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

Introduction

Recent years have seen a renewed interdisciplinary interest in the relations between older adults and their sociospatial surroundings. Sometimes aligned with environmental gerontology, this interest is directed toward comprehending and reshaping such relations with the intention of optimizing them for the enhancement of older adults’ quality of life (Wahl & Weisman, 2003). One of the areas currently closely related to environmental gerontology and its applications in social work, is eco-gerontology (sometimes referred to as climate gerontology). This is another branch of conceptual gerontology that focuses on the interactions between older adults and nature in general, and specifically with regard to life in the Anthropocene and the implications of climate change on the world’s aging population (Hou et al., 2021). These scholarly trends are consistent with social work professional assumptions concerning the importance of addressing the “person in environment” (Akesson et al., 2017) and of employing a broad eco-systemic approach to aging in diverse societies (Matthies & Närhi, 2017).

Chronologically paralleling the development of environmental and ecological viewpoints on older adults and aging, theoretical perspectives associated with inter-human power relations and their effect on older adults have proliferated in social work. One strand of these perspectives, frequently applied in social work literature, addresses epistemic justice. This form of justice has to do with ways in which the legitimacy, credibility, and use of knowledge reflect, design, nurture, and preserve social structures. Specifically, this approach to explaining relationships between individuals, communities, and societies “ … refers to those forms of unfair treatment that relate to issues of knowledge, understanding, and participation in communicative practices” (Kidd et al., 2017, p. 1) and is inseparable from other forms of justice subjected to identity-related hierarchization. A major focus in establishing epistemic justice is on the ability of individuals and groups in society to influence discourse that pertains to them. When this ability is compromised, epistemic injustice prevails. Appearances of epistemic injustices are commonly classified as either testimonial (discounting of the credibility of someone’s account of experiences based on prejudice toward the social group to which s/he belongs) or hermeneutical (representing a general societal inability or unwillingness to understand or acknowledge the experiences of certain groups). Both forms of epistemic injustice are associated with, and result from, the persistent exclusion of distinct groups in society from mainstream meaning-making activities (For examples of how epistemic injustice may unfold against specific social groups and in a variety of social interactions, see Fricker, 2007).

While at first glance, the kinship between discussions on environmental gerontology and epistemic justice may not seem self-evident, some common elements can be found between them. One is their treatment of older adulthood as occurring within eco-systems of relations. A second, is their identification of older adults as being especially susceptible to various forms of discrimination and marginalization, and the translation of this insight into a specific value-based commitment to older adults’ protection and wellbeing. A third common element is their complex view on age as potentially intersecting with other issues such as social capital, poverty, loneliness, and mental and physical health; and the interdisciplinary and cross-theoretical motivations underlying this view, specifically among social work scholars (Walsh et al., 2021).

Based on these shared paradigmatic features, we chose to combine these theoretical perspectives to obtain a previously unresearched multifaceted look at how older adults feel their relations with nature are treated by others, in terms of their needs, concerns, and knowledge. In order to situate this goal within the broader context of aging and the natural environment, as well as the epistemic status of older adults, a review of these issues follows.

Ecological, environmental, and nature-based perspectives on older adulthood

Today, research the world over recognizes that we are witnessing climate change that is causing extreme climate phenomena, damage to ecosystems, and subsequent strains on the health and resilience of people and communities (Lynas et al., 2021). This has prompted the realization that social work can and must develop responses thereto (Levin & Nevo, 2022). Accumulating data points to older adults as one of the populations most disproportionally affected by this crisis (Deuster et al., 2023). This has also been endorsed by institutions and forums, such as the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change IPCC, 2021), and is explained by older adults’ heightened exposure to risk due to inadequate living conditions, “energy poverty,” loneliness, lack of support from families and communities, and other physical and mental challenges common to old age, all exacerbated by having to adapt to changes in the environment (Ayalon et al., 2023; Żuk and Żuk, 2022).

