The importance of connection to nature in assessing environmental education programs

•We review research on connection to nature and environmentally responsible behavior.•At least nine validated measures exist to assess connectedness to nature.•Connectedness to nature is a reliable predictor of self-reported behavior.•Three studies show that the connectedness to nature scale predicts electricity use.

Environmental education imparts knowledge and creates experience to change beliefs, attitudes – and most importantly – behavior. What are the deep motivators of human behavior? Theory and research suggest that feeling connected to someone or something motivates protective and self-sacrificing behavior. This paper reviews the large body of research demonstrating that connectedness to nature is an important predictor of environmentally responsible behavior. We review past research on self-reported behavior, then summarize new research from our lab that demonstrates a link between connectedness to nature and actual conservation behavior (electricity use). We conclude that promoting connectedness to nature should be a goal for environmental education programs, and should therefore be an important part of any assessment.