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Nature Is A Human Right: Why We're Fighting for Green in a Grey World
Having access to natural, green spaces is vital to our physical and mental wellbeing. But, as urban development spreads, grey has become the new green.
Already, concrete outweighs every tree, bush and shrub on Earth. Nature deprivation is a fast-growing epidemic, harming the health and happiness of hundreds of millions of people worldwide - especially vulnerable and marginalized groups. To combat this, Nature is a Human Right, founded by Ellen Miles in 2020, is working to make access to green space a recognized right for all, not a privilege.
This book has taken root from the mission and vision of the campaign, bringing together a collection of engaging essays, interviews and exercises, curated by Ellen, from a selection of its expert ambassadors and supporters (including authors, artists, scientists, human rights experts, television presenters, TED speakers, and climate activists). Through each contributor, we discover a new perspective on why contact with nature should be a protected human right, journeying through personal narratives on mental health, disability, racism, environmental inequality, creativity, innovation and activism.
This is a captivating and enlightening collection of original writing and ideas that highlights the importance of nature, the threats of nature deprivation, and the work that needs to be done to make our global future happier, healthier and more equal.
Already, concrete outweighs every tree, bush and shrub on Earth. Nature deprivation is a fast-growing epidemic, harming the health and happiness of hundreds of millions of people worldwide - especially vulnerable and marginalized groups. To combat this, Nature is a Human Right, founded by Ellen Miles in 2020, is working to make access to green space a recognized right for all, not a privilege.
This book has taken root from the mission and vision of the campaign, bringing together a collection of engaging essays, interviews and exercises, curated by Ellen, from a selection of its expert ambassadors and supporters (including authors, artists, scientists, human rights experts, television presenters, TED speakers, and climate activists). Through each contributor, we discover a new perspective on why contact with nature should be a protected human right, journeying through personal narratives on mental health, disability, racism, environmental inequality, creativity, innovation and activism.
This is a captivating and enlightening collection of original writing and ideas that highlights the importance of nature, the threats of nature deprivation, and the work that needs to be done to make our global future happier, healthier and more equal.
321 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 19, 2022
37 people are currently reading
1335 people want to read
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August 16, 2022
Split into 3 main sections Nature is a Human Right by Ellen Miles covers our interaction with nature through the lens of Welfare, Injustice & Change. Specifically we look at how increasing urbanization and a lack of access to nature impacts our world especially along lines of income, race, & disability.
For instance, did you know that having nature accessible is correlated with a decrease of 12% in all causes mortality. Or that a 3% increase in green space is linked with a IQ boost in children of 2.6 points?
What happens when these benefits arnt available to certain classes of people? Nature is a Human Right does an amazing job talking about some of the scientific benefits of nature but also spiritual and cultural benefits. By addressing and bringing light to these inequalities we can learn how important nature truly is and why we need to fight for more of its presence in our lifes.
Not only do we bring light to the issues but this book provides guides on guerrilla gardening, seed bxmbing, and worm composting, aka actionable steps to take.
I especially love that the book is composed of micro essays, poetry, anecdotes and guest writing throughout to create an immensely engaging read.
Paired with a gorgeous cover that will have guests asking what you are reading and you have a 5/5 read from me
For instance, did you know that having nature accessible is correlated with a decrease of 12% in all causes mortality. Or that a 3% increase in green space is linked with a IQ boost in children of 2.6 points?
What happens when these benefits arnt available to certain classes of people? Nature is a Human Right does an amazing job talking about some of the scientific benefits of nature but also spiritual and cultural benefits. By addressing and bringing light to these inequalities we can learn how important nature truly is and why we need to fight for more of its presence in our lifes.
Not only do we bring light to the issues but this book provides guides on guerrilla gardening, seed bxmbing, and worm composting, aka actionable steps to take.
I especially love that the book is composed of micro essays, poetry, anecdotes and guest writing throughout to create an immensely engaging read.
Paired with a gorgeous cover that will have guests asking what you are reading and you have a 5/5 read from me
April 11, 2022
This is a brilliant, and very timely book, that focuses on the importance of a green space is to each and everyone us - no more so than over the past couple of years where we have all seen how nature and spending time in it is crucial to our wellbeing.
This book is a collection of essays and interviews from a variety of leading experts and brilliantly sums up the different aspects that nature has on the human psyche and how attitudes have changed to it over the years - to the detriment of society at times.
It is split into 3 sections which works really well - Welfare; showing the impact on how a green space is so good for you and the benefits it has both mentally and physically, Injustice; how the modern world has turned grey and that much needed green spaces are being taken over and not replaced... and Change; what we can do to keep the green spaces and do your bit be it in your own garden space or in the local community.
There's a good mix of essays - that aren't too preachy! - studies and even poetry and is fascinating to see the impact on health, senses and sleep. As a keen birdwatcher myself I really connected with the study on birdspotting and the joy it brings and a lift to your mental health when you hear a bird sing or spot a new species to you!
There's also some good practical advice on how to make seed bombs, how to compost and using a worm farm so it was good to see the more hands on side to the book, and I loved how it offered solutions to various problems or ways to help instead of just featuring the issues.
I loved reading every page of this book and I just think it is sad that those not interested in nature and green social spaces who should be reading this book will be the least likely to pick this up. They're the ones who need to read this the most!! Highly recommended!
This book is a collection of essays and interviews from a variety of leading experts and brilliantly sums up the different aspects that nature has on the human psyche and how attitudes have changed to it over the years - to the detriment of society at times.