Consequently, and echoing the profession’s pledge to promote social justice, equality, and the protection of human rights, social work literature, especially from the past half decade, is concerned with older adults’ quality of life in the current changing climate, as it corresponds to all levels of social work intervention (from individual assistance, through community work, to policy advocacy; Kemp et al. 2015; Kwan & Walsh, 2015; Mason et al., 2022). Social work is also called upon to pay special attention to sources of wellbeing and resilience of older adults, including sources that are nature-based and help to realize the beneficial facets of older adults’ engagement with nature, now even more than in the past (Dominelli, 2021).

Epistemic justice and older adulthood

Older adults’ epistemic statuses vary greatly across time and culture, and may range from being regarded as wise elders to completely losing their epistemic agency (Silva Filho et al., 2022). In Western, industrialized societies, older adults’ epistemic status is considered especially low, due to individualism and the prioritization of industriousness, ableism, and prejudice regarding older peoples’ cognitive and communicative capabilities (Azulai, 2014). This is especially true of older adults who suffer stigmatized conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease (Price & Hill, 2021), but is not limited to them. While epistemic justice is diversely maintained for people throughout the life course, the discrediting of older adults’ knowledge and voices is widespread, and often fueled by ageist attitudes (Fletcher, 2023; Gullette, 2019; McNamara & Williamson, 2019).

Regarding the current climate crisis, it can be seen that a great deal of the literature on older adults’ knowledge approaches them primarily either as sources of information about vulnerability to climate hazards (e.g., Carter et al., 2016; Rhoades et al., 2018), or as being the object of hostile public attitudes that depict them as belonging to generations who did not know enough about the environment or who did not use their knowledge to do better by planet earth (e.g., Ayalon et al. 2023). Such literature seldom frames older adults as persons whose knowledge could actually benefit society (Okui et al., 2021).

The current research sought to tie together these prominent interpretations of older adulthood in present times, using the Eco-Appreciation framework. This framework models the ecosystem of interactions that may be noticed when conceptualizing relations between humans and their environments (Nevo, 2019), and draws attention to three triangulated elements: person, people, and planet. In the present study, “person” represented older adults and their subjective knowledge and experiences; “people” was articulated as broader society and its treatment of such knowledge and experiences; and “planet” signified the context of relations with nature and the changing climate. Each of these elements was considered distinct from yet interdependent with each other. In this triangle, intersections between elements create opportunities for beneficial experiences, for awareness of the influences of place and time, and for improving the sustainability of positive relations between individuals and societies, and in the space between individual and collective interactions with nature. This conceptualization corresponds closely with generic micro<>macro typologies very common in social work (Lombard & Viviers, 2020), yet offers a specific lens for observing multi-level interactions in the context of human-nature relations and engagement with the natural environment, and was thus found specifically useful for our analysis.

In sum, the following question was placed at the foundation of our research: How do older adults experience others’ treatment of their engagement with the natural environment, in terms of their needs, concerns, and knowledge?

Materials and Methods

As our topic of inquiry has not yet been explored, and as older adults’ subjective experiences were the foci of our research, a qualitative constructivist approach was chosen for this study. This approach emerges from ontological and epistemological assumptions that assert that all “realities” involve individual construction, and that such constructed “realities” are what can be learned about phenomena (Constantino, 2008). It follows that this method’s main methodology consists of in-depth interviews, used in the present study as well.

Participants and sampling

Sixty Israeli individuals over the age of 65 comprised the sample of the present study (for detailed demographics of the participants, see Table 1). In terms of geographical distribution, 32% of participants resided in the south of Israel, 38% resided in the north, and the rest lived in the country’s center or in the district of Jerusalem. Most of the sample were partnered, and 17% were widowed. 31% of participants had had some form of educational or professional experience in fields connected to nature and/or the environment, and they were all Hebrew speakers. About half of the sample described their health as fair, 23% as “so-so” or poor, and the remainder as excellent.

Table 1. Characteristics of the sample.

