Urban living can lead to a disconnect between people and nature, and there is growing concern that this disconnect will lead to apathy toward wildlife conservation. With average Americans spending only 1–5% of their time outdoors, the need to increase awareness and mobilize alliances with the general public to achieve conservation goals is becoming increasingly important. Increasing the prevalence of pro-environmental behaviors is necessary to mitigate anthropogenic habitat loss, and increasing connection to nature in individuals can be an effective method to bring about pro-environmental behavior. We tested the efficacy of bird feeders as tools to increase connection to nature because they are inexpensive and easy to maintain, encountered at home on a regular basis, and likely to be enjoyed considering ~45% of Americans feed birds. We visited 13 6th grade classrooms in Arizona public schools in 2017, with half of students receiving bird feeders and seed for one month (i.e., treatment), and half not receiving feeders (i.e., control). We predicted that both students and their parents in the treatment group would show significantly higher scores for connection to nature compared to the control group based on results of surveys administered before and after treatment.
Results/Conclusions
Using Mann-Whitney U Tests, six classrooms visited in Phoenix, AZ in spring 2017 showed no significant differences in connection to nature scores between either parents (treatment: n = 9, mean = 3.8 ± 0.2 vs. control: n = 9, mean = 3.7 ± 0.1; M = 50.0, p = 0.43) or students (treatment: n = 31, mean = 3.6 ± 0.1SE vs. control: n = 37, mean = 3.8 ± 0.1SE; M = 488.5, p = 0.28). Five classrooms visited in Cottonwood and Clarkdale, AZ in fall 2017 showed no significant differences between adults (treatment: n = 11, mean = 7.3 ± 0.4SE vs. control: n = 12, mean = 6.5 ± 0.3; M = 83.5, p = 0.13), but students with feeders had significantly greater connection to nature after the study (treatment: n = 31, mean = 6.0 ± 0.2SE vs. control: n = 34, mean = 5.7 ± 0.1; M = 685.5, p = 0.04). Only 30% of enrolled adults completed the entire study, limiting the power of our analyses. We describe challenges of this type of research, and conclude that teacher enthusiasm and the ability to distribute surveys to parents electronically would improve participation in similar studies.