It is split into 3 sections which works really well - Welfare; showing the impact on how a green space is so good for you and the benefits it has both mentally and physically, Injustice; how the modern world has turned grey and that much needed green spaces are being taken over and not replaced... and Change; what we can do to keep the green spaces and do your bit be it in your own garden space or in the local community.
There's a good mix of essays - that aren't too preachy! - studies and even poetry and is fascinating to see the impact on health, senses and sleep. As a keen birdwatcher myself I really connected with the study on birdspotting and the joy it brings and a lift to your mental health when you hear a bird sing or spot a new species to you!
There's also some good practical advice on how to make seed bombs, how to compost and using a worm farm so it was good to see the more hands on side to the book, and I loved how it offered solutions to various problems or ways to help instead of just featuring the issues.
I loved reading every page of this book and I just think it is sad that those not interested in nature and green social spaces who should be reading this book will be the least likely to pick this up. They're the ones who need to read this the most!! Highly recommended!
January 13, 2023
This was a lovely little anthology of scientific studies, interviews, poetry, case studies, and activist diy papers all coming together to make the case that nature should be considered a human right. Overall I think the book make a pretty compelling case and did so in a beautiful way. Presenting all the possibilities of what we could have really painted a picture towards the future we can and should be fighting for in a tangible way. The only issue I had was the occasional feeling that some of the sections were at odds with each other (should we be using empirical data when deciding if nature is a human right? Or is empirical data missing the point? I’m not sure because both points were argued for). But all in all a very nice read.
September 6, 2022
The safety we intuit in lush, green spaces kickstarts the parasympathetic nervous system, freeing us from fight or flight mode and translating to a calmer mind- the perfect petri dish to breed creative thoughts and ideas…the mind needs to be nourished and restored before new creative thoughts and ideas can be explored, incubated, or realized. Daisy Kennedy
A British activist compiled these essays as part of the movement towards greening spaces and a petition to the UN to have it declared as a basic human right. All for it, yes, please. Some of the topics were far stronger in All We Can Save since it was focused on solutions, but it is still a valuable read. My mind is still blown over the idea of London being a “National Park City” that prioritizes all animals including humans and seems landmark. Imagining it in my city would require a big leap away from “greening” the color and “greening” the xeriscaping necessary in the arid West. But possible, and amazing.
A link to a petition to the UN: https://chng.it/Y7cVm59Wk7
We never were separate from nature and never will be, but the dominant culture on earth has long imagined itself to be apart from nature and destined one day to transcend it. We have lived a mythology of separation. Charles Eisenstein
A standard definition of nature confirms this separation delusion: “the phenomena of the physical world collectively, including plants, animals, the landscape, and other feature and products of the earth, as opposed to humans or human creations.” We are “products of the earth.” The iron in your blood, salt in your sweat and calcium in your bones comes from the Earth’s crust. The water molecules that make us 60% of your body have flowed down the Nile, rained over the Amazon and drifted across the Atlantic Ocean. You’re related to everything that’s ever lived on the planet: all life evolved from one single-celled organism; you share DNA with each and every living being, from amoeba to zebra. The visual continuum between human bodies and other elements of nature has its own poetry: our branching veins run like rivers, neurons cross-hatching chaotically like fungal mycelium, and lung bronchioles branch out like tree limbs. The perfectly imperfect human form- micro to macro, inside and out, is glorious in its nature-ness. Ellen Miles
We are at a crossroads…To become a mature global civilization (as well as curb the sixth mass extinction) we must accept this simple fact: a need for green is written in our genes. By divorcing ourselves from nature, we both limiting our potential and losing a part of ourselves. Nature is not an inconvenience or an other; it is not a luxury or a frivolity- nature is a human right. Ellen Miles
What does “nature is a human right” mean? A more appropriate title for the book might be “vegetated environments are a human right.” It is our “right” to use and abuse these environments as we please? It doesn’t mean that Earth is ours to consume or destroy; rights and responsibilities go hand and hand and our relationship with nature must be symbiotic if it is to be sustainable. To upgrade the title again, “daily contact with vegetated environments is a human right.” I have avoided “access to” to avoid the insinuation that anyone and everyone has a right to access any and every natural environment. People’s privacy and native inhabitant’s land rights are sacred, and must be protected. Ellen Miles
Our legislated human rights- intended to prevent injustice and inhumanity- need to adapt to reflect the evolving landscape of oppression. At present, a new form of oppression is growing: nature deprivation. Depriving people of contact with nature is not only unnatural, it is a form of violence. Driving physical, mental, and social ills, it is a form of violence. To protect present and future generation, we must defend our right to have contact with nature. We can work away in fragments to save this bit of green space here…[and] fight together to turn the dial globally. Enshrining nature contact in international human rights law…can stop governments and legislators pursuing expedient policies at the expense of peoples’ welfare. Back to the title, Daily Contact with Vegetated Environments Should be a Legally Protected Right for Every Human Being. Ellen Miles
Why do freshly cut grass, petrichor (the smell of earth after rain), and sea air smell so good? They’re good for us. We developed our finely tuned senses, which pick up on the things we need them to, over millennia. Our senses are ancient and wise; they can teach us about what we need-and they do. You can hear your ancestors whisper through them, guiding you towards certain sights, sounds, and smells.
Qing Li
We are reassured by green on a very primitive level. Where there is green, there is water. And where there is water, we can find food. When the world around us contains plenty of green we can relax.