	Women			Men
	N	Age Min.-Max.	Age μ (SD)	N	Age Min.-Max.	Age μ (SD)
Urban	22	65–84	74.3 (5.64)	8	65–82	77.9 (6.59)
Rural	13	65–85	72.3 (5.83)	17	70–87	74.8 (4.66)
Total	35		73.1 (5.71)	25		77 (5.41)

Trained interviewers approached older adults in senior day centers nationwide, inviting them to participate. The study was described as addressing older adulthood and the natural environment. Appeals to participate in the study were also posted widely on relevant social media (local Facebook and WhatsApp groups), inviting people to participate or to pass on the details of the research team to potential participants. Sampling continued until diversity was achieved in gender, age, and locale. It was also guided by seeking and interviewing information-rich informants (Palinkas et al., 2015), crucial to researching topics that have not previously been directly explored (Lyon et al. 2015). These are individuals whose narratives and experiences regarding the research subject, when systematically analyzed together with those of other information-rich informants, may elicit insights that go beyond fragmented personal accounts and provide a deeper understanding of the phenomena.

Procedure of data collection

Interviews were conducted individually and in person through June and October of 2022, in the time and place that participants chose, and were guided by a semi-structured interview protocol, to gather information directly associated with the research question and at the same time allow for additional developments in unforeseen directions (Kallio et al., 2016). Questions asked included: “Could you tell me about your experiences of engagement with nature?,” “Do you find that older people’s knowledge or needs concerning engagement with nature are considered in activities and services designed for them? Do you have a personal experience or example you’d like to share with relation to this?.” The interviews lasted 40–80 minutes, typically took place in participants’ homes, and were recorded and transcribed with their agreement. To note, interviews were conducted by interviewers who were themselves diverse in terms of age, and included younger and older adults. This did not seem to affect the data gathered. It was coherent with the subject of research and enabled multiple perspectives on how questions should be asked, best wording, and attitudes toward interviewees, all discussed in sessions held before and during data collection. The study received the approval of Tel Aviv University’s ethics committee, and all participants completed an informed consent form prior to the commencement of the interview.

Data analysis

Data analysis was conducted by the authors using a sequential deductive-inductive approach. We began the analysis using a very general deductive approach (Azungah, 2018), i.e., let ourselves be guided by a pre-chosen framework, in our case Eco-Appreciation. Preliminary themes were elicited along the main lines of this model, and the data was coded into categories based on its relevance to them. Coding was performed with heightened sensitivity to research trustworthiness, and was led by the guiding framework while remaining faithful to the narratives iterated by participants. In the second stage of analysis, key issues detected in the first stage were constructed inductively as per the methodological tenets of Thematic Content Analysis (Corbin & Strauss, 2015), to enable theory to inform the analysis, but also to examine how the analysis could in turn inform theory, this time steered by experiences described by participants and the meanings that they themselves had attached thereto (Tjora, 2018). Finally, all categorizations and sub-categorizations were gathered into themes, and then reviewed for conceptual coherence and the accuracy of representing participants’ accounts, until basic saturation seemed to have been achieved; no additional themes and categories were detected; and all relevant data was reflected in the written-out findings (Saunders et al., 2018).

Results

While some differences could be found between the experiences of participants from various backgrounds, major themes were apparent across interviews. The findings are organized around these themes. Numbers in parentheses represent interviewees.

Participants described three parallel, concurrent processes taking place in their lives. Common to these processes was a sense of a reduced and eroded presence, which became increasingly prevalent as they grew older, and was a thread that ran through nearly all of the experiences and narratives shared.

Theme I: Older adults’ withdrawal from nature due to personal challenges

The first process, manifested in growing limitations on the ability to engage in activities in nature, consequent to what were cited as age-related changes. As (5) mentioned: “It’s not nature, it’s more my tempo in nature. This means that I have to stay close to home, not overextend myself. So the scope, and the level, of my time in nature have decreased.” This was often presented as an unavoidable consequence of getting older; in (43)’s words, “The elderly, an older person, has some artificial breakpoint.” Several participants shared that these changes were very upsetting, especially as they were perceived as irreversible or inevitable. As (2) said, “I was always a nature buff. I always went places … went for walks. In nature. My deep regret is that there are places I cannot go anymore.” This sense of discontinuity was intertwined with concerns that younger people do not care for nature as much as participants did/do, and with wanting to avoid the pain of seeing how natural spaces participants previously frequented may now be neglected:

… It was amazing, and at some point, in autumn, because of all the construction, all the bulbs were taken out and given to us, and together with the pupils, we planted them in the grove. Really, it was so beautiful. Today I don’t even try to go visit there. Why? Because I know there’s nothing left of it.

