Why it’s Important to Connect to our Planet and some ways to do so

I was travelling on the ferry last night and standing in awe looking at the view: ocean expanding to the islands, snow-capped mountains in the distance, and the sun setting turning the sky all shades of pink and orange. To say I’m lucky to live where I do is an understatement.

What is not an understatement is saying that life gets so busy and overwhelming sometimes that it is hard to stop and appreciate exactly what is surrounding me. It’s one of the reasons why Molly’s Climate Change Collective post resonated with me this month–especially when she talks about an emotional connection with nature fostering a deeper understanding.

I am sharing how nature documentaries can inspire viewers to take action by demonstrating the beauty and fragility of the natural world. This visual and emotional connection fosters a deeper understanding of climate change, encouraging more people to support sustainable practices and advocate for environmental protection. 

Molly – Transatlantic Notes

This post is a part of our Climate Change Collective series where we partner with a group of bloggers from around the world. Our lead post for our Collective conversation this month is from Molly at Transatlantic Notes: The Most Important Nature Documentaries To Watch. Take a look at Molly’s great post via the link and read more about our Climate Change Collective below.

The Importance of Connecting to our Planet

Finding ways to connect to our planet, nature, and the environment can help inspire us to protect them. Even though life in this age gives us the impression of constant connection, it can be natural to feel disconnected with the constant streams of information, messages, and media overloading us to the point of shutting down.

Last year I actually took a few days to disconnect from all of this with the specific intention of being able to reconnect and be more present. You can read about this experience in my post “Reconnecting with Nature and Self by Disconnecting from the World.” One result from this “disconnecting” was a reconnection with nature and a reminder to myself as to why I care so much about protecting it.

Ways to Connect to our Planet

While it would be lovely to be able to regularly run off to little islands and turn off our phones for three days, this isn’t the most practical plan. There are still plenty of ways we can remind ourselves of our love for and the importance of our planet.

Here are a few ways to connect to our planet and hopefully inspire the desire to work towards protecting it:

1. Watch Nature Documentaries

As Molly shares in her Climate Change Collective post on Transatlantic Notes, nature documentaries can “offer an education about and a deeper appreciation for the natural world by exploring the intricate connections between ecosystems and human activities.”

Molly has a great list of documentaries to explore in her post. If you’re looking for free places to watch nature documentaries, try exploring CBC Gem’s Changing Planet Collection.

2. Take some free climate related courses

The more we know about a topic, the more inspired we can become about it. An increase of knowledge about our planet can increase not only our desire, but also our ability to create change.

For a list of some free education resources, check out this post: The Importance of Climate Change Education (plus six great resources!)

3. Get outside

Like I experienced while taking the ferry across the Georgia Straight, sometimes we just need to take a moment and get outside to appreciate our surroundings and connect to what we are trying to protect. Whether you call it forest bathing, self care, or anything else, there is no doubt that getting outside and into nature is good for our health and helps us connect to our planet.

How do you connect to our planet?

Some days are much harder than others to feel connected to our planet, but I feel like it is a worthy pursuit. How do you take time to connect to our planet? Is it something that is easy for you to work into your daily or weekly routine? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

The Climate Change Collective

This post is a part of our Climate Change Collective conversations.

The Climate Change Collective was born out of an exchange that took place between Michelle and Jamie in the comments section of a Jamie Ad Stories blog post. Jamie and Michelle both care deeply about the impact of human activity on our planet and wanted to find a way to keep the climate change message top of mind for everyone. A tweet was sent out, bloggers responded, and we’ve all now teamed up to create the Climate Change Collective! Learn more about the bloggers behind this group in our post introducing everyone: Get to Know our 5 Fantastic Climate Change Collective Bloggers.

The idea is simple. The members of the collective will take turns writing a monthly blog post sharing their concerns and unique perspective about climate change. After the post is published, the rest of the group will keep the conversation going by sharing a link to the post on their blogs along with their thoughts and ideas. If you’re a like-minded blogger and would like to join our collective, please get in touch. The more the merrier!

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