Nature - a magic bullet to the stresses of everyday life

In Deb Aronson’s essay, “The Nurture of Nature”, Aronson writes about the stresses of everyday life in the modern world and the magic bullet solution that relieves all stresses –nature. Aronson begins her essay with a rhetorical question, “Can contact with nature relieve anxiety and stress, aid healing, and increase concentration?” This wordy question in the introduction implies her thesis or the main point of her essay, which is that nature can relieve anxiety and stress, aid healing, and also increase concentration. To build her claim or thesis firm and persuasive, Aronson appeals to ethos by citing various studies of authorities. For instance, Aronson uses the ethos of Andrea Faber Taylor, who is an environmental psychologist and postdoctoral research associate at the University of Illinois, to explain the two types of attentions: directed attention and involuntary attention, which were compared in the text. Then, Aronson refers to the research of Roger Ulrich and his colleagues at Texas A&M University to support her claim that nature is actually “nurturing” and curing people: according to the studies of Ulrich and his colleagues, people who are exposed more to nature are showed much calmer response to the stress or stressful situation than those who are less exposed to nature by what they call, inoculation effect. In keeping with the results of the researches, Aronson asserts her point by writing that what we need to relieve and resolve stress are not exercise or artificial stuffs, such as yoga, aerobics, coffee, and anti-anxiety pills etc., but rather it is just a little piece of green environment, the nature. She strengthens her points by using the quotes of Kathleen Wolf of the College of Forest Resources at the University of Washington: “But now we are seeing that our daily lives have constant small stressors….Consequently, even small, incremental contacts with nature in our daily lives are beneficial.” Finally, Aronson concludes her argument with Andrea Faber Taylor’s study of the great effect of small green environment shown in Robert Taylor Homes housing project. Strongly appealing to ethos, Aronson has well established her argument with strong thesis supported by credulous researches and studies of authorities; however, Aronson’s essay lacks her own thoughts and lacks details about the studies and researches that were used in her essay.