Detroit Metro Times: Greening our minds

[marmar]

Greening our minds
How nature nurtures the brain

By Larry Gabriel


Last week's sunshine and warmth had me out raking and picking up the yard in anticipation of getting my garden growing. I even started some seeds germinating indoors and wondered if it was too early to put lettuce seeds in the ground. Lettuce does well in cooler weather and is one of the first things to come up each spring.

It feels good to get out and do these things after being cooped up inside for the winter. As I walked around the neighborhood with my dog, I ran into a few others who were preparing their yards or flower beds for the coming season. Everyone was smiling, beaming as they went about their work, obviously feeling good.

That's one of the great things about gardening, it makes you feel good. There's something about connecting with nature and nurturing life that brings it out. The Detroit Food Justice Task Force, a group that promotes urban agriculture, believes that too. The organization's list of shared basic values includes the concept of Earth connection, which stems from the belief that there is a "spiritual, comforting and even healing component as people work with soil in an outdoor environment."

That's a pretty lofty idea; however, it is in harmony with the relatively new and growing science of ecopsychology. Ecopsychology is based on the idea that there is a deeply bonded and reciprocal relationship between humans and nature. The Earth-connection value of the DFJTF taps into part of ecopsychology's thrust. ........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=14946