A new symptom of Covid-19: plants everywhere!
I have been caring for my plants a lot more since the Covid-19 isolation started in Budapest. It looks like I am not alone with that at all. I see more and more content on Instagram posted by friends growing their jungle in apartments. Urban citizens stuck in their homes need to find new ways to fulfill their need for nature. Is this an efficent way of sustaining mental health?
#quarantinelife
My presence on social media has increased significantly since mid-March when I started to practise social distancing. Observations on Instagram inspired me to post a story incuding a voting. The question said: ’Have you been caring more about plants since you’re home?’ 85 percent voted ’Yes’.
What is more, only in one minute, there are even up to a dozen images published with the hashtag ’urbanjungle’. This may sound cliché but obviously shows the increasing interest in modern-day-people’s life in their connection with nature.
#plantsarefriends
The role of greens in mental health and subjective well-being has been researched since the 1970s when new sciences such as environmental psychology started to develop. The study of three university professors (Happiness is in our Nature: Exploring Nature Relatedness as a Contributor to Subjective Well-Being’ 2010) reveals that nature relatedness is confirmed to be a source of subjective well-being. They explore indicators of well-being by controlling environmental circumstance. They examine the influence of environmental education as well as reactions of business people.
„We suggest that human psychological health is related to the state of the environment and time spent in nature, and that people’s subjective sense of connection with nature may contribute to well-being.” they draw conclusions.
#homeoffice
A similar idea is investigated in the study of two researchers of the Horticultural Department at Taiwan’s National Chung Hsing University. They focused on workplace environment and used medical devices to examine the participant’s reactions. They found that people having a view of nature (either outdoor or indoor plants) were less nervous.
„When neither the window view nor the indoor plants were shown, participants suffered the highest degree of tension and axiety.”
#slowlife
If you are a home gardener, you must have noticed that two things are essential for plantcare: patience and attention. At the moment, because of the pandemic most people have more free time than usual. This situation is definitely not chosen but can provide us a new way to turn to nature. Carl Honoré, the author of „In Praise of Slowness” writes in his famous cult book:
“The great benefit of slowing down is reclaiming the time and tranquility to make meaningful connections - with people, with culture, with work, with nature, with our own bodies and minds”
#localbusiness
On the other hand, most of the time, having more time does not only mean less work but also less money. This economic crisis concerns plant venders and plant buyers. Also, plants are not commonly on the people’s everyday shopping list. Plante, a Budapest based small business selling plants and flowers struggles with financial problems, for instance.
„The outbreak makes it hard for us to stay afloat.” they messaged through an artistic video created by Reka Bucsi for the series „Stories in Place” on Vimeo.
Every day, we guess about the end of the epidemic but I have another puzzle in my head: Will we be able to keep our planting habits later on? Will we still appreciate and celebrate nature? Will parks and green areas in the outskirts of Budapest stay the main scenes of social interactions as much as they are now? I hope so.
