Health and Natural Landscapes (eBook)

Alan W Ewert (Author) Alan Ewert, PhD. is a Professor Emeritus at Indiana University. Prior to retiring from the University, he served as a Professor in the School of Public Health and Chair of the Department of Environmental Health at the University.Denise Mitten (Author) Denise Mitten, PhD. has a background in education, forest ecology, complementary and alternative medicine, and health and wellness. She has engaged in research about healing in natural environments, including examining the spiritual connections people have to outdoor spaces, how to use time in nature to help women with eating disorders, and how body image relates to participation in outdoor activities. Dr. Mitten is Professor and Chair of the Sustainability PhD program at Prescott CollegeJillisa Overholt (Author) Jillisa Overholt, PhD. is an associate professor in the Outdoor Leadership Studies Department at Warren Wilson College in Asheville, NC. Her research areas include the health benefits of time spent in natural environments, familial relationship development through adventure education programming, and the incorporation of experiential education practices in higher education.

"It's about time". Those words kept coming to me as I read this book. For years outdoor educators have strived to articulate the value of the outdoors. This book is superb in very clearly explaining the importance of natural landscapes as they influence human health and wellbeing. The inclusiveness of BIPOC peoples and of human experiences worldwide is so eloquently presented. Indeed, this book makes a very strong case that nature is an inherent human condition. Humans need nature. This eloquent work is a must read beyond outdoor education making it an essential multi-disciplinary read.

A thought-provoking and timely exploration of the most natural solution to many of our modern problems.

Grounded in cultural traditions and contemporary research, the authors challenge the notion that humans and nature are separate. Thoughtfully using landscape as an organizing structure, they provide robust examples of natural landscapes being utilized, designed, and revered for their healing qualities at the intersection of nature and public health.

On the surface, this book is a particularly timely and useful resource for understanding the health benefits of natural landscapes. On a deeper level, it also inspires action to protect and care for those landscapes, from the smallest urban greenspaces to the largest wilderness areas.

In their book, Health and Natural Landscapes: Concepts and Applications, professors Ewert, Mitten, and Overholdt illuminate the complexities of the synergistic interactions between people and place. The writing is comprehensive and offers an unvarnished examination of the current state-of-knowledge. I highly recommend this book to anyone wishing to wrestle with the complex interrelationship of natural spaces and human and environmental health.

For those who know that natural landscapes offer benefits for health and well-being yet struggle to answer the "how do you know?" questions from colleagues, boards, and supervisors, this book provides an anthology of evidence. Moreover, it offers multiple examples of the theories practically applied in environments and cultures worldwide.