The Human–Nature Relationship and Its Impact on Health: a critical Review

DeFiNiNG THe HUMAN–NATURe 

ReLATiONSHiP

It is beyond the scope of this paper to review the various connec-

tions at the intersect of humanity and the natural environment. 

Instead, I summarize key concepts and approaches from those 

four research fields (Evolutionary Biology, Social Economics, 

Evolutionary Psychology, and Environmentalism) outlined below, 

which have paid most attention to studying this research area. I 

then summarize areas of convergence between these connections 

in an attempt to describe the human–nature relationship, which 

will serve as background to this review.

It is anticipated that through drawing on these different fields 

of knowledge, a deeper level of understanding can be brought to 

the growing issue of humanity’s relationship with nature and its 

impact on health. This is because examining the human–nature 

relationship from a single disciplinary perspective could lead to 

partial findings that neglect other important sources as well as the 

complexities that exist between interlinkages, causal directions, 

processes, and relations.