COVID-19 and human-nature relationships: Vermonters' activities in nature and associated nonmaterial values during the pandemic

• Published in: PloS one 2020-12, Vol.15 (12), p.e0243697-e0243697
• Main Authors: Morse, Joshua W, Gladkikh, Tatiana M, Hackenburg, Diana M, Gould, Rachelle K
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adaptation, Psychological; Adult; Biology and Life Sciences; Camping; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; COVID-19 - epidemiology; COVID-19 - psychology; Cultural heritage; Data collection; Demographics; Earth Sciences; Ecosystems; Emergency preparedness; Environmental aspects; Environmental economics; Epidemics; Female; Funding; Gardening; Geography; Hiking; Human-environment interactions; Human-environment relationship; Humans; Male; Management decisions; Medical research; Medicine and Health Sciences; Mental health; Middle Aged; Natural resources; Outdoor activities; Outdoor recreation; Pandemics; People and places; Photography; Public health; Regression analysis; Research and Analysis Methods; SARS-CoV-2; Social aspects; Social Behavior; Social Sciences; Social-ecological systems; Socioeconomic factors; Surveys; United States; Vermont - epidemiology; Walking; Wildlife
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0243697

The COVID-19 pandemic has rapidly modified Earth's social-ecological systems in many ways; here we study its impacts on human-nature interactions. We conducted an online survey focused on peoples' relationships with the non-human world during the pandemic and received valid responses from 3,204 adult residents of the state of Vermont (U.S.A.). We analyzed reported changes in outdoor activities and the values associated with human-nature relationships across geographic areas and demographic characteristics. We find that participation increased on average for some activities (foraging, gardening, hiking, jogging, photography and other art, relaxing alone, walking, and watching wildlife), and decreased for others (camping, relaxing with others). The values respondents ranked as more important during the pandemic factored into two groups, which we label as "Nurture and Recreation values" and "Inspiration and Nourishment values." Using multinomial logistic regression, we found that respondents' preferences for changes in activity engagement and value factors are statistically associated with some demographic characteristics, including geography, gender, income, and employment status during the pandemic. Our results suggest that nature may play an important role in coping during times of crisis, but that the specific interactions and associated values that people perceive as most important may vary between populations. Our findings emphasize for both emergency and natural resources planning the importance of understanding variation in how and why people interact with and benefit from nature during crises.