Are you doing everything you can at home to save the climate? Do you eat only food from your own garden, bike to work every day, and power your home entirely with solar panels? That’s great, of course, but the vast majority of the population isn’t quite on board with this “climate craze” just yet. It turns out there are a number of foods that might just save the planet, and we sell a few of them right here in the shop! Want to know what they are? Then read on…
At one with nature...
A food that can save the planet? That sounds too good to be true, of course, and it probably is. But new research published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health shows that there are indeed some substances that can change how we view and interact with nature. This golden elixir? Psychedelics.
The researchers concluded that people who have had a psychedelic experience once or regularly have—and develop—a much stronger connection to nature than those who do not. "We found a strong relationship between the amount of psychedelic use and one’s interaction with nature, as well as an increase in a ‘connection with nature’ from before to after psychedelic use," they concluded in a study published last month.
From magic mushrooms to peyote
To measure how psychedelics influence our view of nature, 654 people who planned to take substances such as psilocybin (magic truffles and magic mushrooms), LSD, ayahuasca, DMT, mescaline, and ibogaine, were invited by the Centre for Psychedelic Research at Imperial College London to participate in the online study. Participants then received email reminders “at multiple time points before and after the specified date of the experience.”
Using statistical analysis, the researchers found that the sense of connection with nature had increased significantly at both two weeks, four weeks, and two years after the psychedelic experience. They also found that the participants’ experiences increased feelings of well-being as their positive attitude toward nature grew. In other words, the appreciation for nature induced by psychedelics also led to a stronger sense of well-being and improved psychological health. "A significant positive correlation was observed between changes in nature connectedness and changes in psychological well-being," the authors wrote.
Up to two years after ingestion!
Surprisingly, the associations with nature were not only maintained but actually grew up to two years after the experience. According to the authors, participants may experience a “positive-feedback-like effect,” whereby psychedelic use “led individuals to subsequently seek more exposure to nature,” thereby strengthening their bonds with the natural world. This might mean that instead of showing people horrific videos of nature dying to change their mindset, we should simply give them a dose of truffles… Interesting!
"These findings point to the potential of psychedelics to bring about lasting positive changes in the way people interact with their natural environment," the authors wrote. According to the researchers, this study is "the first empirical evidence of a causal role of psychedelic use in improving nature-relatedness in a large group of healthy participants."
Healthier Lifestyle
By making meaningful contact with nature during a psychedelic experience (especially when the experience takes place in the context of a pleasant natural environment), healthy individuals may be encouraged to spend more time in nature in the future, thereby maintaining a healthier and more nature-connected lifestyle, according to the researchers.