(6)

Venturing into nature was also mentioned as sometimes evoking feelings of insecurity. (7), who became ill during a nature outing overseas, shared that “since then I’ve taken a step back. I was rattled by it, and the fear that something may happen again has resulted in me spending much more time at home.”

Withdrawal from engagement with nature was linked, by some participants, to their or other older adults’ financial resources. Some told of friends who are very well off, and live in “luxurious care homes, that give you everything you need to your doorstep. It’s not always good having everything close by” (10). Others provided another perspective, saying that “[most people our age] do not travel or step out into nature as much as they perhaps used to, because they’re busy surviving, preoccupied with managing their basic existence” (21).

Not seeing other older adults when being in nature was also mentioned as a reason for choosing to forgo engagement therewith. As (12) shared, “Sometimes, you know, I also say, it’s not so pleasant to go to certain places. You say, ‘I’ll probably be the only old person there.’ What can you do? There’s something about that [that stops you from trying].”

Theme II: Older adults’ withdrawal from nature due to others’ attitudes

A second theme had to do with a sense of being pushed away or brushed aside from natural public spaces. Participants suffering strains sometimes associated with old age, mentioned in the previous theme, faced decreased accessibility to nature, which was experienced as reflecting a general disregard for their needs or even as deliberate exclusion: “That’s because we are a culture that … sanctifies … fit walkers. Traveling, being in nature, often means walking, maybe climbing, or trekking. Whoever cannot do that, does not have an equal share in this world of exposure to nature … ” (36); according to (53), this is because “we [older adults] do not matter.”

At the same time, some shared how dependent they had become upon others vis-a-vis to access to nature. This was categorically mentioned, and reflected in the words of (36):

No, as far as old people and nature go, passibility becomes very important. Not everywhere is accessible. But that can be planned into spaces. It should be done as much as possible. Even someone in a wheelchair deserves to experience nature, don’t you think?

(36)

(5) told how her limited access to nature began with concerns about transportation to natural spaces:

I really miss it. I miss it so much [being outdoors, in nature] … I don’t have a vehicle now, so I’m dependent upon others to take me, or take buses and things like that … It makes going places so very difficult.

Participants shared how this reality angered them, as it was experienced as a sign of disrespect. They spoke of a sense of helplessness, as the natural environment in which many of them grew up changed before their eyes, and was perhaps becoming – much like them – irrelevant to younger people. Many voiced concerns that without their involvement in caring for nature, their legacies therein would not be sustained: “How did my neighbor put it? ‘You went away, the garden went away’”; (6). “You see, we’re ovér-batel,” explained (2), citing a phrase from Pirkei Avot, a mass of ethical teachings and dicta from Rabbinic Jewish tradition, literally meaning “passed and ceased,” but often interpreted as implying someone to be obsolete and useless to their surroundings.

Theme III: Older adults’ withdrawal from discourse and knowledge about nature

A third theme dealt with becoming increasingly irrelevant to discourse and knowledge – be it professional or experiential – concerning human-nature relations. A few participants questioned whether their knowledge about nature and the environment would be applicable to future generations:

It’s difficult to know what will happen when they [younger people] are older. You understand? Look, they’ll have much less of nature, there’s nothing to be done about it. Anything I have to offer would be nothing more than a speculation. I don’t even know what they relate to today, what their, your, priorities are.” (8);

“I don’t know, today there’s the internet. That’s a better source of knowledge than we are,” said (12).

