Living nature has begun to frighten people: how humanity is losing its connection with the real world

Humanity has long since torn itself away from nature by the roots, even though we are all part of it. We have built concrete agglomerations for ourselves, arranged landfills around those agglomerations, and now live there, rejoicing in our own safety. What did we call it during the pandemic? Self-isolation?

And yet people still need what nature has created. We need water, air, and food. But our concrete agglomerations, our enormous human hives, demand an immoderate amount of resources. In heavy machinery, people drive out of their “city-shelters”, burst into wild nature, tear living flesh from it, and then hide back in the cities. They put thick bars on their windows, install concrete fences, shutting themselves off not only from nature, but from each other as well.

And no one cares what will remain after us! No one sees the pain of the Earth. After all, it is “somewhere out there”, while we are here, in our artificial concrete-and-plastic world, surrounded by millions of cameras. We discuss any problems: politics, social conflicts, anything at all, except the destruction of nature.

How often do you hear the things I write about? How often do you see materials about draft laws being adopted that are aimed at destroying nature? Who even talks about this, apart from you and me?

It is known that a huge number of people experience genuine fear of living nature. It is precisely thanks to these fears that states create levers of pressure against us ourselves! Let us say, fear of wolves has grown into the total extermination of key predators all over the world.

The authorities add fuel to the fire: “O-o-oh, wolves are vile, terrifying creatures, they will devour you all.” And people ask: “What should we do? We do not want to encounter a terrible wolf.” The authorities, rubbing their hands with delight, say: “Do not be afraid, we will save you!” And they write off enormous sums of taxpayers’ money for the annual “fight” against wolves. In every region of our country, wild nature is being cleared of key predators. Officials receive money, public support for this “salvation”, and the opportunity for hunters-‘sportsmen’ to raise their “real man” self-esteem through the killing of wolves. To arrange a bloody safari for themselves, to show everyone the carcass of an unfortunate killed wolf, climbing onto it as an entire armed crowd!

And people experience exactly the same phobias and fears toward other animals. And toward wild nature in general!

The University of Turku in Finland recently conducted its own study, in which scientists examined phobias associated with wild nature. It turned out that an entire epidemic of human fears of nature has begun all over the world! Specialists identified a wide range of such phobias, which are literally spreading among city dwellers. The active spread of these phobias began after the coronavirus pandemic, when people around the world were forced to stay at home and were forbidden to have any contact, including with living nature — this is also mentioned by other scientists around the world.

Apparently, locked within four walls, people finally lost their minds. Many people began to show an irrational fear of certain organisms or elements of nature. And this is no longer only the arachnophobia or ophidiophobia familiar to us, that is, the fear of spiders or snakes, but even something as simple as touching trees, which, in people’s view, can cause infection with fungi, bacteria, or disease.

No joke: people have become afraid to touch trees, believing that this is how they may become infected, fall ill, and die.

“Many people also show fearful reactions toward organisms that pose no tangible threat, potentially leading to excessive anxiety and avoidance of interaction with nature,” says Dr. Stefano Mammola, an ecologist at the Italian National Research Council and co-author of the study.

The authors of the study assessed internet search interest for certain types of phobias associated with nature. Moreover, they took 25 different forms of biophobia and, in addition to them, 25 phobias not connected with wild nature! In order to have a real comparison. It turned out that interest in biophobias is growing rapidly across the world, although slightly more slowly than interest in other specific phobias. That is, first of all, it became clear that society is experiencing a surge of fear toward everything. Not only toward wild nature.

“Our results show that a broader distribution of different biophobias is observed in countries with large and long-established urban populations. These results support earlier hypotheses suggesting a connection between urban life and disconnection from nature, caused by the extinction of natural experience. Ultimately, this is reflected in fear and aversion toward other forms of life. These reactions may negatively affect people’s well-being, but they also have implications for how people perceive and support the conservation of nature in their surroundings,” says Dr. Correia.

