Community Connectors: Florence Williams

Florence Williams is an award-winning author and a leading voice in science journalism. Her groundbreaking work informs our understanding of human health and offers insight into how we can engage with nature to lead healthier, happier, and more fulfilling lives. Florence is a contributing editor at Outside Magazine and a freelance writer for The New York Times, New York Times Magazine, National Geographic, and numerous other publications. 

We are honored that Florence endorsed our book, Wonder Year. We consider her a friend and mentor and are delighted to have had the chance to sit down with Florence for a conversation about some of our favorite topics: nature, awe, travel, and wonder. All these topics are also front and center for family travel and worldschooling. Here is a recap of that fascinating and informative conversation. 

 

Tell us a bit about yourself and what sparked your interest in being a science writer.

I have always been interested in environmental topics, and in college, I started the student environmental group and environmental newspaper. I was interested in the convergence of journalism and environmental stories, some of which involved a lot of science. Then, out of college, I got hired by High Country News, a wonderful environmental magazine. Progressively, I got more interested in science stories, and not just classic stories about deforestation, pollution, what’s happening with a proposed mine, … but how these situations are playing out in our human bodies. To understand what was happening in our bodies, I had to learn more about topics like biology, cell physiology, and endocrinology. The more I learned, the more I geeked out and thought this was an underreported area of journalism. 

Then I became interested, not only in how the environment hurts our bodies but also in how it can help our bodies. 

 

In Your book, The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Healthier, Happier and More Creative you examine the science behind why nature is good for us. Can you explain what’s going on? 

There’s a lot of emerging research on multiple levels. Because of advances in field technology, we can see what’s happening, for example, to people’s brain waves when they are outside in nature. There are more innovative ways to study human physiology outside and that has helped spur a lot of this work. 

What we are seeing is, even after just 15 or 20 minutes of being in a pleasant outdoor environment, people’s bodies shift into a state of greater calm. Their nervous systems go into a place of parasympathetic where their respiration slows down, heart rates may slow down, and stress hormones decrease. That was really impressive and surprising to me–that we can see those changes in just 15 minutes. 

Researchers today are looking at many different elements. What happens when we hear birdsong? What happens when we smell amazing compounds that trees emit? There’s research showing that they increase certain immune cells. Who would have thought that? One researcher, an immunologist I met with in Japan, found that our killer T cells, a type of immune cell that can kill infected or cancerous cells, increase 30% after a walk in the woods and stay highly elevated for a week or longer. All of these different sensory systems are being studied to explain why we feel so good outside. 

Also, if you look at the large-scale epidemiological studies you see some really impressive data. There seems to be a relationship between just living near green space and living longer and being healthier. These results are the same after adjusting for income. So, there is a measurable health boost for living near green space. 

 

Can you tell us about the effect of nature specifically on children, on young brains? 

I was really fortunate to spend some time in forest preschools in Scandinavia where up to one in ten kids attends a forest preschool. The data emerging from these settings show these kids have healthier microflora inside their bodies. That means they have stronger immune systems – less asthma, less skin disease, and fewer colds and viruses. We know that these kids, by the time they get to the conventional schools, are a little bit behind their peers on reading, writing, and arithmetic, but they catch up within a couple of years. And, they are ahead of their peers and they stay ahead of their peers on all kinds of really important, but softer, measures like self-regulation, self-confidence, ability to work together in teams, conflict resolution, leadership, innovation, self-discovery, self-learning. These are life skills that, unfortunately, so many kids lack today.

We know that our young brains are designed to learn through exploration . And that’s the really fun thing about being outside. You are not giving a kid a pencil and paper and telling her exactly what to do with it. They are roaming around and they’re finding things. Nature is always changing. There are different birds moving through. There are different water levels, changing weather. One day there is going to be ice across the creek and you can stick your foot in it and you can make cool cracking noises and then see amazing fractal patterns. You can watch the snowflakes land on the pine trees. There’s changing light. After a big storm, there’s the opportunity to collect cool leaves and twigs that have fallen. Kids outside follow their curiosity. What a beautiful way to learn. 

I think being in nature, being outside, teaches us to look and to feel what it’s like to be a sensing animal. And it turns out, our bodies and our nervous systems really like that. 

 

One of the amazing things about travel is how easy it is to spend time outside, in nature, to be unplugged, to be self-directed. And there’s a lot of research that points to the benefits of travel. What are your thoughts on the benefits of traveling with kids? 

We know kids and all humans are drawn to novelty. That’s one of the problems with cell phones. We can always find something new and interesting to pull us in on a cell phone. So you have to compete with that by providing some novelty, some excitement, by stimulating curiosity, allowing dopamine to flow. We know that travel does that. It pulls us out of what’s familiar. It makes us pay attention and observe. It enables us to experience the joy of discovery. When that happens it can also pull us out of our own negative thoughts that we all experience, including children. Some kids are more ruminative than others, but I think we can all identify with this notion of seeing something novel and beautiful and all of a sudden we’re back in the world and engaged in things outside of our own heads. We know from the research that this leads to emotional resilience in people. 

