Rural Engagement with Nature

In our present reality, modern society is largely separated from the natural world. This fractured relationship has allowed us to carelessly continue harmful activities that drive climate change and disrupt our ecosystem. When considering how communities rely on their natural surroundings, it is interesting to look at how rural communities engage with nature. How can rural be used as a model? What lessons can urban learn from rural about respectful engagement and a stronger connection to nature?

Nearness to nature is core to living rurally, with the rural context creating a natural interface for humans and nature. Further, nature and parks are core to BC life, as the province is rich with natural beauty from dense forests, to rivers, coastline, and mountain ranges. Typically, rural inhabitants have more opportunities to interact with nature than urban dwellers. While spending time in nature must be an active decision for those residing in urban settings, a relationship with nature is often inherent to the rural lifestyle. Urban separation from nature is often so extreme that programs such as the Park Prescription program must explicitly prescribe time outdoors to motivate people to prioritize this into their weekly rhythms.⁴⁶ 

Proximity to nature, characteristic of the rural context, creates an opportunity for more care and respect and, therefore, motivation to engage in more sustainable habits. A study by Klassen in 2010 of 92 Manitobans of high school age, suggests that rural youth have more opportunities to connect and develop deeper relationships with nature. On the contrary, urban youth are less connected to nature, though they hold similar environmental concerns.⁹⁸ A youth-led, arts-based, participatory action three-year (2018-2020) research project was conducted in the BC rural communities of Kimberly, Ashcroft, and Cache Creek to identify issues that mattered to them.⁹⁹ One of the central themes of the discussions was youth’s connection to the environment. When asked about community strengths and challenges, nearly all youth shared nature, particularly bodies of water, as a community strength. Youth expressed pride in the beauty of nature that their community resides in and the opportunities for adventure, exploration, and growth it allows as a strength. Rural youth noted environmental pollution and inadequate infrastructure maintenance following a natural disaster as challenges and areas for improvement.⁹⁹

Urban bias, built on larger population sizes and consequently greater political and social influence, often negatively portrays rural people and communities. Rather than viewing rural through a deficit lens or one of lacking (resources, population size, etc.), we propose a value-added approach. Rural communities should be viewed through a strength-based understanding by their urban counterparts. One of the most significant rural advantages is their natural settings embedded in surviving ecosystems and potential for connection with nature.

Furthermore, conducting research in rural areas has a distinctive advantage due to operating at a smaller scale. Experimenting with implementing innovative ideas is more feasible in rural settings due to this smaller system scale. The structure of the rural context, such as supportive social networks, may lend itself to better community uptake of nature-based programs as rural citizens may feel they play an essential role and have ownership in a community initiative. The potential for engaging rural community systems in rural health research such as environmental education, nature-based learning, community environmental initiatives, climate change resilience and adaptation strategies is much more feasible than attempting similar studies in urban, regional, or national settings. Evidence generated through the demonstration project innovations can be translated into larger urban areas.

Rural and remote Canadian communities, including Indigenous communities, experience disproportionately high health impacts of climate change.^99,100 Many rural regions have experienced changing quality and access to water and food systems associated with anthropogenic changes to the environment, including changing rainfall, rising temperatures and extreme weather occurrences such as flooding and heatwaves.¹⁰¹ As rural residents witness devastating natural disasters and weather events happening to their communities, one may assume rural communities share a strong collective agreement regarding anthropogenic climate change science. Research published in 2016 demonstrates that the vast majority of Canadian citizens across the country agree that climate change is happening. Yet, more urban dwellers ascribe this environmental change to human activity than rural inhabitants.¹⁰² Disbelief in climate change science is higher in rural Canada, primarily in rural Alberta and Saskatchewan. In contrast, the highest levels of climate change agreement are held in Quebec, Nova Scotia, and the coastal and Fraser Valley regions of BC.¹⁰² Due to increasing climate change-related events, there is a need for updated research to understand the distribution of current public perceptions on climate change across Canada. Refer back to Chapter 1: Impacts of Climate Change to learn more.