Changing environments – changing minds? Signs of drought in imagined nature walks influence subjective restoration and affect, but not psychological predictors of action

Spending time in natural environments benefits well-being. However, natural environments change by environmental crises, such as climate change. For example, droughts become more frequent and intense. Thus, the question arises, whether visible signs of climate change diminishes nature’s beneficial effects on humans. In an experimental online study, German participants (N = 239) experienced an audio-guided imagined walk either through intact nature, nature affected by a drought, or an indoor control condition. Results showed that the imagined walk through intact nature was more restorative than through the control environment. Most importantly, the walk through drought-affected nature led to less positive effects compared to intact nature—and was similar to the control condition. Signs of drought even led to higher negative affect compared to the control condition. However, neither current connectedness to nature nor predictors of climate action (i.e., environmental concern and pro-environmental behavioural intentions) were different between the experiences in intact and drought-affected nature. Overall, our study suggests that signs of drought diminish beneficial well-being effects of nature experiences, but do not affect actions leading to climate change mitigation.