Research Of The Relationship Between Wilderness And Science

Wilderness has etymological roots in the Saxon and Celtic history – wyld-deor-ness – in rough translation meaning wild animal territory; a place of non-domesticated land. The troublesome definition of wilderness is contested and misunderstood due to its subjective nature, however a commonly agreed upon understanding illustrates and area of Earth that is not affected by human activity. If this definition is taken at face value then we can categorically analyse that there is no wilderness left on Earth as every place is effected by increased carbon dioxide through anthropogenic emissions, as one example. Empirical research suggests that the conceptualization of “wilderness” is indeed profoundly subjective. Through the last 60 years we have troubled the planet with the greenhouse gas emissions and thus this has had a directly negative influence on the wilderness through the drying of land, extreme weather fluctuations and rising sea levels.

How Wilderness Influences Science

Scientific research has been taking place in the wilderness for centuries, the discovery of new species, genetics and understanding is the driving force for more exploration in these areas. These areas provide the landscape for this exploration to take place and thus the wilderness influences the operations of scientific research. This is seen particular in the science of psychology – where there have been great advances in the study of Wilderness Therapy. This is the use of the wilderness and nature to allow patients with psychological instability to participate in clinical sessions, reflection and social connectivity alongside trained psychologists. The guided experience of this therapy requires the collection of data to understand the sights, sounds and scents of the wilderness and enhances these factors to retrain the brain back into regular functioning.

In the last decade there has been a great increase in the proportion of young people facing mental health disorders comparative to other age groups, sparking the Wilderness Therapy initiatives as an alternative option to provide help for those suffering. Due to the subjective nature of this form of therapy, the impact of the wilderness experience is dependent on the individual experiencing it and thus there are many theories expressing the number of interactions, however a promising avenue is that the role of nature acts as a replenishment process for cognitive thinking. A country that has advanced their method of using the wilderness to help psychological patients is Australia, through the development of the Wilderness Adventure Therapy (WAT) model was created by Simon Crisp. The WAT model illustrates the development of social-emotional skills of the patient through adventure experiences in the wilderness. This therapy programme lasts 10 weeks in which nature expeditions, activities and group work is carried out under the control and guidance of the practitioners. After 9 weeks of carefully guided trips, the final week is a point of reflection and learning in which identification of goals achieved and unmet goals.

Through 1992 and 2003, the WAT model was firstly put into use in Australia for those adolescents with severe symptoms of psychological, behavioural and psychiatric problems. Through the realisation of the power of wilderness and its positive effects, the WAT model was in place across high schools, family agencies totalling 190 programmes across these years. ‘Since 2003, other WAT programs have been conducted in independent and government schools as community and early-intervention programs’. A particular example was of a 15-year-old girl named Susan ‘with psychological and social problems’. She was enrolled on the course and through her time on it, it was noted that her self confidence, assertiveness, personal clarity and sociability had all increased. Upon leaving the programme, within two weeks she was enrolled in full time education again, and 6 months later she had enrolled into several extra curricular activities. Examples of Australia’s success story of Susan and countless others illustrate the power of the wilderness and how it has an influence not only in our minds but in the scientific work behind psychological recovery. The whole programme is based upon the availability and feasibility of using nature and the wilderness – key variables which Australia have in abundance.

Australia has a deep historical root with nature and the wilderness through cultural connections and aboriginal spirits that are intrinsic to the country; this indigenous identity is shared across all Australians. The wilderness has provided the perfect landscape for centuries with the Aboriginal people to todays scientists, thus it has always provided a landscape for research, an area of escape and is inherently therapeutic based on ‘simple heuristics’. There has been a greater appreciation for the role wilderness assists in scientific understanding and therefore there has been a significant movement in recent years to increase, restore and deepen the connection and bond we have with the wilderness and nature for a wellbeing purpose. This is seen in Canada, Norway, Sweden and Finland as there is ongoing process of implementing action plans for Wilderness Therapy – who all have similar historical background and availability to the wilderness as Australia.