Qing Li
The traditional principle that urban habitats and landscapes should be excluded from the world’s family of National Parks doesn’t make sense to me for three key reasons: First, I don’t believe that urban wildlife is worth less than rural wildlife…the foxes and peregrine falcons living in London, more than in Yosemite, are just as valuable and important…second, we need to recognize that urban areas are valuable habitats and landscapes. According to one UN definition, London is, in fact, a forest because it has so many trees…Third, National Pakrs are not just about protecting nature. They are about creating places where people can spend time enjoying themselves, learning, healing, and connecting.
People in urban areas- who have the advantages of number, proximities, and facilities- have extraordinary collection power to influence nature. From pollinator friendly window boxes to larger scale community projects that make streets more green, urbanites have the power and the right to create space for nature where they live. Not only that, through what we consume, who we invest in and how we vote, the urban majority shape and influence what nature looks like around the world.
Around the world, you’ll find an abundance of projects and polcies that are focused on making cities greener, healthier and wilder; Bogota started closing its road to cars every Sunday; Barcelona has introduced “superblocks,” car-free areas that reduce traffic and allow for greater planting; Singapore, the City in the Garden, has a ferocious biophilic design. For more, see National Park City Journey Book.
Dan Raven-Ellison National Park City Journey Book - Version 1.0 July 21 2021 - Small File.pdf
https://www.nationalparkcity.org/down...
WALK THROUGH THE JUNGLE BY SHAREEFA ENERGY
Taking you on a journey
A sacred place within
Let your mind wander
To a place of comfort
I want you to close your eyes
Close the doors on all demanding
Relax your shoulders
Feel the weight you’re carrying leave your body
Let the stresses of life fly by
Don’t give them power inside you to reside
Every struggle you face today is temporary
Remember to breathe
…
The rainforest, she is solace
Her beauty blooms
She brings calm to my spirit
She makes my struggles feel minuscule
Her bright shades of green
She brings me back to grounding
…
When the sun shines
When it’s spring or summertime
Close your eyes
Feel the sun kissing your skin
Feel her healing you
Feel her giving you energy
Green is good for you. There are studies which link green space with physical fitness and there is more going on when it comes to mental health and nature. Our minds are not Lego sets built for a Bauhaus world. We are not machines; we are animals. Incontrovertibly so, and a cause of celebration. The prevalence of mental health distress tells us one thing as a society; we must be kinder to our human nature and these, our animal bodies. And the necessary medicine is green… the forests are a place of transformation. In the woods, our spirits can stretch and change, can move like a willow, elastic in spring. The whole tone of a day can be shifted by taking a walk through the trees in the park, even in the city centre. Woodlands can absorb bad moods and calm headaches. They change us. In the woods, you may be lost in your thoughts, willingly lost, creatively lost, which allows you to enter the mind’s forests, where the wind within can blow you somewhere sought and as yet unfound.
Jay Griffiths
Our minds need what is wild, that unmistakable, unforgettable, elemental thing: wildness, the universal Songline, sung in green-gold, which we recognize the moment we hear it. we come from this wild song and we are most fully alive when we resonate to its wildest pitch with intense and necessary love.
Jay Griffiths
EMPATHY AS RESISTANCE BY SOPHIA SINOPOULOS-LLOYD
If you want to learn how to belong
On/this/land
Watch the creatures
Who live here
For whom nature is not just a backdrop
For a spiritual experience.
See how the bobcat and the lion
Walk along the edges of things
Even at night
They walk in moonshadow?
See how the birds
Warn the whole forest of danger
And claim their territory
With a song.
Watch them if you can
Because here’s the irony
When beings become expert at belonging
They can appear invisible to us.
This includes
Human beings.
When we learn that
We are finally able
To sit with our relatives
And Listen.
Beauty chimes in our souls in a way that brings fulfillment, comfort, and joy.
Daisy Kennedy
In nature, nothing is perfect and everything is perfect. Trees can be contorted, bent in weird ways, and they’re still beautiful. Alice Walker
The world is getting greyer by the second. In 1900, fewer than 1 in 6 human beings lived in urban areas. By 2050, it will be more than 4 in 6. As urbanization sprawls, tentacles of cement, grave and tarmac are engulfing nature. Concrete is the second most used substance on Earth, after water- it already outweighs every tree, bush, and shrub on the planet.
Ellen Miles
Louisa Adjoa Parker, British and Ghanaian heritage
Yes, I am from here, really,
But also from there. My feet
Connect me to this piece of earth
Which rolls away in green waves
This piece of earth inhabited
By people who do look like me.
Thi is how I wear my skin:
It tells the story of another place;
An imagined country
with dusty roads, hot nights
which I have yet to see.
We all lean into the dark
Towards our ancestors, who lean
Towards us, with bent spines,
Trying to tell us where we are from,
Where we are going.
A British activist compiled these essays as part of the movement towards greening spaces and a petition to the UN to have it declared as a basic human right. All for it, yes, please. Some of the topics were far stronger in All We Can Save since it was focused on solutions, but it is still a valuable read. My mind is still blown over the idea of London being a “National Park City” that prioritizes all animals including humans and seems landmark. Imagining it in my city would require a big leap away from “greening” the color and “greening” the xeriscaping necessary in the arid West. But possible, and amazing.
