While nature’s positive effect on human mental health is something we know intuitively and can explain anecdotally, Jones was determined to investigate the scientific mechanism behind it. It describes a young girl, Xena, wearing goggles and a respirator, walking to her grandmother’s house.

To stimulate real, lasting change, we must amend how we design cities, enact legislation, and consider our health. It also activates the parasympathetic nervous system, which has “…many benefits to our health, from emotional regulation to decreased risk of cardiovascular disease” (77-78). Now, in the moment of our great migration away from the rest of nature, more and more scientific evidence is emerging to confirm its place at the heart of our psychological wellbeing.

Most of the studies in psychology are conducted in a way that there is very little certainty that A causes B. Fight or flight syndrome, rising cortisol levels with continuous stress, more schizophrenia in dense urban areas, the evolutionary reason why the urban setting is just not right for us - it is all quite well known. As it deepens our understanding of matrescence, it raises vital questions about motherhood and femininity; interdependence and individual identity; as well as about our relationships with each other and the living world. The majority of the book describes the treatment of the land by Americans: its settlement, its exploitative abuse, movements toward conservation or preservation, resistance to conservation or preservation, the birth of the environmental movement, and the backlash to the environmental movement, bringing us to the near present day.

So what happens, asks acclaimed science journalist Lucy Jones, as we lose our bond with the natural world – might we also be losing part of ourselves?

The author further suggests that the conditions of the Anthropocene are causing significant distress brought on not just through disconnection with nature, but through awareness of the current environmental chaos. Only a couple thousand people live there, and in winter, it’s dark by noon, so you need to carry a flashlight. Both Apple and Google state that they ensure that only users who have actually downloaded the app can submit a review.

So, if greater access to nature is good for individual mental health, can simple adjustments to landscape design promote happiness in communities? He believed that we need to acknowledge the primitive layers in our psyche, using the metaphor of a house to illustrate the concept. Now, in the moment of our great migration away from nature, science has begun to catch up, with more and more evidence emerging to confirm its place at the heart of our psychological wellbeing.Though there are lots of studies referenced that I would have liked to read in print, the details probably get a bit tedious in print (for someone not super well versed on the topic).