The Elements of Eco-Connection: A Cross-Cultural Lexical Enquiry

Abstract

The environment is widely recognised to be in peril, with clear signs of a climate crisis. This situation has many dimensions and factors, but key among them are the often-destructive ways in which humans interact with the natural world. Numerous cultures—particularly more industrialised and/or Western ones—have developed predatory and disconnected modes of interaction. In such modes, nature tends to be constructed as a resource to be exploited (rather than, say, a commonwealth to be protected). However, many people—especially, but not only, in less ‘developed’ nations—have cultivated less destructive modes of relationship. These bonds may be broadly encompassed under the rubric of ‘eco-connection’. In the interests of exploring these latter modes, an enquiry was conducted into adaptive forms of engagement with nature across the world’s cultures. The enquiry focused on untranslatable words, i.e., which lack an exact translation in another language (in this case, English). Through a quasi-systematic search of academic and grey literature, together with additional data collection, over 150 relevant terms were located. An adapted form of grounded theory identified three main dimensions of eco-connection: sacrality, bonding, and appreciation. Such analyses have the potential to promote greater wellbeing literacy with respect to our relationship with nature, both within academia and beyond in the wider culture. This includes enriching the nomological network in psychology, and more broadly building a nature-related vocabulary that is more sustainable and harmonious. In doing so, there may also be benefits to public health, in that developing such literacy could possibly influence people’s engagement with nature itself, leading to more adaptive forms of relationship.

Wellbeing Literacy: Conceptualization, Measurement, and Preliminary Empirical Findings from Students, Parents and School Staff

“…Moreover, unlike mental health literacy, wellbeing literacy shifts the focus to what is possible, rather than what is broken. Despite growing conceptual arguments for wellbeing literacy [ 18 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 ], few published research studies have directly examined this new construct, likely due to the lack of an available scale to reliably and validly measure it. Thus, little is known about its antecedents, consequences, or its relationship with wellbeing over and above existing constructs.…”

The varieties of vitality: A cross-cultural lexical analysis

“…However, six new categories have also been identified, as summarized in a more recent overview (Lomas, 2021b). The meta-category of feelings (renamed with the more expansive label of 'qualia') now also includes vitality and cognition, development now also includes understanding and skills, and relationships now also includes aesthetics (Lomas, 2022b) and eco-connection (Lomas, 2019b). Vitality is of course the focus of the present paper, and comprises 223 words at present.…”

The appeal of aesthetics: A cross-cultural lexical analysis.

“…However, six new categories have also been identified. The metacategory of feelings now also includes vitality and cognition, development now also includes understanding and skills, and relationships now also includes eco-connection (Lomas, 2019b) and-most relevantly here-aesthetics.…”