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A brief exploration of the unique community-strengthening space created by NRN in a fragmented and anxious world

by Ieuan Owen

As nature retreats

Retreating in neighbourhood

nature is a treat

When was the last time you heard someone have a real rant about how bad connecting with like-minded people is for your mental health? About how spending time in nature is a conspiracy dreamt up by the trees so that they can better take control of our minds in their pursuit of world domination? About how they hate protecting nature because what did nature ever do for them and they’re tired of these lazy plants asking for handouts?

No? Not a regular feature of your dinner table conversation either?

Perhaps there are some things we all agree on after all: our natural world is precious, community is indispensable for human wellbeing, and there exists something doubly special at the intersection of these.

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There is also growing appreciation that the “most important issues facing the country” ¹ cannot be disentangled from their fundamental basis in nature. Without fertile fields there is no economy, without clean water and shaded bowers there is no health, and without climate justice global crises will continue to mount their pressures on the Briton’s fragile sense of security.

_{Illustration by maulana ahmad on Unsplash}

Climate anxiety is no longer a new concept; nor is it reserved for those born after the reality of anthropogenic climate change was widely established and its most severe global consequences vivid to see just a digital click away. In 2021, 75% of UK adults claimed to be “very or somewhat worried about the impact of climate change” ²; one must suspect this number only increases every time wildfires creep closer and closer to home; and when one recognises the way climate change cuts to the core of everything we as a society care about, no wonder.

There exists majority support for bolder governmental climate action³, and yet the political discourse of television and social media does not exactly sing with the harmony of this apparent national consensus. There is a disconnect. A disconnect between different areas of our lives, different ways of knowing, different cross-sections of our society -- and surely this contributes to, if not our anxiety, our fragmented sense of well-being.

_{Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash}

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Fragmentation is another theme of our times, and one that can make it difficult to find and build community. Individuals now typically move many times in their working lives -- between locations, between jobs, between careers -- losing the automatic continuity of relationships afforded to those who are able to build their lives in relative geographical stability. Simultaneously, the increase in remote working in the post-Covid era means people may have very little organic social contact with people in their area. Community can be sought out and created, but must be done with greater intentionality when forces such as these are at work.

_{Illustration by the iop on Unsplash}

For some, opportunities for connection are more natural than others. Families newly arriving in a community, for instance, may find friends with similarly aged children through school and extracurricular activities. However, some demographics may find it less easy -- retired parents moving homes to be closer to their children and grandchildren; or young graduates taking a job in a new place without the supportive networks provided for them at university; to name but two.

Moreover, community is as much about the connections between its thriving sub-groups, as it is about the inclusion of every member of the community in some part of the relational ecosystem. These two factors: interconnection and inclusion, are surely essential to the idea of ‘community resilience’. The more diverse the interpersonal pathways, the shorter the communication distance is between any two individuals in the dynamic community-sphere, the faster and more effectively it can disseminate information, mobilise collectively, move cohesively in response, pool resources, exchange forms of support, come together in and as a community. Understanding this raises the question: How and where are intergenerational, cross-sectional links formed to strengthen the webs of human community?

Enter settings such as those provided by Eynsham’s own Nature Recovery Network (NRN).

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1. The NRN offers activities that are accessible to all -- regardless of age or ability, all are welcome and supported to participate in a caring environment.
2. These activities are affordable for all -- apart from certain skill-building workshops which ask for a small fee to help cover costs, activities are all free to take part in.
3. But more than this, everyone who engages with the NRN is imbued with a sense of collective purpose not always found elsewhere.

The space NRN creates is uniquely beneficial for building community in a world of climate anxiety and fragmented communities. Spending time in nature is good for individual wellbeing -- as does connecting with others in shared activities⁴. And taking action to be part of the solution to the climate and nature crises directly assuages climate anxiety. However, what is perhaps underappreciated is its potential for facilitating intergenerational community network building and for providing a space in which those short of other means, may establish the first (or simply new) links connecting them to the community.

_{Marbled White Butterfly on Common knapweed - image Emily Terry}

Flowers of undying variety, butterflies of infinite flighty delight, the soil beneath our feet which nourishes them, and the climate change and biodiversity loss which threaten them -- these are things all generations care about. For the young, nature recovery is partially about choosing to live out of hope and envisioning a better future. For some of the older generations there is a sense of legacy building in the endeavour. And in the overlap of ages and individuals there is an ongoing process of multidirectional knowledge and skill exchange.

The fact that the activity of nature stewardship has a purpose, a value which goes far beyond any one individual, makes the work fulfilling to those who return week after week, in cold as well as summer sun, to sustain the project. Ultimately the bonds formed are not just diverse and stepping stones to others, but deeper for that shared purpose. At the same time, it minimises the pressure on new participants to talk about themselves any more than they are comfortable doing⁵. Easy conversation, deeper chats, companionable silence, focussed co-working: these are all on offer, and so relationships avoid feeling forced or conditional. Everyone is respected and valued simply for turning up -- and as simply as this, one now has more friendly faces to recognise in and around the village.

_{NRNers enjoying a lunch break together with shared apples and cake}

NRN is not a panacea for our wellbeing. Climate anxiety is not eliminated by channelling angst into action. Societal division is not patched up by like-minded nature lovers patting each other on the back. And community resilience is never built by one group, one initiative, not even one heavily researched action plan. But just as intact floodplain wildflower meadows sequester many times the carbon of a monolithic grassy field, so too do some activities punch above their weight in building community. And recognising this can help re-catalyse our support for all NRN are doing. Who knows, it might even get me up off my computer, out of the house, and down to where what I’ve been waxing lyrical about happens in the flesh.

_Footnotes

1. _{In Aug 2026, Britons considered the top 6 “most important issues facing the country” to be: The Economy, Immigration and Asylum, Health, Defense and Security, The Environment, and Welfare Benefits. https://yougov.com/en-gb/trackers/the-most-important-issues-facing-the-country}
2. _{https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/wellbeing/articles/threequartersofadultsingreatbritainworryaboutclimatechange/2021-11-05}
3. _{In 2024, 84% of Britons thought the UK should strengthen our country’s commitments to address climate change. https://peoplesclimate.vote/country-results}
4. _{The NHS’s  “5 Steps to Mental Wellbeing” read like a prescription for community-based nature conservation. https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/self-help/guides-tools-and-activities/five-steps-to-mental-wellbeing/}
5. _{Thanks to Rhys Owen for this idea.}