Ninety students spent the same 90 minutes on one Devon shore, either walking, rock pooling, or picking up litter and the beach cleaners came away with the strongest sense of meaning even as that volunteer lift and their broader green intentions were already easing one week later
Students who handled other people’s rubbish left the shore feeling more purposeful than the students who simply walked the same coast. A field experiment in southwest England points to a sharp answer: the act of helping was associated with a different kind of coastal experience, even when the setting itself seemed slightly less restful. The…