However, the vast majority of participants shared a general sense that not only are their preferences, needs, and limitations disregarded in terms of access to natural spaces, (“We know what our priorities are and what we need, [but] no one really wants to hear”; (3) explained), but so is their knowledge about nature, which they would like to offer to younger generations. Nearly all felt that they held a lot of valuable knowledge about ways to interact with nature and be in nature, how to care for nature, and how to make nature more accessible to older people. “We have the perspective of time,” said (26); and (30) added, “You can consult only the young people, but they see something very limited … we know what the past has to teach us, in the present and for the future.” “We have a lifetime of experiences that are invaluable,” reminded (55).

Perhaps because of this, several participants mentioned that even if, as they felt, younger people find their knowledge outdated, they find their own ways to apply it:

I used to have a garden nearby, that I would care for. There were flowers everywhere, people would come and see from near and far, they would come and take my example. But at some stage, my wife decided I couldn’t work in the garden anymore, I had back problems. So she hired gardeners, and all they know how to do is make noise and dust. Well, after they finish up and leave, I go there myself, and I fix the damage they did. (4)

Others found avenues for expanding and sharing their knowledge on social media, pointing out that one’s age is less of an issue when corresponding facelessly, and was not a reason to a-priori discredit their input. (18) showed the interviewer her phone and invited her to “look how many [nature-related] WhatsApp groups I have. They’re countless!.”

Some participants described experiences of trying to share or use their knowledge to promote issues that are important to them and concern the natural environment. For example, one participant approached the municipality in her locality, and wanted to explain, based on her professional experience in botany, why a decision made regarding the design of a park was wrong. Her knowledge was dismissed, and her expertise was ignored. Like others who made similar attempts to either offer their knowledge to institutions or voice requests or needs regarding accessibility to natural spaces, she felt that she was routinely infantilized: “People talk as though older people are … small children” (12). A few participants had been invited by local organizations to indicate what their preferences and needs are in terms of green spaces and nature-based activities. However, this invitation often included only an option to respond online, which was not just a barrier to participation, but increased participants’ sense of disempowerment (“I was almost a parliament member, I owned factories, and now I fail at this. I feel like an idiot”; (23) said). Even when consulted, most participants felt that such consultation was not genuinely motivated by willingness to learn from them, or make decisions based on the knowledge that they had to offer: “Oh yes, they talked and talked with us, and then did whatever they wanted” (24); “They care, of course, ‘til it comes to actually funding [what we asked for]” (23).

Participants also felt that as a result of not listening to them, knowledge about nature that was offered to them as learners was not consistent with the scope and depth of knowledge that they already possess: “No one here understood why that specific lecture [about nature and the environment] was offered, why would anyone think that it specifically interests older people? […] Why assume that it is relevant to us and not to everyone?”; (17) asks, and also suggests that “[…] in general, they]organizers of activities for older adults] think that we do not know very basic things … ”).

Positive experiences, of being heard and taken into account in ways that were accepted and respected by others, were mostly mentioned as particular incidents, and not as a reflection of broad acknowledgment of the value of older adults’ knowledge. In such cases, participants felt that without their investment in sustaining the application of their knowledge, its impact would not be maintained: “I persisted, I didn’t give up, I knew what had to be done. After 14 years, I made the place bloom again. I make sure that it stays that way, and I will continue to do so … as long as I’m here” (23).

A few participants cited how difficult it was to live with the fact that something as basic as their experiences and knowledge about nature was so widely rejected:

You know Native Americans? They would go and seek the advice of the tribe’s elders. It’s no coincidence that that went on for several generations. What an older person knows about nature is important, and can be passed on by him to the next generation or two.

(47)

Or in the words of (12): “Older people used to be the wise ones, but today, we just don’t understand anything, do we? You [young people] understand everything better than us… society says to us: ‘We don’t need you. You’re a burden’”. (22) felt that it has become too “easy” to disregard the knowledge that older people have about nature, as “we’re not productive. We are not aggressive in speaking out.”

