Last Spring the Humans in Nature team decided to “practice what we preach” and take a brief walk through a residential neighborhood a few blocks away from our offices at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. We decided to take another walk in October in a different part of the neighborhood. Following the tenets of Attention Restoration Theory (ART), we let our attention wander to gently alight on whatever caught our fancy in the moment.
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Last Spring the Humans in Nature team decided to “practice what we preach” and take a brief walk through a residential neighborhood a few blocks away from our offices at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Following the tenets of Attention Restoration Theory (ART), we let our attention wander to gently alight on whatever caught our fancy in the moment. Here are examples of what caught our attention.
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Here in the Midwest, the glorious fall days give way to what seems to be a winter of endless overcast days and bare tree branches. On one particularly dreary day I decided to “practice what I preach” on my walk to work by trying to see with fresh eyes by letting my mind wander and paying attention to whatever caught my attention in the moment.
Here is what I saw on my 20-minute walk through my neighborhood.
The limbs on trees were bare, but it made it easier to appreciate the bark on trunks!
The forecast calls for the possibility of snow in the coming days – perhaps blizzard conditions! I’m wondering what a walk then will bring!
Our interns had a week-long fall break during the week of Thanksgiving. Here are some ways they “did” nature during that time!
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What if you could live in an idyllic setting far from other people and raise kids without technology or the typical pressures and influences of the “civilized world”? What knowledge and skills should they develop to survive and thrive? How would you teach them? In this 2016 movie written and directed by Matt Ross, Viggo Mortenson plays a devoted father raising six children “off the grid”. A tragedy forces the family to journey into the outside world and tests the values and bonds the family has worked to create. The movie weaves drama and humor into a story of a parent facing judgement for their choices, but facing the inevitable: children growing up and having to make their own choices.
Warning: while the movie features the beauty and wonders of nature, the opening scene is filled with tension and brief violence that is not present for the rest of the movie.
Humans in Nature 