5 Ways We Can All Give Nature Fresh Energy in Culture
When it comes to nature, Britain is a place of paradox. We love to proclaim ourselves a nation of nature lovers. But Britain is also one of the most nature-disconnected countries on earth. Somewhere between the bird tables and the balcony herbs, a lot of us - especially those aged 18 to 30 - have quietly filed nature under "nice, but not for me." Crucially, urban dwellers tend to see nature as somewhere else - “the countryside” - rather than a living system that exists all around us.
At the Agency for Nature we've spent two seasons trying to close that gap with creative campaign work, helping nature feel emotionally resonant to a new generation. Over ten national campaigns, here are five things we’ve learned about giving nature fresh energy in culture.
1. Nature is everywhere
The most common thing we hear from young people is that nature happens somewhere else. It doesn't. Nature is the nettles just past the touchline, the weather that ruins your outfit, the plants rendered into the world of Guild Wars 2. It's in the city. It’s weather. When we made a campaign about footballers reappraising the weeds beyond the pitch, or gaming streamers noticing the flora in the games they live inside, we weren't stretching: we were pointing at what was already there. Start by showing people they're entangled with nature wherever they already are, and the "over there" problem starts to dissolve.
2. It's not all sweetness and light - and that's a good thing
There's a dominant story that nature is pretty, calming, a bit of a spa day. If you're 18 and life feels enormous, that story is boring. The truth is more useful: nature is also formidable, turbulent, wild, indifferent, strange. Our "Nature's a Drag" campaign leaned into nature's vitality and force - its capacity to mirror the emotional turbulence of being young - and young audiences loved it precisely because it didn't flatten nature into wellness content. Let nature be a force that can hold difficult feelings.
3. Charismatic species help build affinity
People tend to treat nature as one big thing you either get or you don't. But nobody falls in love with "biodiversity." We fall for a specific fox, a particular tree, the local cherry blossom that bursts into life every spring. Nature is a tangled web of living things, and some of them will speak to you before the others do. Our "Earthworm Projects" work heroed timely, charismatic species — daffodils, blossom — as gateways to that feeling of nature being something “for me”. Researchers have shown us it’s how affinity actually works: small and specific, then wider. Reawakening people’s interest in one species can open a door.
4. Nature is a setting for human connection
All too often, we talk about nature as somewhere you go, separate from your real social life, which happens in bars and DMs. Agency for Nature campaigns aim to flip that. Nature is the most natural backdrop there is for togetherness: for banter, bonding, adventure, intimacy, the confidences you only share when you're side by side rather than face to face. One of our campaigns put a gothic DJ and a park ranger in a bird hide and let them talk. Football gave us belonging out in the open air. When nature becomes the setting for connection rather than a solo wellness errand, it stops being a chore and starts being where the good stuff happens.
5. We don't need persuading — we just need reminding
This is the clearest thing two seasons have taught us, and the one we have pinned to the wall as a daily reminder. We assumed we'd have to convince disconnected young people that nature was for them. We didn't. Across the drag, goth and football communities, every single social commenter responded positively when they felt included. We realised the yearning was already there, sitting just under the surface. The yearning to be alive and connected in nature is in our DNA. Our job isn't to manufacture new desire for it: it's to remove what’s getting in the way, and let the yearning naturally surface.
Are you working to give nature fresh energy in culture? Have you got different ideas about what’s working? We’d love to hear them. Share your thoughts and ideas in the comments.