Many participants shared that they had effectively given up on trying to make their knowledge known and their needs heard. Some hoped that younger adults would “use their privilege for the common good” (4), and generate substantial avenues via which older people’s knowledge could be documented and learned. A message that they extended to younger people, was to use their present status to make sure that when they themselves get old, their knowledge will receive the place it deserves, for the benefit of caring better for nature and humankind: “Get organized – you youngsters, not I. I can’t anymore. My future is behind me” (3).

Discussion

This study’s findings provide a unique glimpse into what can be learned about older adulthood in current times of changing environments and aging societies by focusing on older adults’ relations with nature and with other humans as an ecosystem of interactions and knowledge. As displayed, the main sentiment shared by participants was a painful experience of marginalization, withdrawal, and limitation, sometimes inflicted by age and health, but mostly imposed by their declining social status; yet often countered by their own insight and agency.

A primary implication of our findings regards the need to adopt a more holistic view of older adults’ wellbeing and social status in the present context of shifts in attitudes and practices toward the natural environment. Social work literature on older adults and nature is limited in scope, and mostly focuses on either their vulnerability to climate change (e.g., Forbes et al., 2023) or on them as the beneficiaries of nature-based interventions (e.g., de Bruin et al., 2021). A more rounded approach to aging in this respect entails a movement from viewing older adults primarily as objects of care and protection to simultaneously recognizing them as subjects whose age does not negate their priorities, desires, or knowledge about engaging with nature.

The processes described by participants, via which something as fundamental as their knowledge and experiences concerning engagement with nature is so categorically disregarded, resulted in a deep sense of devaluation on their part. This feeling was apparent whenever they spoke about nature with younger people, whenever they attempted to influence policies and practices in their immediate surroundings, and nearly every time they considered stepping out into nature. Sometimes explained by society’s prejudice and other times as lack of awareness, the result was similar: The older adults we spoke to felt continuously overlooked or overridden on all levels of the person, people, and planet interaction. This arguably represents a specific, intersectional, “extinction of experience,” on the part of older adults. While existing literature on the “extinction of experience” in terms of the reduction of spaces and opportunities to interact or engage with nature (Soga & Gaston, 2016) is abundant, our findings show that this extinction in not limited to the individual human-nature encounter, but is in fact intertwined in power relations of many sorts. Previously documented in social work with girls experiencing hardship and distress, the resounding ignorance of personal agency, alongside silencing and implicit blame, has been identified as “existential epistemic injustice.” This form of epistemic injustice goes a step further than testimonial or hermeneutical injustice, and is “the state of negating not only the credibility of the speaker or the unique character of their narrative, but nullifying the very virtue of their existence as speakers” (Levin et al., 2022; p. 9).

As such, existential epistemic injustice among older adults in the context of human-nature relations bears two dismal consequences. One is the emergence of what unfolds as a peculiar strand of ageism: “eco-ageism.” As victims of eco-ageism, it was apparent that participants had to invest a great deal of energy in creating their own paths of engagement with concrete and symbolic spaces of nature and discourse. The persistent investment of such energy is not sustainable over time, especially when considering the startlingly high rates of poverty, loneliness, and mental distress documented among older adults worldwide (Fakoya et al., 2020). Exclusion from spaces not only robs older adults of the benefits that engagement with nature provides (Nevo, 2019) but it also pushes them yet further away from opportunities to voice their needs and share their knowledge. Much like other forms of prejudice, eco-ageism circumscribes older adults to stereotypes of weakness, irrelevance, and passivity. This should alarm social workers working with older adults, and prompt them to action. Such action can build on existing conceptualizations and suggestions regarding the simultaneous advancement of social and environmental justice, and the contextualization of social works’ main missions within the natural ecosystem (e.g., Dominelli, 2012, 2014). Applying these insights could manifest, for example, in acknowledging, recognizing, and addressing older adults’ knowledge and experiences of prejudice with regard to their relations with nature; in empowering older adults and advocating for their voices to be taken more into account in the design of nature-based interventions; in treating subjective relations with nature as a source of resilience among older adults; and – at the very least – in making sure that social workers’ own practice and dialogue with aging clients does not reproduce eco-ageism.

