The overarching twentieth century environmental narratives can be described as
largely anxiety-based. An appeal is made, first and foremost to governments and
officials, to protect and conserve the environment in order to prevent future catastrophes (Jepson 2019). Although anxiety-based narratives are justified, they also
carry certain risks. They may, for example:
• Make people feel despair in relation to the overwhelming scale of the problems.
• Over-emphasise the conception of the environment as consisting of problems that
must be “fixed”, and therefore undermining the understanding that ecosystems
will always, to some degree, be in a state of change.
Alongside this dominant anxiety narrative, there is also a parallel and growing
concern that the role of people’s sensory experiences and bodily interactions with
nature are poorly acknowledged in environmental discourse and policy (Buijs et al.
2018; Cooke et al. 2016; Chan et al. 2016). Concerns about biodiversity are often
introduced through texts, numbers and models, but not easily seen or felt in everyday
life (especially everyday urban life), making issues such as disappearing species hard
to relate to. In order to bring the notion of biodiversity “to life”, expert knowledge
arguably needs to be paired with practices and experiences that literally help give
meaning in people’s everyday life (West 2016). The story about the schoolchildren’s
encounter with the pike named “Martha-Humlan” serves as an example of one such
attempt to provide children with direct and practical experiences of “nature”.
3 Restoring Ecosystems and Human–Nature Relations
There are two overarching reasons for our interest in the efforts made by the Swedish
Angler Association in the Skolbäcken project. The first is our interest in finding
strategies that can help counteract the fast growing loss of biodiversity, which in this
chapter will be exemplified by the deteriorating ecological status of the Baltic Sea.
The second is our interest in reversing declining levels of interest in science amongst
schoolchildren.
A grave future is painted for many coastal fish communities in the Baltic Sea,
including pike (Esox lucius L.), due to a combination of eutrophication, overfishing,
pollutants, climate changes and a decrease or change in key habitats, such as rivers
and wetlands (HELCOM 2018). A main driver for the diminishing pike population is
found in the disappearance of coastal wetlands (spawning grounds) due to drainage
and straightening of watercourses for agricultural purposes (Engstedt 2011).
Re-creating the physical structure of habitats is likely one of the most economically
viable efforts that can be made to counter-act the diminishing pike populations
(Nilsson et al. 2014).
A decline in interest in school science, including biology, among students in the
western world has been apparent for some time (Osborne et al. 2003). This is
happening parallel to concerns about children’s reduced contact with and understanding of nature (Giusti et al. 2018; Skår et al. 2016). The diminishing direct
From Onlookers to Ecosystem-Assistants: Exploring the Potentials of Ecological. . .
221
largely anxiety-based. An appeal is made, first and foremost to governments and
officials, to protect and conserve the environment in order to prevent future catastrophes (Jepson 2019). Although anxiety-based narratives are justified, they also
carry certain risks. They may, for example:
• Make people feel despair in relation to the overwhelming scale of the problems.
• Over-emphasise the conception of the environment as consisting of problems that
must be “fixed”, and therefore undermining the understanding that ecosystems
will always, to some degree, be in a state of change.
Alongside this dominant anxiety narrative, there is also a parallel and growing
concern that the role of people’s sensory experiences and bodily interactions with
nature are poorly acknowledged in environmental discourse and policy (Buijs et al.
2018; Cooke et al. 2016; Chan et al. 2016). Concerns about biodiversity are often
introduced through texts, numbers and models, but not easily seen or felt in everyday
life (especially everyday urban life), making issues such as disappearing species hard
to relate to. In order to bring the notion of biodiversity “to life”, expert knowledge
arguably needs to be paired with practices and experiences that literally help give
meaning in people’s everyday life (West 2016). The story about the schoolchildren’s
encounter with the pike named “Martha-Humlan” serves as an example of one such
attempt to provide children with direct and practical experiences of “nature”.
3 Restoring Ecosystems and Human–Nature Relations
There are two overarching reasons for our interest in the efforts made by the Swedish
Angler Association in the Skolbäcken project. The first is our interest in finding
strategies that can help counteract the fast growing loss of biodiversity, which in this
chapter will be exemplified by the deteriorating ecological status of the Baltic Sea.
The second is our interest in reversing declining levels of interest in science amongst
schoolchildren.
A grave future is painted for many coastal fish communities in the Baltic Sea,
including pike (Esox lucius L.), due to a combination of eutrophication, overfishing,
pollutants, climate changes and a decrease or change in key habitats, such as rivers
and wetlands (HELCOM 2018). A main driver for the diminishing pike population is
found in the disappearance of coastal wetlands (spawning grounds) due to drainage
and straightening of watercourses for agricultural purposes (Engstedt 2011).
Re-creating the physical structure of habitats is likely one of the most economically
viable efforts that can be made to counter-act the diminishing pike populations
(Nilsson et al. 2014).
A decline in interest in school science, including biology, among students in the
western world has been apparent for some time (Osborne et al. 2003). This is
happening parallel to concerns about children’s reduced contact with and understanding of nature (Giusti et al. 2018; Skår et al. 2016). The diminishing direct
From Onlookers to Ecosystem-Assistants: Exploring the Potentials of Ecological. . .
221