A link to a petition to the UN: https://chng.it/Y7cVm59Wk7
We never were separate from nature and never will be, but the dominant culture on earth has long imagined itself to be apart from nature and destined one day to transcend it. We have lived a mythology of separation. Charles Eisenstein
A standard definition of nature confirms this separation delusion: “the phenomena of the physical world collectively, including plants, animals, the landscape, and other feature and products of the earth, as opposed to humans or human creations.” We are “products of the earth.” The iron in your blood, salt in your sweat and calcium in your bones comes from the Earth’s crust. The water molecules that make us 60% of your body have flowed down the Nile, rained over the Amazon and drifted across the Atlantic Ocean. You’re related to everything that’s ever lived on the planet: all life evolved from one single-celled organism; you share DNA with each and every living being, from amoeba to zebra. The visual continuum between human bodies and other elements of nature has its own poetry: our branching veins run like rivers, neurons cross-hatching chaotically like fungal mycelium, and lung bronchioles branch out like tree limbs. The perfectly imperfect human form- micro to macro, inside and out, is glorious in its nature-ness. Ellen Miles
We are at a crossroads…To become a mature global civilization (as well as curb the sixth mass extinction) we must accept this simple fact: a need for green is written in our genes. By divorcing ourselves from nature, we both limiting our potential and losing a part of ourselves. Nature is not an inconvenience or an other; it is not a luxury or a frivolity- nature is a human right. Ellen Miles
What does “nature is a human right” mean? A more appropriate title for the book might be “vegetated environments are a human right.” It is our “right” to use and abuse these environments as we please? It doesn’t mean that Earth is ours to consume or destroy; rights and responsibilities go hand and hand and our relationship with nature must be symbiotic if it is to be sustainable. To upgrade the title again, “daily contact with vegetated environments is a human right.” I have avoided “access to” to avoid the insinuation that anyone and everyone has a right to access any and every natural environment. People’s privacy and native inhabitant’s land rights are sacred, and must be protected. Ellen Miles
Our legislated human rights- intended to prevent injustice and inhumanity- need to adapt to reflect the evolving landscape of oppression. At present, a new form of oppression is growing: nature deprivation. Depriving people of contact with nature is not only unnatural, it is a form of violence. Driving physical, mental, and social ills, it is a form of violence. To protect present and future generation, we must defend our right to have contact with nature. We can work away in fragments to save this bit of green space here…[and] fight together to turn the dial globally. Enshrining nature contact in international human rights law…can stop governments and legislators pursuing expedient policies at the expense of peoples’ welfare. Back to the title, Daily Contact with Vegetated Environments Should be a Legally Protected Right for Every Human Being. Ellen Miles
Why do freshly cut grass, petrichor (the smell of earth after rain), and sea air smell so good? They’re good for us. We developed our finely tuned senses, which pick up on the things we need them to, over millennia. Our senses are ancient and wise; they can teach us about what we need-and they do. You can hear your ancestors whisper through them, guiding you towards certain sights, sounds, and smells.
Qing Li
We are reassured by green on a very primitive level. Where there is green, there is water. And where there is water, we can find food. When the world around us contains plenty of green we can relax.
Qing Li
The traditional principle that urban habitats and landscapes should be excluded from the world’s family of National Parks doesn’t make sense to me for three key reasons: First, I don’t believe that urban wildlife is worth less than rural wildlife…the foxes and peregrine falcons living in London, more than in Yosemite, are just as valuable and important…second, we need to recognize that urban areas are valuable habitats and landscapes. According to one UN definition, London is, in fact, a forest because it has so many trees…Third, National Pakrs are not just about protecting nature. They are about creating places where people can spend time enjoying themselves, learning, healing, and connecting.
People in urban areas- who have the advantages of number, proximities, and facilities- have extraordinary collection power to influence nature. From pollinator friendly window boxes to larger scale community projects that make streets more green, urbanites have the power and the right to create space for nature where they live. Not only that, through what we consume, who we invest in and how we vote, the urban majority shape and influence what nature looks like around the world.
Around the world, you’ll find an abundance of projects and polcies that are focused on making cities greener, healthier and wilder; Bogota started closing its road to cars every Sunday; Barcelona has introduced “superblocks,” car-free areas that reduce traffic and allow for greater planting; Singapore, the City in the Garden, has a ferocious biophilic design. For more, see National Park City Journey Book.
Dan Raven-Ellison National Park City Journey Book - Version 1.0 July 21 2021 - Small File.pdf
https://www.nationalparkcity.org/down...
WALK THROUGH THE JUNGLE BY SHAREEFA ENERGY
Taking you on a journey
A sacred place within
Let your mind wander
To a place of comfort
I want you to close your eyes
Close the doors on all demanding
Relax your shoulders
Feel the weight you’re carrying leave your body
Let the stresses of life fly by
Don’t give them power inside you to reside
Every struggle you face today is temporary
Remember to breathe
…
The rainforest, she is solace
Her beauty blooms
She brings calm to my spirit
She makes my struggles feel minuscule
Her bright shades of green
She brings me back to grounding
…
When the sun shines
When it’s spring or summertime
Close your eyes
Feel the sun kissing your skin
Feel her healing you
Feel her giving you energy
Green is good for you. There are studies which link green space with physical fitness and there is more going on when it comes to mental health and nature. Our minds are not Lego sets built for a Bauhaus world. We are not machines; we are animals. Incontrovertibly so, and a cause of celebration. The prevalence of mental health distress tells us one thing as a society; we must be kinder to our human nature and these, our animal bodies. And the necessary medicine is green… the forests are a place of transformation. In the woods, our spirits can stretch and change, can move like a willow, elastic in spring. The whole tone of a day can be shifted by taking a walk through the trees in the park, even in the city centre. Woodlands can absorb bad moods and calm headaches. They change us. In the woods, you may be lost in your thoughts, willingly lost, creatively lost, which allows you to enter the mind’s forests, where the wind within can blow you somewhere sought and as yet unfound.
