Connection to Nature
Fifteen participants said that their course was significant because it increased their feeling of
connection to nature. Participants cited different causes for this feeling of connectedness, including
the extended time they spent in nature, their increased comfort in the outdoors, and the
transformational growth they experienced in the natural setting. That such personal feelings of
connection to nature sometimes led to a desire to protect nature suggests how personal growth
outcomes may lead to instrumental outcomes. The feeling of “owing something to” nature as a
result of nature having provided an opportunity for valued personal growth is expressed in several
quotes below.
Most everything I learned on Outward Bound was personal, not so much about the outdoors. My
devotion [to nature] was mainly because I could have such concentrated growth there, that I could
go for four weeks and see this huge change and that it happened in nature. It’s like, when you take
off your pack on the ridge and it is your moment, but you didn’t do it all on your own. So you are
devoted to what gave you that feeling. . . . People can’t care about wilderness without having a reason
to be devoted. (Lara)