Think of a street you walk down every day. Now, think about how many trees or areas of nature you notice as you walk down the road. For a growing number of us, appreciating nature has become non-existent, as a new study* by Honest Organic has found that city-dwellers have developed a ‘nature blind spot’. Despite

It seems that despite London being named the world’s first national park city**, technology is blinding us to natural spots of beauty, as the new study by Honest Organic found that 97% of Brits overlook or ignore areas of nature each day, opting to listen to music, podcasts or watch a programme instead.

Supporting quantitative research*** also found that despite 83% of Brits wanting to see and enjoy more nature, less than a third (28%) have been to a green space without being connected to technology in the last year, and a further 46% spend their commute scrolling through social media – even if it’s to look at the same content repeatedly.

With one in five (21%) admitting they don’t remember seeing any nature on their daily commute, organic drink brand Honest Organic will tomorrow unveil large neon frames throughout London to help Brits enjoy and notice the nature that’s right in front of them. Placed in key commuter areas including Brixton, Holborn, Spitalfields, Victoria and Waterloo, the frames juxtapose the urban environment with some impressive – yet often unnoticed – nature around the city.

Jez Rose, behaviour expert, honeybee farmer and author, comments: “The study conducted by Honest Organic shows how those living in cities aren’t making the most of the beautiful nature around them, with a worrying number simply assuming that there is no nature around them to even notice.

“The benefits of nature on the mind and body are extremely well-documented, so spending time appreciating and connecting with it as part of a day-to-day lifestyle is really important.”

These blind spots are also impacting nature recall of city-dwellers, with an eighth believing they have never seen an oak tree, and almost a quarter not remembering if they’ve ever seen an apple tree. A further 20% don’t think they’ve ever seen daisies or sunflowers.

Live from Wednesday 25 September to Saturday 28 September, the Honest Organic frames encourage those out-and-about to look-up and drink-in nature that’s all around them.

To help city-dwellers engage with nature throughout the city, Jez Rose has provided his top tips on connecting to green space:

1. Try taking a different route to work: meandering or travelling along a different route to normal will help you to see different things – look for trees, different shades of greens in bushes, flowers and even animals.

2. It sounds simple but look up! Raise your eyeline upwards toward tree canopies and the sky to force a new perspective on the things you see.

3. Keep nature within your eyeline: Research shows how having nature within sight makes us happier and less stressed. Put a pot plant on your desk, add postcards or photos of natural scenes into your working environment and if you can, or rearrange your seat to allow you to benefit from a natural view.

4. Seek out nature hot spots: Taking a walk during your break to find a collection of trees or a community garden is a simple and free way to benefit from outside and natural spaces.

5. Think of yourself as an outside space owner: Even a window box can be planted with useful plants for the kitchen or pollinator friendly flower seeds. So even if you live in a concrete-heavy area, small additions of greenery to your personal space can make a huge difference to how you feel.

6. Keep your workplace nature-friendly: Desktop gardens are a great way to bring nature inside, brighten up a space, bring people together to care for the plants. It also encourages people to tend to them regularly.