Jay Griffiths
Our minds need what is wild, that unmistakable, unforgettable, elemental thing: wildness, the universal Songline, sung in green-gold, which we recognize the moment we hear it. we come from this wild song and we are most fully alive when we resonate to its wildest pitch with intense and necessary love.
Jay Griffiths
EMPATHY AS RESISTANCE BY SOPHIA SINOPOULOS-LLOYD
If you want to learn how to belong
On/this/land
Watch the creatures
Who live here
For whom nature is not just a backdrop
For a spiritual experience.
See how the bobcat and the lion
Walk along the edges of things
Even at night
They walk in moonshadow?
See how the birds
Warn the whole forest of danger
And claim their territory
With a song.
Watch them if you can
Because here’s the irony
When beings become expert at belonging
They can appear invisible to us.
This includes
Human beings.
When we learn that
We are finally able
To sit with our relatives
And Listen.
Beauty chimes in our souls in a way that brings fulfillment, comfort, and joy.
Daisy Kennedy
In nature, nothing is perfect and everything is perfect. Trees can be contorted, bent in weird ways, and they’re still beautiful. Alice Walker
The world is getting greyer by the second. In 1900, fewer than 1 in 6 human beings lived in urban areas. By 2050, it will be more than 4 in 6. As urbanization sprawls, tentacles of cement, grave and tarmac are engulfing nature. Concrete is the second most used substance on Earth, after water- it already outweighs every tree, bush, and shrub on the planet.
Ellen Miles
Louisa Adjoa Parker, British and Ghanaian heritage
Yes, I am from here, really,
But also from there. My feet
Connect me to this piece of earth
Which rolls away in green waves
This piece of earth inhabited
By people who do look like me.
Thi is how I wear my skin:
It tells the story of another place;
An imagined country
with dusty roads, hot nights
which I have yet to see.
We all lean into the dark
Towards our ancestors, who lean
Towards us, with bent spines,
Trying to tell us where we are from,
Where we are going.
June 22, 2025
Amazing. Informative while feeling like a good hug.
Read
November 23, 2023This collection contains a real range of perspectives with some truly phenomenal sections.
April 25, 2022
As someone who loves gardening and being out in my garden, I knew that this was a book that would interest me. For me, gardening is done in an environmental way and encouraging as many birds, bugs and insects as possible. I help nature and in turn, nature helps me with pollination, and bug control and also provides a wonderful sense of well being and mindfulness.
This book is a series of essays, poems, interviews and ideas for helping keep our environment green rather than just building over what we have. I am a firm believer in that if you have a garden then you should use it for the benefit of nature as well as yourself. I am lucky that my garden is large enough to have flowers, vegetables, trees, shrubs and a small pond. It isn't overly weeded and no chemicals are used.
This book gives some very interesting and also great ideas and opinions from others. These have been curated and give a large range of perspectives from different people around the world and from different backgrounds. This makes it really fascinating to read and I have been dipping in and out of this book for a week or so and found myself nodding in agreement with some thoughts and being surprised by things I had not thought about.
This is a book that encourages us to work with nature, to encourage it and help protect what we have. Having access to outside space is a must-have for me and I do appreciate I am very lucky considering where I live, (in a village in the countryside near the sea) as this gives me so much access to the natural environment. Before this, I lived in London, but I found loads of places in the city where there were small parks, nature reserves and other hidden wildlife gems.
This isn't a book that made me feel I was being preached to or told what I must do. Instead, it felt encouraging and I have taken some ideas and thoughts from this. It is a book I would definitely recommend to anyone who likes nature, wildlife, green areas and spaces and
This book is a series of essays, poems, interviews and ideas for helping keep our environment green rather than just building over what we have. I am a firm believer in that if you have a garden then you should use it for the benefit of nature as well as yourself. I am lucky that my garden is large enough to have flowers, vegetables, trees, shrubs and a small pond. It isn't overly weeded and no chemicals are used.
This book gives some very interesting and also great ideas and opinions from others. These have been curated and give a large range of perspectives from different people around the world and from different backgrounds. This makes it really fascinating to read and I have been dipping in and out of this book for a week or so and found myself nodding in agreement with some thoughts and being surprised by things I had not thought about.
This is a book that encourages us to work with nature, to encourage it and help protect what we have. Having access to outside space is a must-have for me and I do appreciate I am very lucky considering where I live, (in a village in the countryside near the sea) as this gives me so much access to the natural environment. Before this, I lived in London, but I found loads of places in the city where there were small parks, nature reserves and other hidden wildlife gems.
This isn't a book that made me feel I was being preached to or told what I must do. Instead, it felt encouraging and I have taken some ideas and thoughts from this. It is a book I would definitely recommend to anyone who likes nature, wildlife, green areas and spaces and
March 26, 2023
Ellen Miles has done a fantastic job of collecting the thoughts of a diverse range of people in this book, all tackling different issues or having different perspectives, and yet all sharing a collective passion for nature.
Split into 3 main sections titled Welfare, Injustice, and Change, this book teaches the reader about the importance of reconnecting with the natural world, and how intertwined nature deprivation is with other social injustices.
I've finished this book with a renewed inspiration to create resilient communities and greener spaces for both people & nature. I reccomend this book to anyone wanting to regain a sense of connectivity to the natural world.
