Back to Nature

The Issue – Our Growing Disconnection to Nature.
Studies show that every year we’re increasing the time we spend indoors and behind our screens. Depression and anxiety are on the rise, along with non-communicable health issues like obesity and diabetes: all are associated with decreased time in nature.

The Why – Connection with nature has positive impacts on mental and physical health.
Studies have shown that the relationship between human health and time spent in nature promotes physical activity, decrease stress and protect against mental illness. So, the science is in: spending time in nature is good for our bodies and our minds.

Listening to Traditional Owners’ knowledge will benefit all Australians.
Back to Nature offers an opportunity to help lay the groundwork for mainstream awareness of Traditional knowledge of Country and for inviting all Australians into an understanding that we are not separate from nature, but intimately connected to everything in it.

Impact Vision
Make connecting to & spending time in nature an integrated & essential part of people’s health and wellbeing.

Impact Goals
• Inform & educate people about the evidenced physical & mental health benefits of connecting with nature.
• Support & activate people, particularly in urban areas, to spend quality time connecting with nature
• Inspire people to protect, restore & create natural spaces.
• To learn from First Nations’ traditional knowledge and philosophy of protecting country

Short-term:
• Mass reach for the Back to Nature TV series and impact campaign.
• Creation of a national conversation around the mental physical emotional, social & spiritual benefits of being in nature.
Medium-term:
• Increased visitation to national parks & green spaces.
• Make connecting to and spending time in nature an integrated & essential part of people’s lives.
• Dissemination & uptake of the Back to Nature Study Guide schools.
Long-term:
• Create a nation of nature protectors, understanding that people protect what they love.
• Widespread understanding of the role of nature in mental and physical healthcare including nature prescriptions.
• People in the city or Bush empowered to protect restore and create nature spaces.
• First Nations people’s knowledge of the land and their philosophy of protecting country will educate all Australians and help lay the ground for Makarrata.

Series Mentors:
Munya Andrews is an Elder from Kimberley region of Western Australia, who has worked in various roles as a senior bureaucrat, lawyer and cultural awareness educator and facilitator. She is co-director of Evolve Communities. Munya’s life purpose is to create a better understanding and appreciation of Aboriginal people and to leave behind a legacy of Dreamtime wisdom for generations to come.

Bruce Pascoe has written more than 20 books. His non-fiction book, Dark Emu (2014), won the Book of the Year and Indigenous Writers’ Prize in the 2016 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards.

People and Parks Foundation
We are collaborating with The People and Parks Foundation on this project. Our conversations began over a year ago and we discovered we share a passion to reconnect people with nature. www.PeopleandParks.org

1. The population of Australia inspired to spend more time outside in nature.
2. Participation in the social media campaign accompanying the national broadcast.
3. Dissemination and engagement with the Back to Nature Study Guide among school teachers and education networks
4. Medical practitioners prescribing nature to patients as part of wholistic approach to health and well being.