Experiences in nature are associated with several benefits, such as recovery of cognitive resources (Hartig et al., 2014), increased pro-environmental attitudes (EA) (Chawla and Derr, 2012) and behaviors (EB) (Evans et al., 2018), more frequent physical activity (Schaefer et al., 2014) and increases pro-social orientation (Joye and Bolderdijk, 2014). In spite of these positive effects of people’s contact with nature, there is mounting evidence indicating that people’s direct contact with nature is diminishing (Zaradic et al., 2009; Soga and Gaston, 2016). Several reasons have been suggested for this growing alienation from the natural world, including increased urbanization rates, more frequent use of new technologies for entertainment, and the perception of nearby natural places as insecure (Clements, 2004; Tandon et al., 2012; Soga and Gaston, 2016; Larson et al., 2018a). Researchers have warned that this lack of experiences in nature may have negative consequences for people’s pro-environmentalism (i.e., their pro-EA and pro-EB) (Soga and Gaston, 2016; Evans et al., 2018; Rosa et al., 2018), which could lead to detrimental consequences for the environment (Evans, 2019). As a result, there has been a proliferation of initiatives (e.g., no child left inside) and publications (e.g., Louv, 2008) targeted at the general public with the aim of encouraging a more frequent contact with nature from early childhood. Yet, is the link between experiences in nature and pro-environmentalism as well-stabilished as the studies above suggest? Based on what is currently known about experiences in nature and pro-environmentalism, the main goal of this article is to outline a number of issues for future research on this area. To do this, we first review and synthetize the different approaches from which the relation between experiences in nature and pro-environmentalism has been studied. In our review, EA are seen as a “collection of beliefs, affect, and behavioral intentions a person holds regarding environmentally related activities or issues" (Schultz et al., 2005, 458). This definition is quite broad and, as such, we consider in our review studies evaluating people’s ecological beliefs (Van Liere and Noe, 1981), connectedness to nature (Mayer and Frantz, 2004), place attachment (Hou et al., 2005), biophilia (Zhang et al., 2014), and willingness to engage on EB (Larson et al., 2018b).
Experiences in nature are positively associated with stronger pro-environmentalism, such as emotional affinity toward nature (Kals et al., 1999), willingness to conserve biodiversity (Soga et al., 2016), willingness to pay for the conservation of urban green spaces (Lo and Jim, 2010), and pro-EB (Evans et al., 2018). Overall, researchers have found a positive link between EA and EB (Bamberg and Möser, 2007). This is in line with the Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 2011), and the Value-Belief-Norm-Theory (Stern et al., 1999), and have been supported empirically (e.g., Dunlap et al., 2000; Markle, 2013). As a general trend, the relation between experiences in nature and EB is mediated by EA (Larson et al., 2011; Pensini et al., 2016; Otto and Pensini, 2017; Rosa et al., 2018). Several ideas have been offered to explain why experiences in nature positively influence EB. These explanations include increased biocentric values (Larson et al., 2011), connectedness to nature (Otto and Pensini, 2017), and beliefs about the New Environmental Paradigm (Collado et al., 2013), a stronger sense of place attachment (Lawrence, 2012), increased positive emotions (Mayer et al., 2009) and renewal of depleted attentional capabilities (i.e., psychological restoration) (Byrka et al., 2010; Collado and Corraliza, 2015; Wyles et al., 2017), and a stronger sense of morality toward the environment (Hahn and Garrett, 2017).
In spite of the positive associations between experiences in nature and pro-environmentalism reported in previous studies, this relation is a complex one (Clayton et al., 2017). This complexity has, to our knowledge, been overlooked. Our departure point is an overview of the research findings in this area, distinguishing six different approaches used to examine the relation between people’s experiences in nature and pro-environmentalism.