Split into 3 main sections titled Welfare, Injustice, and Change, this book teaches the reader about the importance of reconnecting with the natural world, and how intertwined nature deprivation is with other social injustices.
I've finished this book with a renewed inspiration to create resilient communities and greener spaces for both people & nature. I reccomend this book to anyone wanting to regain a sense of connectivity to the natural world.
April 4, 2022
Its a truly inspiring book! I've volunteered at a community gardening project and started my own community since finishing it last week. Impactful to say the least.
Wide-ranging collection of poems, ideas, essays and interviews about why Nature should be a human right. Ellen Miles came top of her year at uni studying philosophy and you'd guess by the enjoyable way she writes and weaves a paragraph. Her essays are delightful - are they stream of consciousness? But all the better, rawer, and more sincere for it. Her intro is a whistle-stop enticement to read on.
The book has helped to rekindle my love of nature just how discovering nature in primary school did. It was shown to you, explained in scientific terms, explored through art and poetry and in other ways all one after the other.
This compendium is also a series of well-chosen perspectives from marginalised and less-heard backgrounds. I'm incensed to do something - and I've posted on all my community groups.
Get this book, but be careful - it will drive you to action! This is an 'action-book'!
Wide-ranging collection of poems, ideas, essays and interviews about why Nature should be a human right. Ellen Miles came top of her year at uni studying philosophy and you'd guess by the enjoyable way she writes and weaves a paragraph. Her essays are delightful - are they stream of consciousness? But all the better, rawer, and more sincere for it. Her intro is a whistle-stop enticement to read on.
The book has helped to rekindle my love of nature just how discovering nature in primary school did. It was shown to you, explained in scientific terms, explored through art and poetry and in other ways all one after the other.
This compendium is also a series of well-chosen perspectives from marginalised and less-heard backgrounds. I'm incensed to do something - and I've posted on all my community groups.
Get this book, but be careful - it will drive you to action! This is an 'action-book'!
April 5, 2022
I really enjoyed this brilliant book and the combination of voices and writers in it. The book is divided into three chapters; each exploring themes of welfare, injustice, and change. Reading made my heart ache in places, for the entrenched injustices and personal stories of the divisions of societies across the world.
It also made my heart swell and I'm left with an immense feeling of hope and inspiration. The collective amazingness of the voices in this book: their wisdom, ideas, intelligence and care - there are people doing great things in the world and it is powerful to be reminded of the transformative feeling of hope - and how that feeling can fuel positive action and change.
Highly recommend for those for care about our environment and natural world (of which we are a part of)
It also made my heart swell and I'm left with an immense feeling of hope and inspiration. The collective amazingness of the voices in this book: their wisdom, ideas, intelligence and care - there are people doing great things in the world and it is powerful to be reminded of the transformative feeling of hope - and how that feeling can fuel positive action and change.
Highly recommend for those for care about our environment and natural world (of which we are a part of)
May 3, 2025
Like a lot of people who picked up this book at the store (probably), the title of this book alone resonates so well with me. As a city girl who was born in the city, escaped the city for a little while and came back (against my will) to the city, the sharp divide between urban and nature feels absolutely suffocating. There was even a time in my life when I felt trapped in this concrete jungle (which I'm still somewhat feeling, honestly)—so much so, that I often felt hard to breathe.
How did we get here? How did humans get so separated from the rest of nature? That's insane.
And that's my experience as an able-bodied and considerably well-off person, living in a big city (and the capital no less). What about disabled people who have less access to facilities that enable them to reach nature that may be far, far away from where they live?
Not even disabled, just people who do not live in the neighbourhood I live in (or something like it). For instance, my boyfriend lives in the suburbs (or whatever that may take form in the Greater Jakarta Area), which is made up of really narrow streets and all the houses are packed like sardines. Yes, there are sometimes field smack dab in the middle of all that, but not much greenery—and no one who takes care of the vegetation and wildlife.
Where I live, there are still somewhat wild animals—like stray cats, the occasional squirrels and big, big lizards—but stray cats are the only wild animals in most areas in the Greater Jakarta Area.
Back to the book: I really find it to be deeply insightful. It makes me rethink what we define as urban and as natural and as manmade, and how they may not even need to be exclusive from one another. It also makes me rethink all these other places I'd lived in before—and how much closer they may be to a National Park City compared to where I reside now. I mean, I once lived somewhere with a forest-like park in my backyard. And I used to go hiking in a National Park all the time in my town as well. But that was all in Europe. Indonesia mostly doesn't have that, which is incredibly ironic.
All in all, I really want to look into every single movement mentioned in this book and follow up on everything everyone is doing to ensure equal access to nature for all of us. Honestly, highly recommended for everyone! Especially city dwellers with mental and/or physical health issues.
How did we get here? How did humans get so separated from the rest of nature? That's insane.
And that's my experience as an able-bodied and considerably well-off person, living in a big city (and the capital no less). What about disabled people who have less access to facilities that enable them to reach nature that may be far, far away from where they live?
Not even disabled, just people who do not live in the neighbourhood I live in (or something like it). For instance, my boyfriend lives in the suburbs (or whatever that may take form in the Greater Jakarta Area), which is made up of really narrow streets and all the houses are packed like sardines. Yes, there are sometimes field smack dab in the middle of all that, but not much greenery—and no one who takes care of the vegetation and wildlife.
