Person, People, Planet: Eco-Systematic Analysis of Older Adults’ Experiences of Engagement with Nature and Discourse About Nature

ABSTRACT

This study combined ecological, environmental, nature-based, and epistemic interpretations of older adulthood to gain a previously unresearched look at how older adults feel that their relations with nature are treated by others. Sixty older adults were interviewed in-depth, and data was analyzed using the Eco-Appreciation framework and Thematic Content Analysis. The results indicate the concurrence of processes of withdrawal of older adults from spaces of nature and discourse about nature. These processes obstruct older adults’ wellbeing; entail the infliction of existential epistemic injustices and “eco-ageism” toward them; and emphasize the crucial role social work can play in responding thereto.

KEYWORDS:

• Older adulthood
• environmental gerontology
• epistemic justice
• extinction of experience
• eco-appreciation
• qualitative research

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the The Professors Rebecca and Shimon Bergman Foundation for Aging.