Just like when a marble stays spinning in a glass, this is how Gunter Pauli’s ideas stayed spinning in my head. Two of them were the idea that we should rescue our inner child to be creative, and that creativity was necessary to change our relationship with the environment. To give more meaning to these ideas, I looked for one of my colleagues and friends, Tatiana Ortiz Pradilla, to talk with her about creativity and nature. My purpose with this conversation that I will share with you was to understand how creativity can help care for the environment and vice versa. Tatiana is passionate about creativity and education; She is a professor at EAFIT University and has a master’s degree in Marketing from EAFIT and another in Creativity from Buffalo State University, USA.
My first question was to understand what creativity was and if it can be developed, which seemed important, because it indicates that there are several myths around that people are only born creative, as if it were a super power. Finally, creativity is a skill that can be developed and one way to do this is to learn the process and apply it intentionally. This is confirmed by existing studies that claim that creative thinking courses that are well designed and executed allow people to improve their problem-solving skills in more creative ways. She shares Simonton’s definition of creativity, which he says is the ability to create ideas that are new, different, and also useful and appropriate. Something that Tatiana also emphasizes is that you can be creative from any discipline, since another myth that exists is that creativity is a skill only of artists or designers, but it is present in mathematics, research, engineering. , among others.
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Then, I asked her how creativity can contribute to the environment, to which she replied that creativity is a key resource to address environmental challenges, to create solutions with a scope from the smallest to the largest, and from the cheapest to the most expensive. Additionally, from our role as educators, we could devise strategies that connect us more with nature, from learning experiences, new communication strategies, education to consume more responsibly, among other options.
On the other hand, when asked what nature contributes to creativity, she indicates that there are several investigations that have demonstrated the benefits that nature has on the human brain. Kaplan states that environments that are more natural contribute to restorative experiences in the brain, which contributes to creativity. On the other hand, Atchley and others stated that spending four days in nature without contact with technology improves creativity and the ability to solve problems. These are examples that confirm that creativity and nature have a beautiful connection, because as we get closer to nature we will perceive more creative benefits that will help us create more innovative strategies to take care of it. It is a circular connection, because to the extent that nature provides us with tranquility, peace and connection, we will be able to be more creative to care for it, understand it, and weave more respectful and meaningful relationships with it.
2024-10-06 15:31:26