Where I live, there are still somewhat wild animals—like stray cats, the occasional squirrels and big, big lizards—but stray cats are the only wild animals in most areas in the Greater Jakarta Area.
Back to the book: I really find it to be deeply insightful. It makes me rethink what we define as urban and as natural and as manmade, and how they may not even need to be exclusive from one another. It also makes me rethink all these other places I'd lived in before—and how much closer they may be to a National Park City compared to where I reside now. I mean, I once lived somewhere with a forest-like park in my backyard. And I used to go hiking in a National Park all the time in my town as well. But that was all in Europe. Indonesia mostly doesn't have that, which is incredibly ironic.
All in all, I really want to look into every single movement mentioned in this book and follow up on everything everyone is doing to ensure equal access to nature for all of us. Honestly, highly recommended for everyone! Especially city dwellers with mental and/or physical health issues.
March 1, 2024
A wonderfully well written book broken down into sections to allow you to learn about nature and nature connectedness by those who have experience in getting others involved in nature. I loved the stories and the information throughout the book and how we must make nature a human right, for all to enjoy and flourish in. “A 2012 resolution by the International Union for Conservation of Nature World Conservation Congress concluded that:’…connecting children with nature is of such a fundamental importance for both children and the (future of) the conservation of nature and the protection of the environment, that it should be recognized and codified internationally as a human right’.” And, “…If a child is introduced to the natural world before the age of 12, they’ll most likely continue this relationship…”, so we must include children in nature and be able to crate a connectedness. How can we love something we don’t care about and how can we care about something we don’t know? This book should be read by all so everyone can learn how they can be more involved in nature and realize that, “We are part of nature: not independent, but interdependent…”. We can all take something from this book and be and do better for ourselves, our loved ones, our community and the world. “…we regard land as a commodity belonging to us, rather than a community to which we belong.” We all belong in nature and nature belongs to all of us as a human right. “Concrete is the second most used substance in earth, after water”. Let’s reduce our concrete use and go out and explore nature, because nature to belongs to all of us, of all races, all abilities or disabilities, all genders and all ages. Human nature is a human right.
September 19, 2022
Ellen Miles has compiled and produced an incredible book that should be essential reading. This is a “call to arms “ to highlight the importance of “ green” spaces ( forests, woodlands, parks, green areas ) within our lives . The series of essays and poems by a wide ranging group of voices/ experts provide strong evidence and debate for the greening of lives across the world and in particular in urban areas. The writings are eloquent, direct and full of clear tangible points. This isn’t a “drum banging “ book that preaches to the converted but a collection of works that are accessible and essential to everyone. The recognition of the importance of nature and its impact on mental health and well- being in society is powerful and the barriers to provide more green space to the citizens of the planet or get them to engage and connect with outer lying area of nature are clearly identified..Yet this isn’t a negative read but one that should inspire ( yes it does shock - the statistics are certainly astounding ) . A copy should be sent to every council / regional environmental leader to provide them with the reasons to connect with the wider community and build up projects to bring nature into everyone’s life and not just nature be regarded as a privilege for some and an impossible opportunity for others . Nature is a human right and this book presents a clear case for this stance . A book I will return to and highly recommend. Thank you to all involved .
April 13, 2025
As someone who enjoys a walk, but doesn't spend nearly enough time in nature at the moment, this book came to me at the right time.
It's broken into several different perspectives, celebrating the benefits of nature immersion while also highlighting the ways marginalised communities are denied access by sweeping urbanisation - reducing all that was once green, to grey.
Elements of the book that stuck in my memory:
- An interesting account describing one person's time spent in the company of a shaman in the Amazon Rainforest.
- How we should be cautious of letting exhaustion (from work) outweigh our curiosity.
- A suggestion that in the West silence can be seen as weakness whereas in the East it can be seen as strength
- Gardening, specifically putting one's hands in soil, releases Mycobacterium vaccae, which increases serotonin and reduces anxiety.
If you want to rekindle your love of nature, it's definitely worth a read.
It's broken into several different perspectives, celebrating the benefits of nature immersion while also highlighting the ways marginalised communities are denied access by sweeping urbanisation - reducing all that was once green, to grey.
Elements of the book that stuck in my memory:
- An interesting account describing one person's time spent in the company of a shaman in the Amazon Rainforest.
- How we should be cautious of letting exhaustion (from work) outweigh our curiosity.
- A suggestion that in the West silence can be seen as weakness whereas in the East it can be seen as strength
- Gardening, specifically putting one's hands in soil, releases Mycobacterium vaccae, which increases serotonin and reduces anxiety.
If you want to rekindle your love of nature, it's definitely worth a read.
December 30, 2022
I am such a nature lover and this book gave me so many good feels. While there was nothing overtly revealing for me, it was confirming to hear different perspectives related to nature, and the importance of green space. A topic that is as timely as ever (and no one needs this to be spelt out).
The social justice approach to the writing ensures different perspectives are captured and profiled, including through the lenses of race, income inequality and disability. Growing up in a country with such strong First Nations perspectives on land and the environment, I would have like to have seen more exploration from these perspectives, but one book can’t do everything.
The social justice approach to the writing ensures different perspectives are captured and profiled, including through the lenses of race, income inequality and disability. Growing up in a country with such strong First Nations perspectives on land and the environment, I would have like to have seen more exploration from these perspectives, but one book can’t do everything.
