ABSTRACT
If the human connection with nature is as important as it seems, then perhaps it is possible for those of us living in WEIRD cultures to re-establish this connection and live in the wilderness for an extended length of time and encounter nature as our ancestors once did. However, despite Paul Shepard’s invitation to ‘come home to the Pleistocene’ (1998), connecting deeply to nature outside of WEIRD culture is not that easy. Despite increasing popularity of spending time outdoors, camping in nature, backpacking in wilderness, and long-distance walking, it can be difficult to really step out of WEIRD culture. There is now a growing appreciation and evidence of the value of extended time in nature as wilderness therapy or wilderness experience and other ecotherapeutic interventions that involve periods of close contact with wild nature (Hine, Pretty, & Barton, 2009).
