When I go hiking, I often wish that I had a greater connection to the land. If only I had been told some kind of story about the mountain before me, or knew that my great-grandparents had also lived here, working the same soil that I walk on.

I’m sure this is a common longing in this day and age, where most of us are transplants and don’t have roots anywhere. We lack communities or cosmologies to bind us. We are adrift.

The nascent field of ecopsychology recognizes this longing for connection and posits that it is our disconnect with other species and ecosystems that causes most depression and mental illness. It is this same disconnect that allows some people to exploit the earth’s resources without any thought for other inhabitants.

Thankfully, we’re waking up. We’re beginning to see that we need a clean, healthy earth to have healthy bodies, and our need to go outside and connect with nature - and each other - far surpasses any impulsive "need" to consume.

Image: babasteve