Another important thing about travel is that we can adapt to becoming a little bit comfortable with discomfort. We’ve heard the term helicopter parent, but there’s also the term “bulldozer parent” where we are erasing all the friction in our kids’ paths. We want them to be comfortable every second. That is not real life. That is not setting them up to handle when things go a little bit awry. Being in a new place, there are discomforts all over the place. There may be foods you don’t like or weather happening you don’t like. Travel innoculates kids to be able to handle, accept, and roll with these discomforts. 

 

Recently you have written a lot about awe. Can you break down why awe is such a powerful phenomenon? 

There are so many reasons. We’ve talked about the novelty aspect and when we see something beautiful it pulls us out of our own heads. But what also happens when we see something vast, whether it’s the Milky Way or a wild animal or even just the idea or the concept – like asking ourselves, “why do the colors in the sunset look the way they do?”- in those moments we feel a little bit less self-involved, a little bit less self-important. We feel more connected to the world around us. And the science shows we also feel more connected to each other. So awe is a really powerful antidote to things like loneliness and anxiety that are so prevalent among young people today. 

We used to see the Milky Way all the time. We used to encounter wild animals, see the sunset every night, sit around the fire and sing songs, experiencing collective awe. I think today we are awe-deprived as a culture. This is another reason it is important to bring children into the natural world.

 

How can we, as modern people, as modern parents get more awe in our lives?   

First, we need a more generous understanding of what awe is. Awe is not necessarily the Grand Canyon or the top of a mountain, or a narwhal whale under our kayak. Instead, we can find astonishing moments of beauty if we are open to looking for them. When we are out walking, we can remind or cue ourselves to be mindful by asking, “What am I noticing right now?” “What birds am I hearing?” “What plants are coming out?” “What’s the sky doing right now?” “What am I smelling?” These are really simple cues that will help ground us in the present moment. 

We can do this regularly, even if we can’t get outside every day, we can cue ourselves with, “Why is this soup so beautiful?” “Look at these colors in my house plant” And the amazing thing is that this trains us to be open to beauty. So, it’s a practice, and you can practice it every day with simple, ordinary things. This practice is a way to savor, appreciate, and step outside of ourselves a little bit. 

 

You’re also a badass outdoorswoman. You kayak and canoe, hike, ski, backpack, take epic solo trips, and put yourself way, way out there. Can you talk about what you’ve learned from these expeditions and how adventure has shaped your identity? 

I love it that you think I am a badass but really I am not. I used to try to keep up with all of the guys and experts and at some point I realized it’s so much fun out there even if you’re not an expert. So we can give ourselves permission to not be great at everything and still get a lot out of the experience. I think that’s a wonderful metaphor for life.

I also think that a little bit of adventure, especially for women, is really important because there are studies showing that girls who participate in adventure sports have more self-confidence. They are a little more focused for one thing, in this day and age, on how their bodies work and how strong and competent they are and that they can acquire skills and mastery instead of thinking about how their bodies look, which is the dominant driver on social media right now. We need to counteract those messages and I don’t think there’s any better way to do it than sports and outdoor adventure. 

After my divorce, my self-esteem bottomed out and one of the things that really helped me find joy again was mountain biking. I found myself riding down this mountain and giggling. I had a huge authentic smile on my face for the first time in months. And I had a sense that I am a brave, competent person and I am going to be ok. For me, adventure sports helped me access that. 

 

Finally, you are also a parent to two amazing children, ages 19 and 22, right? What advice do you have for parents of young children to set their kids on the path of discovery, health, and creativity? 

I noticed that whenever there was inter-sibling conflict, when the kids went outside it immediately dissipated. I think that’s a great thing to remember even if you are not traveling. Unstructured play is just amazing and my kids would instead of fight, delight in each other’s discoveries. 

I also found that, especially with my daughter, it was important to have other kids around that she could connect with outside. We would often travel with other families and that connection seemed to be a mood booster without fail. 

Another big tip is food. We would always have snacks around. Kids need to eat. They need protein. If they get hangry, it’s all over. There’s so much more to share on this topic but I’ll leave it at these three general pointers. 

 

If people want to learn more about you, your work, your books, retreats and other events, where can they go to learn more? 

It’s very easy, I have a website – www.florencewilliams.com. There are links there to various social channels, books, audio programs, upcoming events, and retreats that I lead in wild places. 

Here’s a great book trailer of Florence’s book, The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes us Healthier, Happier and More Creative.

Florence also recently wrote the PEN-Award winning HEARTBREAK: A Personal and Scientific Journey. She regularly hosts small retreats for people who want to explore or have a need to focus on writing, healing, or relationships.