Lockdown 2020: How living slowly is changing your perception of nature

In my previous post I talked about how taking the train, which is slower than flying, allowed me to feel a deeper, more affective and embodied empathy for the environment. Delving deeper into what allowed this empathy to emerge I was drawn to recent writings about Slowness.  

This idea of Slowness has been gathering pace since 1986 when a group of Italian activists protested against the opening of McDonalds in Italy. From this, the idea of Slow Food emerged, arguing that fast food threatens our environment, lifestyle and land. This idea then grew to other Slow movements such as Slow Cities which are a push against globalisation through the resistance of the introduction of monocultural amenities, creating new rhythms of life. Slow Education also emerged in 2002 when Professor Maurice Holt called for an education which is localised and unique and builds knowledge from within a local context. This means that learners would understand their local environment more and how they are situated within it. In short Slow movements prioritise local surroundings, the natural environment and material backdrops 1 by taking the time to think and move within local areas. When Slowness is enacted one has more time to ‘think, reflect and evaluate’ 2. So, moving slowly within one’s environment can encourage a deeper reflection of its nuances and how one relates to it, from which empathy towards it could emerge. This is what happened on my train journey.

In March 2020 a national lockdown was imposed on us in the UK to beat Coronavirus. This is still ongoing. This means that many of must stay at home with only visits to the shops for essential items or for one form of exercise per day. After three weeks a review will take place, and stricter rules will be applied if people do not stick to the lockdown. At first there was some confusion over what this meant but people soon began to get into a routine of exercise and shopping. Luckily we have been blessed by amazing weather and many faces have begun to appear in my neighbourhood who I had never seen before, getting their daily exercise. It seems that the threat of taking away the outdoors from people by imposing further, stricter lockdown rules has increased interest in the outside world and prompted people to enjoy their environment while they are allowed. Even though I tend to appreciate the outdoors and get out as much as possible, I also felt this and began to do long early morning walks on the moors (working from home has added an extra hour or two to my day to allow me to do this).

Normally in daily life attention can shift from the environment to immediate distractions such as looking after children and talking to friends. This means that from day to day humans are quite often not taking in their surroundings. However, soon after lockdown was imposed, I began to notice that people were talking about the outdoors more on social media and to me personally. People mentioned that they noticed birds singing more and began to post photos of nature on their walks, commenting on how lovely it was. Soon after that there was a social media trend to post up pictures of previous beach trips. It seemed that people are beginning to be more attentive to the outside world.

I have also experienced this even though I would say that I am already quite attentive to the environment as I have always appreciated nature and I write about it too. Nevertheless, I also started to notice louder birdsong, the bees buzzing, butterflies, new lambs bleating and foals enjoying life, more than usual. Maybe I am in awe of the freedom they have and how they are unaware of what is going on in the world right now? In addition, I have also noticed more nonhuman animal interactions with humans. For example, in a tree outside my house a bird was mimicking a barking dog. You can see the video below:

I have also heard a bird singing to somebody whistling. Mimicking in birds is said to be a form of communication between them and humans for survival purposes 3. So is this an affective empathy between nonhuman and human occurring that I hadn’t really noticed before?

Basically, lockdown has forced us to let go of our hectic, fast lifestyles slowing us down and as a result we may have become more attentive to the environment. Being Slow in this sense is about being attentive for your own pleasure rather than as a matter of cause. This means that by moving ‘slower’ within the environment, you are attentive to the surroundings purely for your enjoyment rather than for any pressurised reason. Being attentive in this way opens the senses so that a multisensory perception of experience can take place and opening the senses allows for deeper embodiment. In short, the act of Slowness can enable a deeper embodied, affective connection to the environment. 

In other research I have conducted I have found that an affective, embodied empathy for the environment emerges when visiting the same place in the outdoors on a regular basis 4. This means that if lockdown is extended people may eventually feel a deeper connection to their local outdoors if they haven’t already. If this happens, evidence says that people are more likely to take action against the destruction of the environment. Let’s hope that one good thing that comes from lockdown is that the connection to the environment that people make during this time continues to have an impact way after lockdown is lifted so that people continually shout louder for the care of our planet. With this virus emerging from humans' lack of care and awareness to nonhuman species, I feel it is essential to connect deeper with our environment at this time. Ironically, the lockdown has given us time to do this. So next time you are on your walk, open all of your senses that little bit more and see what emerges, and maybe by doing this we can avoid this situation again....

1. Ulmer, J.B. (2017) Writing Slow Ontology. Qualitative Inquiry, 23(3).

2. Parkins, W. (2004) Out of Time: Fast Subjects and Slow Living. Time and Society, 13(2-3)

3. Frith, C & Frith, D (2004) The Bowerbirds. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

4. Whitburn, J; Linklater, W & Abrahamse, W (2019) Meta‐analysis of human connection to nature and proenvironmental behavior. Conservation Biology, 34(1).