Photo by Chen Mizrach on Unsplash

We’re Talking About Nature Less and Psychologists Are Worried

Scientists aren’t sure how many species exist in the world — expert estimates range from three million all the way up to 100 million. But while scientists still don’t know how many species the planet hosts, they are sure that they’re disappearing up to 1,000 times the natural rate from prehuman times. Between 200 and 2,000 species go extinct each year.

The loss of so many beetles, birds, and bacteria is desperately sad. But it’s far from the full extent of our loss. A new study analyzing how many terms authors use for the natural world shows that the vocabulary we use to describe the it is declining just as precipitously.

You might think that’s a concern only for adventure guides and biologists, but psychologists and other scientists are sounding the alarm too. If we fail to fight back, the shrinking of our vocabulary for nature portends terrible things for our mental, physical, and social health, they say.

Nature words are going extinct too

The central insight behind this new research, recently published in the journal Earth, is simple. How much people think and talk about nature should be reflected in the books we read and write. And those are, helpfully, available for analysis.