How to read a landscape (and why it’s important to learn how to do so)

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Most of us live in concrete jungles.  As more and more people grow up surrounded by buildings and asphalt, we have forgotten how to read landscapes: how to tell whether forests are shrinking, how wildlife is doing or whether the quality of the soil is changing.

Modern civilization has brought us much progress, but one negative outcome has been our disconnect from nature.

If you take a train to the countryside, if you go on a hiking trip and look at the landscape around you: would you be able to tell whether the environment is suffering; whether the trees you see are healthy or the soil you’re walking on is still fertile?

Why it’s important to understand changes in your landscape


Reading a landscape correctly is important. If you understand what’s going on, you can hold local and national authorities accountable to do something about it before it’s too late.

Even the slightest details in a landscape can teach us a lot about how the climate is changing and what we can do to restore the balance between a healthy environment and human activity.

It’s only a matter of practice. Everyone can do it.

Watch the video above or watch it on our YouTube channel to learn about three ways to read a landscape.

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