“The Nature Experiment was one of the best, most fulfilling assignments of my university career.”
I created the Nature Experiment in 2012 as a multi-media assignment for my university students. They overwhelmingly loved the project, which asked them to reflect on the role of the natural world in their lives.
In the years since, research continues to prove something most of us know at our core--that humans benefit from spending time outdoors in the natural world.
As our planet faces increased disruptions from human-caused global warming, increased political divisions, and economic instability, the human need to connect to something greater than ourselves grows stronger.
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Now, The Nature Experiment is a community of people who are on a journey to unlearn the thinking that disconnects us from the natural world and from one another.
It is a space where we can reflect, reconnect, and restore ourselves through deepening our sense of biophilia (love of nature).
Whether you live in a high-rise building in a large city, or in a remote area with few signs of other humans, The Nature Experiment has something for you.
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The Nature Experiment offers:
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free resources for teachers/instructors
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free resources for building community
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workshop facilitation for organisations, workplaces, schools, private parties, or religious institutions
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a space to publish nature-writing
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a group of like-minded individuals who want to learn and connect
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What do you mean by 'nature' and 'the natural world?'
For the purposes of The Nature Experiment, nature is defined as the organic natural world which is not created by humans. This includes non-human animals, plant species, and our environment.
The Nature Experiment recognises that, while humans are part of the natural world, many of us struggle with a tendency to see ourselves as 'separate from' or 'masters' of other living things. This tendency can keep us from experiencing the fullness of community.
About Lisa Conley
I am a sociologist and researcher currently living and working in Melbourne, Australia. As a child growing up in eastern Kentucky, the natural world was central to my existence and development of biophilia. Like many other Appalachian kids, I spent most of my free time outdoors playing in the woods, our vegetable garden, tobacco fields, hay bottoms, and rivers and streams.
I earned my doctorate in Sociology from the University of Kentucky with a focus in the sociology of food and agriculture and environmental justice. I have since worked as a researcher, environmental educator, university lecturer, and children's safety educator. My research has explored the ways in which urban and rural communities produce and preserve their own foods from subsistence home gardens.
I created The Nature Experiment in 2012 for my university students but knew it held the promise of something more transformative. Living in Australia during both the Black Summer Bushfires of 2019--2020 and Covid-19 pandemic motivated me to take The Nature Experiment beyond the classroom and into the wider world as a way to deepen our relationships to our planet and one another.