March 27, 2022
𝙃𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙘𝙘𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙖𝙡, 𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙨𝙥𝙖𝙘𝙚𝙨 𝙞𝙨 𝙫𝙞𝙩𝙖𝙡 𝙩𝙤 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙥𝙝𝙮𝙨𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙡 𝙬𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙗𝙚𝙞𝙣𝙜. 𝘽𝙪𝙩, 𝙖𝙨 𝙪𝙧𝙗𝙖𝙣 𝙙𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙡𝙤𝙥𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙨𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙨, 𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙮 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙣𝙚𝙬 𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙣.
I found this book very interesting, it gets repetitive though but I still liked it and the way it was compiled.
It delves into the health benefits of being in nature, it really is an essential thing for us humans and we need to get back in touch with it and a whole lot more.
I recommend to the nature lovers out there.
I found this book very interesting, it gets repetitive though but I still liked it and the way it was compiled.
It delves into the health benefits of being in nature, it really is an essential thing for us humans and we need to get back in touch with it and a whole lot more.
I recommend to the nature lovers out there.
May 31, 2023
This was such an insightful read.
A series of different voices that champion environmentalism and give insight into how nature can help with mental health and other health conditions, and gives ideas on how we can utilise green spaces to change up entire communities.
Some of the facts and figures were
truly shocking
Definately worth a read
A series of different voices that champion environmentalism and give insight into how nature can help with mental health and other health conditions, and gives ideas on how we can utilise green spaces to change up entire communities.
Some of the facts and figures were
truly shocking
Definately worth a read
May 31, 2023
This was such an insightful read.
A series of different voices that champion environmentalism and give insight into how nature can help with mental health and other health conditions, and gives ideas on how we can utilise green spaces to change up entire communities.
Some of the facts and figures were
truly shocking
Definately worth a read
A series of different voices that champion environmentalism and give insight into how nature can help with mental health and other health conditions, and gives ideas on how we can utilise green spaces to change up entire communities.
Some of the facts and figures were
truly shocking
Definately worth a read
September 19, 2023
All of my favorite things in one book; nature, reflection, and poetry. Reading this book gave me a new perspective on Nature and how inaccessible it is other parts of the world. A great read overall, it left me wanting to read more into ecophilia based literature.
May 21, 2024
Fantastic ! Thoughtful and comprehensive, presented in an engaging and uncomplicated way-- there is value to be found here for brand-new eyes, or for people who have come across these topics before.
I recommend it to like every person i meet.
I recommend it to like every person i meet.
July 27, 2022
A happy hopeful book which is a welcome change, a bringing together of ideas but doesn’t introduce any new concepts.
October 15, 2022
Some good points, however i have the feeling that to write a book nowadays on any subject is becoming mandatory to include colour/sexuality theme... and does feel weird
November 7, 2023
Must read.
October 15, 2024
La primera parte es muy buena, la última también… pero la parte media … bueno, no tanto.
March 6, 2023
The best book I could have read this year!! Wow!! I’m in love with Ellen Miles and all of the writers in the essays! My eco warrior fuel is refilled.
March 6, 2023
A great thesis. Would have liked more empirical evidence and less anecdotes.
June 6, 2022
This is one of the best things I have read in a long time. For sure will be one of my top reads this year. It’s an anthology of collected essays and poems, from a diverse set of authors and activists, about MOTHER EARTH and how it is our right as earthlings to have a connection and relationship with her. It’s divided into three parts: welfare, just why and how nature is *so* good for us and how important it is to have access to it; justice, noting that not everyone has equal access to nature, due to racism, ableism, and socioeconomic status, how we should be contentious of that and what we can do to combat that; and change — tangible things we can do, and fight for, to ensure a world that is for everyone, that no one will be excluded, and that we can have nature in our lives every day.
It stressed again and again how we are not separate from nature - we ARE nature. The more we can shift away from the mentality of us being separate from nature, and the more we can understand we are all interconnected and dependent on each other, the more we’ll be inclined to fight for the preservation of nature. If we feel a real connection to the earth, our feelings of responsibility to care for her grows.
This book brought tears to my eyes multiple times, about the good, good world we can - and many of us are - working to create. We can choose a future so different from the path we’re on right now - one where nature is everywhere and in everything we do. Imagine a better world, and then ask why not? Why can’t it be that way? And what can we do to achieve that world we envision?
I can’t even fully describe how good this book is. Really, you should read it. And then we should all work together to make this world a better world for everyone, every earthling here. “We are not defending nature. We are nature, defending ourselves.”
It stressed again and again how we are not separate from nature - we ARE nature. The more we can shift away from the mentality of us being separate from nature, and the more we can understand we are all interconnected and dependent on each other, the more we’ll be inclined to fight for the preservation of nature. If we feel a real connection to the earth, our feelings of responsibility to care for her grows.
This book brought tears to my eyes multiple times, about the good, good world we can - and many of us are - working to create. We can choose a future so different from the path we’re on right now - one where nature is everywhere and in everything we do. Imagine a better world, and then ask why not? Why can’t it be that way? And what can we do to achieve that world we envision?
I can’t even fully describe how good this book is. Really, you should read it. And then we should all work together to make this world a better world for everyone, every earthling here. “We are not defending nature. We are nature, defending ourselves.”
December 14, 2025
Politely asks capitalist city planners to please plant a few trees so we don’t all suffocate in asphalt despair, while quietly ignoring that the bulldozers never stopped. Great for making you want to scatter wildflower bombs on your mayor’s lawn tomorrow morning.
January 8, 2025
One of the best books I’ve read. Definitely a must read for everyone not only for those who are passionate about the environment, people should know the importance of nature in our everyday lives and ways we can fight to achieve this
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