Secondly, although the participants in the present study were all older adults, their experiences also cast a shadow on the other two facets of the relations described: the natural environment, and broader society. The idea that older adults hold unique experiential and other knowledge regarding human-nature relations has been barely addressed by research, mostly conducted thus far on small sample sizes in developing countries (e.g., Agwu et al., 2021), and is mentioned in briefs on older people and climate action issued by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change UNFCCC, 2021). Acknowledging this goes a certain distance in correcting epistemic injustices inflicted upon older adults, but more so, it promotes a social understanding regarding the crucial role that older adults can play in planning humanity’s future. The knowledge that older adults possess about changing relations with nature over time, about life in a less industrialized world, and about aging in the Anthropocene, can benefit all of the planet’s inhabitants. This is a propitious time for social workers to harness quickly expanding proficiency in working with lived expertise and ongoing developments in ecological and environmental gerontology, to reinstate older adults’ status as relevant partners and stakeholders. This, based on the understanding that older adults’ participation – both in nature and in discourse about nature – is crucial to themselves, to others in society, and to the wider environment.

Importantly, participants in the present study did recognize the value of their own knowledge. Furthermore, some of them were determined to share it – despite it being often unwelcome. In this sense, not only do they seem not to have internalized the low epistemic status habitually attached to them, but they also signal an unwavering readiness to be partners in the dialogs that should be initiated with them. This is certainly noteworthy, considering the disappointments and negative experiences of infantilization, disinterest, and offense that some described. The persistence of their willingness to extend trust should not be taken for granted.

Social workers working with older adults and/or advocating for social policy that champions their rights and wellbeing are advised to integrate these understandings into all stages of their practice, from assessing needs to suggesting, applying, and following up on responses. Social work educators instructing students on older adults’ welfare and ways to promote it can use this study’s findings to highlight interdependent aspects of the relations between older adults and their natural and social environments, both in themselves and as they correspond to structural issues such as ageism. Policymakers are also called upon to adopt far more inclusive approaches to enhancing older adults’ resilience, and to learn from older adults’ knowledge and experiences as veteran members of the eco-system – especially and specifically with regard to the preservation of nature and relations with it, and with a focus on universal design when it comes to access to nature (Groulx et al., 2021).

In conclusion, this study has a number of limitations that should be considered when reviewing its findings. Firstly, the data were collected in Israel. While aging in Israel is similar in many ways to aging in other countries (Glicksman & Litwin, 2011), local contexts can shape social structures as well as relations with nature in older adulthood, and so the transferability of our findings to other contexts should be done with critical reflection. In addition, as part of our analysis was deductive, and stemmed from our use and comprehension of theory, it is possible that others would have detected differently nuanced elements in the themes uncovered. In order to confirm traceability and transparency of our choices, we made sure to fulfill Tracy’s (2010) criteria of quality in qualitative studies, through the exploration of a phenomenon that thus far has only been marginally addressed despite its timeliness, strict adherence to ethical principles, the use of a relatively large number of interviews to make room for diverse points of view, ongoing reflectivity, and thick descriptions of the methodology, as well as of the themes elicited and all the data analyzed. Finally, despite considerable efforts, we did not manage to assemble a sample that was more diverse in terms of participants’ physical health or nationality. This could be attributed to the fact that data were gathered during the latter stages of Israel’s more intensive coping with the COVID-19 pandemic, and although restrictions had been nearly all lifted, fear of infection was apparent among many participants. This possibly caused other potential participants to forgo participation. Also, surrounding the time of data collection, violent clashes ensued between Israel and Gaza, which may have negatively impacted Arabic-speaking older adults’ emotional availability to participate. Future studies should examine the insights in the present study in additional contexts, cultures, and societies, to gain as broad a sense as possible of older adults’ experiences.

Declaration of interest statement

The authors report there are no competing interests to declare.

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.