Human beings have certain instinctive innate fears, for example of predators. These fears provided what is known as evolutionary utility. But now we are also talking about phobic reactions toward organisms and elements of nature that pose no threat at all. This is rapidly leading to anxiety and the avoidance of any contact with nature.

People feel hatred toward living nature, irritation, and disgust. The mere sight of trees, plants, and animals repels them. The possibility of encountering a spider, a snake, or a predator in wild nature causes them a terrible fear that they are unable to overcome.

I also came across an interesting scientific article titled “Beyond Mental Well-Being: A One Health Perspective on Biophobias”, which was published in 2025. In it, scientists examine the growth of biophobias in society toward organisms that, in nature, pose no danger to humans at all. It concerns those elements of nature that carry little or no threat, yet people fear and avoid them. The conclusions are the same: humanity’s global separation from living nature and the reduction of direct contact intensify these fears.

As you can see, scientists have begun actively studying biophobias precisely because there have become so many of them. A very large scientific review came out in 2026 — a fresh work titled “Toward a Unified Understanding of People’s Aversion to Nature: Biophobia”. The scientists conducted a systematic review of 196 studies on biophobia, essentially a meta-analysis. And once again they confirmed that the problem of human fear of nature is developing rapidly and has already acquired a broad form.

In their conclusions, the scientists write that research had generally focused on the relationship between humans and nature as a positive connection — mental recovery, well-being — but in the course of studying it, it turned out that people are becoming increasingly afraid of nature. It was in this review that I came across the scientists’ quotation: “serious implications for public health and conservation efforts”, that is, they directly state that this has serious consequences for public health and conservation efforts.

It is probably also very important to note another scientific paper: it was published in 2020, just as the pandemic began. It is titled “How Can We Mitigate Against Increasing Biophobia Among Children During the Extinction of Experience?” — Japanese scientists worked on it. They surveyed 5,374 Japanese schoolchildren and clearly showed that the less real contact children have with nature, the higher the risk of a negative attitude toward living organisms.

And it is important for us to pass on to children a correct understanding of the world and love for the surrounding world! After all, our struggle today, our Mission, is for future generations.

But it turns out that humanity today is acquiring a hostile position toward nature: everything begins with fear, and then this grows into denial of environmental problems and silent support for the destruction of nature. Who would want to protect what they fear?

To love means to protect.

And fear grows into hatred and a silent or, on the contrary, active desire to destroy one’s fears. Hence society’s complete indifference to environmental problems.

The loss of experience of contact with living nature finally isolates people from the real world. This is what we have encountered today, and it is very sad. There are fewer and fewer people willing to support environmental projects; moreover, our activity itself is beginning to irritate many.

We increasingly encounter hatred of wolves — the sanitarians of the Russian Taiga. We encounter hatred and calls to exterminate all bears as soon as possible! Calls to shoot foxes in forests simply because they may carry rabies. And such attitudes are actively fuelled by the authorities.

Officials regularly call for the extermination of all wild boars in the forests because they can carry ASF — African swine fever. Officials call for the extermination of all wolves because they may attack humans! The governor of Kaliningrad Oblast called for wild nature to be “cleared” of all beavers because he feels a personal dislike toward them. Lobbyists for sport hunting in government push through laws on trophy recreational hunting, allowing more and more killings of wild animals. And if you look at the theses used to justify all this, you will see that the core is precisely managed fear.

While diligently repeating: “This is biologically justified”, “If we do not shoot them, they will die out”, “By killing animals, we are doing good.”

And all these attitudes are picked up by the media, spread through mass media, and millions of people in the country sink into hatred of wild nature. People develop fears of nature.

Do you remember how deputy Denis Khakhalov and gamekeepers ran over wolves alive with snowmobiles in winter, and then shoved the barrel of a gun into their mouths? Laughing at the animals’ suffering. This is hatred of all living things.

It is becoming harder for you and me to protect wild nature. With every passing day! Because there is a profound systemic crisis not only within the authorities, but also within society, which is sinking ever deeper into biophobia.

Humanity is finally losing its connection with real life, with Living Nature.

© PAVEL PASHKOV