Science has long recognised this instinctive attraction to nature. Now, an emerging branch of psychology suggests it may be fundamental to our health and wellbeing - and to the future of the planet.
Ecopsychology is grounded in the idea that our innate craving for contact with nature is the result of millions of years of evolution in a natural environment. The problem, ecopsychologists argue, is that industrialisation and urbanisation have tossed those instincts aside. Our detachment from nature lies behind a host of modern psychological, emotional and physical problems, as well as our blasé attitude towards environmental change. Personal and planetary wellbeing, they say, feed into one another.
It may sound romantic and New Age, but the theory is gaining scientific credibility. In evolutionary terms, we are stalled in prehistory. And just as our bodies are unable to adapt to a permanent surplus of calories and the invention of the automobile, so our minds are unable to acclimatise to the peculiar stresses of high-density urban living. We are, deep down, creatures of the countryside, even if most of us see less of it than ever before.
As our environment deteriorates, so does our psychological, social and emotional wellbeing. Escaping the suburban sprawl - either outright, through a weekend's camping, or more locally, through a well-planted window box - could soon be as basic a piece of preventative medical advice as eating fruit and vegetables.
Proponents of "green exercise", for example, believe that the healing power of nature can be harnessed by simply getting out in it and doing something.
For details of ecotherapy courses see http://www.grahamgame.com/. For details of green gyms see www.btcv.org/greengym/
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article308758.ece
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