vibrant international community of makers 16,000 strong.
Why make a dress out of Nettles?!
Allan’s journey began with questions. Would it be possible to make wearable cloth by hand, from freely available local plants? Was this the first cloth our Neolithic ancestors made, and if so how on earth did they do it?! Can nettle fibre play a role in helping us develop more sustainable ways of making clothes?
Nettles are the ‘fibres of the landless’, free to those willing to put in the effort. This undertaking is a deep expression of the ‘Fibreshed’ movement, towards a more sustainable textile production, using fibres, dyes and labour all sourced from and connected to one place. The Nettle Dress, https://www.nettledress.org/
As well as a beautiful example of an independent or “slow” film, ‘The Nettle Dress’ can also be viewed in the context of a burgeoning movement that aims to foster ways of making clothing that is less environmentally destructive than fast fashion. – Sarah Kent, The Arts Desk. September 25, 2023
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If you don’t mind, we’d rather go out to play
Eva Corlett reports on: A classroom without walls: New Zealand’s nature schools emphasise mud over maths (The Guardian, December 30, 2023)
There are now dozens of nature schools where children learn about foraging, planting trees and trapping pests.
It’s about ‘Collective responsibility’
Nature schools – sometimes referred to as forest schools or bush kindys – are cropping up around the world, including in the UK and Australia, and are often inspired by the outdoors culture – or friluftsliv – of Scandinavia. Enviro schools, similiar to nature schools but more structured, are also gaining popularity.
Proponents of nature-based education believe time spent learning and playing outdoors, in all weather, is one of the best ways to boost resilience, wellbeing and creativity in children. Research supports this, including evidence that nature school pupils experience enhanced motivation, improved social skills and academic achievement and a more developed appreciation for the natural world.
Locally, programme directors – including Smith – are taking a distinctly New Zealand approach with the inclusion of mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge systems) to guide planting, conservation and guardianship of the environment.
Munibung Hill would be a wonderful location at which to base a nature school.
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The Story of Trees and Economics
A tree growing in a forest has no stand-ing in economics, writes Keith Suter. As far as conventional economics is concerned, it has no “economic” role. Of course, it provides a vital role in the earth’s life support system, but this is of interest to scientists, not economists.
As soon as the tree is cut down, it acquires status in economics. Its significance grows as the tree is broken up into smaller components, such as paper or match sticks. The more it is destroyed, the more important it becomes to economic calculations.
There needs to be more public debate about environmental economics – a change in the human worldview.
MMM Issue 43, April-May 2024
