SPEAKERS

Sam Gandy

Sam Gandy, PhD

Imperial College London (Collaborator)

From Egoism to Ecoism: Psychedelics & Nature Connection

Abstract

We are currently in a sixth mass extinction event of life on this planet, due to human actions on the biosphere. This ecological crisis appears to stem from a disconnection of humans from the natural world. Recent research has found that experience with psychedelic substances can increase feelings of connectedness, and nature connection in the long-term. Nature connection is correlated with a significant number of positive psychological health traits, and is the single strongest psychological predictor of pro-environmental behaviour. This suggests that psychedelic usage may have significant benefits to offer at both the individual and societal level, by (re)connecting our increasingly disconnected species to the biosphere, and each other.

Biography

Dr. Sam Gandy has a PhD in ecological science from the University of Aberdeen and an MRes in entomology from Imperial College London. He has a lifelong interest in nature and wildlife and has been fortunate enough to conduct field research in various parts of the world including the UK, Kefalonia, Almeria, Texas, the Peruvian Amazon, Vietnam, Brazil and Ethiopia. He is a writer and speaker and has experience working within the psychedelic field, as a past scientific assistant to the director of the Beckley Foundation, and is currently working as a collaborator with the Psychedelic Research Group at Imperial College London. Sam has a particular research interest in the intersection of two of his big passions…nature and psychedelics…and the capacity of psychedelics to (re)connect our increasingly disconnected species to the natural world, for the betterment of humanity and the biosphere at large.

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