Biophobia is on the Rise—According to a Review of 196 Studies

[Glenn MacGrady]

"Scientists have a name for the creeping dislike or even fear many people feel toward nature: biophobia. A new review of 196 studies reveals that this aversion to the natural world may be growing, with researchers warning of potential threats to both human well-being and environmental protection efforts.

"Between 4% and 9% of people worldwide suffer from animal phobias, experiencing anxiety, nausea, and stress when encountering wildlife. But the problem goes beyond clinical phobias. Many people simply feel uncomfortable in natural settings, leading them to avoid parks, hiking trails, and outdoor spaces altogether."

Biophobia On The Rise? Why Growing Fear of Nature Could Harm Public Health and Conservation

A review of studies reveals nature phobias affect up to 9% of people globally. Broader nature aversion threatens conservation and health.

studyfinds.org

Here is the meta-analysis itself:

https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/fee.70019

 

[Mason]

If only homophobia didn't have different connotations......

 

[Crawforde]

Biophilia works for me.

 

[ppine]

Good luck to them. People are increasingly focused on indoor pursuits and electronic media.
The Outdoors are my mental health plan, spiritual renewal source, way to exercise, scientific interest and where I am most comfortable.

Nature is God. I have learned to find Divinity is the rocks, the mountains, the rivers, the mule deer, the ppine trees, the salmon. the elk, and the buffalo.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

If only homophobia didn't have different connotations......

Lots of "phobias" and "isms" in the modern culture wars don't make etymological sense.

The word you are looking for could be either "misanthropy" or "anthropophobia."

 

[Gamma1214]

Hmm... I dunno... I respect your vocabulary Glenn yet the 1st indicates a dislike while the 2nd is "fear of"... I get the sense that most here feel neither dislike nor fear but would simply rather avoid.

Not to encourage thread drift but... (anything that precedes the word "but" is BS and, truthfully, I often enjoy a good thread drift)...

Are there any wordsmiths in the group that can come up with the mot juste for "a preference to avoid their fellow humans"?

 

[PaddlingPitt]

“Asociality” might fit your word quest, gamma. I didn’t know this word until a few minutes ago, when Ms AI explained it to me.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

Can we conclude that if we are outdoor-oriented and nature-loving canoeists—who happen to be inclined toward asociality, misanthropy or anthropophobia—we might actually favor increased biophobia among other daggum homo sapiens?

Asking for a friend.

 

[Gamma1214]

Yes, with a propensity for

Biophilia

Back to the article: I'm not sure we're talking about an increasing fear of nature as we know it. For example, nearly one-third of the studies focused specifically on a fear of spiders.

The article (not the research paper) cites social media's influence in terms of increased awareness of things like animal attacks but the study uses data back to 1990. I'd be curious to see how people's attitudes have changed since 2020 when there seemed to be a big increase of people escaping to the outdoors during covid.

 

[tketcham]

As with most human foibles, the range of biophobia to biophilia is a spectrum but extremes in either direction probably aren't good for us. For example, I don't spend as much time in the woods or along streams and shorelines as I once did because of the risk of ticks/disease and the interaction with poison ivy. Does that make me biophobic or does it diminish my biophilia? Not really, I still get out and explore, I just take more precautions. And as ardent biophilics, most of our (small city) yard has been naturalized with native vegetation with all sorts of wildlife that live and visit here. But we aren't letting nature take over the house. Not yet anyway.

I feel sorry for people that are afraid of, or repulsed by, nature. Hopefully those of us on the biophilia side of the spectrum are able to influence the biophobics that nature isn't as scary or inconvenient or ugly as they imagine.

 

[Steve in Idaho]

What happens when one of these biophobia people gets thrown together with a furry?