Ecological Medicine Taps Into Our Biophilic Inclinations |
Ample research shows that there are many benefits to getting outside and enjoying our surroundings, no matter where we live.1 This is so important that some researchers and therapists have written about how critical it is to prescribe nature to rewild ourselves and leave the indoors behind.
Some years ago, Landon Pollack, co-founder and Executive Director of Project ReConnect at UCLA, contacted me about his growing interest in what has come to be called "Ecological Medicine." Recently, he and many colleagues including the Ecological Medicine Working Group, published a major academic paper by SpringerNature in the Journal EcoHealth titled "A Consensus Statement for Ecological Medicine: Moving Toward Connection-Based Medicine." I wanted to know more about this forward-looking multidisciplinary field and I'm pleased he could answer a few questions about it.
Marc Bekoff: Why are you and your colleagues so interested in ecological medicine?
Landon Pollack: First, I must make it clear: I, or we, did not originate the term. It was coined by Carolyn Raffensperger in 2001, who founded the Science and Environmental Health Network, or SEHN. I started using Ecological Medicine as a descriptor for my work several years ago. To paraphrase E.O. Wilson, connection to nature and other animals is a biological human need. I am focused on connection and reconnection. I feel it is essential that we help restore the relationships between ourselves, non-human animals, and the natural world that have diminished over time. I believe that individual and community health are inextricably linked to ecosystem health.
MB: How do these interests relate to your background and general areas of interest?
LP: Ecological Medicine has been a bridge between my varied fields of study and interests. It all coalesced for me and over these five years I have not only contributed to meaningful concepts and projects in the field but have developed a one-of-a-kind transdisciplinary network of almost 200 leading experts. The........