How Science Influences Wilderness

However, in alternative cases scientific studies and research helps nature in an evolutionary, advancement and maintenance aspect. Science within wilderness has become intrinsic through advanced technology of the 21st century and a deeper knowledge of the past and future projections. Through these variables science is able to assist in the survival and protection of the wilderness through the introduction of Facilitating Adaption, otherwise known as Gene Modifying and thus creating a transgenic landscape. This is the direct genetic manipulation of genes within an organism for an intended purpose using biotechnology and has come into a large field within science due to climatic warming. Climate changes pose a great threat to the existence of species on Earth through the inability to adapt to changing temperatures, precipitation patterns and phenology, giving the projection of 1 in 6 species is likely to be threatened by 2050. In general, there are two schools of thought for wilderness protection, first by Ron Sandler in 2013 argues that ‘species preservation ought to be deemphasized as an ecosystem management goal’; whereas Fred Pierce, 2015 argues that we should ‘embrace the new’ and not try and ‘preserve the old’. The advancements of science have now allowed the possibility of Facilitating Adaption, to make the specie more ‘resilient to changes in the climate’. This technology is already being utilised but in the form of creating higher yielding crops to help serve the growing population. However, due to the still infant technology of gene adaptions, there are no conclusive examples of tweaking for the purpose of survival to climate changes and wilderness preservation. The developments however, have allowed the inclusion of thought experiments among many species such as the American Pika. This lagomorph specie is found in Western United States and South-Western Canada, this specie is found in relatively high latitudes and is an ideal indicator for climate change effects; due to its particular insular habitat choice, low reproductive rate and extreme sensitivity to warm temperatures. The genome of the Pika is under ‘substantial research’, with some focussing on limited Pika outliers living in alternative conditions and that could possess the genetic anomaly to warmer climatic conditions. These adaptions allow scientists to draw out the alleles from the better adapted Pika and directly transfer them into the gene pool of the original Pika population. Overall using scientific findings and experiments to influence the survival of the American Pika, through making it more adaptive and resilient to live in a warmer climate.

Castillo et al., 2014 illustrates the powerful tool of using science in the mountain wilderness as ‘exceptional opportunity to quantify effects of contemporary climate change on wildlife species and their habitats’. Studying the mountainous regions and the American Pika have allowed the understanding of a positive feedback felt through warming climate decreases the effect of albedo and thus the high latitude may feel future climatic effects more severely than other areas. Further studies allowing discoveries of spatial movement, genetic variability and other variables have allowed the understanding of climatic effects on the ecosystem and wilderness in all areas across the globe. Scientific analysis allows the ability of simulation to create ‘alternative hypotheses’ of how the change in wilderness affects the landscape and genetic structure of the environment. These data sets are an important step in to the understanding of the population of the American Pika and there spatial and genetic variability to climatic influences. Studies allow the ability to inform future research and possible preventative actions to help the survival of the American Pika, its habitat and thus the wilderness.

Do They Compliment Each Other

Science in the wilderness causes controversy due its potential short term destructive nature to the overall cause. The research on the wild areas must be carried out as the area itself provides answers for previous states of the earth, and thus provides the landscape to solve problems ‘particularly relevant to its own conservation’. Yet the degrading nature of scientific experiments on the wilderness has been politically ensured that only specific research can be carried out, by only specific organisations and after it has gone through extensive restrictions on aspects such as sample size and duration of research. Illustrated through the understanding that genetic adaption may help save wild animals like the Pika, allowing it to roam from the risks of climate change, but this comes at a cost of keeping ‘wild places wild’. The cautious nature of these experiments shows the imposition of the short term negative effects on the landscape.

Furthermore, the research of the Wilderness Therapy has two primary effects on patients: firstly, the self concept of there individual character and secondly, the improvement of developing social skills – both which are greatly encouraging. The inference that the patients were positively influenced by both the wilderness and the clinical sessions are inconclusive as some patients may, patients may have only benefited of being in the wilderness regardless of the therapeutic process, training or clinical goals. However, the core understanding of the wilderness is that of being untouched by humans and thus facilitating adaptions and intruding on the land makes it intrinsically not ‘wild’, which is further enhanced through the activities based in the wilderness for those participating in Wilderness Therapy.

This controversy has allowed the understanding to raise environmental efforts, increase land-based learning opportunities and recognise indigenous knowledge and practice into an indoor education programme in Canada and several other countries. Canadian specialists have called for the integration of scientific knowledge of the wilderness in a systems theory approach, which recognises the narratives of change and metaphorical realisations of the wilderness. This has been recognised by global specialists to heighten the awareness of land dwelling principles, skills development, culture, biological conditions, and indigenous understanding implemented into therapy. Therefore, allowing the power of nature to come indoors whilst using the power of nature as a therapeutic effect. This will alleviate the destruction of wilderness of land in terms of use for human well being. Science and the wilderness both influence each other in both positive and negative aspects, however the preservation of these areas through science mainly comes down to the intrinsic value that we place on that area of wilderness and the habitat it holds – and thus, the preservation or extinction of the given area.