At Chacruna: Can Psilocybin Make People Feel More Empathy to Nature?

Shawn Sunil Verma

How can we reconnect humanity—mentally, emotionally, and spiritually—to the presently undergoing global ecocide (the destruction, or killing, of the natural ecosystem)? As a medical doctor and resident psychiatrist whose main interest is in ecopsychology (to be defined later), the state of mind I think is most urgent, and important to address, on a macro-scale, is the human race’s alienation from, and destruction of, the natural environment—which will eventually destabilize our health and threaten our ability to build a peaceful, prosperous future. Numerous ecological studies over the past several decades have demonstrated that the pace and direction of climate change, natural resource extraction and consumption, and ecological degradation have been increasing unsustainably in the most recent era of human existence (the Anthropocene).¹Furthermore, science and medicine now better understand how the environment—and factors like pollution, access to quality food, water, and air, and access to natural landscapes—affect the physical and mental health of human beings, as well as other non-human species. In fact, those who ponder these issues are becoming more attuned to what ancient populations who lived in closer harmony with nature and the planet have perhaps known more intuitively: that planetary health and species’ health are inextricably linked... continue reading.