The one discipline that, sad to say, has hitherto remained virtually untouched by any concern for the environment or the human-to-nature relationship is psychology. You will search in vain in the texts and journals of any of the major schools of psychology—clinical, behaviorist, cognitive, physiological, humanistic or transpersonal—for any theory or research concerning the most basic fact of human existence: the fact of our relationship to the natural world of which we are a part.
Any thoughts on whether your relationship with nature is or should be a genuine concern?

Taking your word for it, there may not be any such theory or research, but there is, nevertheless, a well-known link. For example, some individuals' mental states are adversely affected by winter so that these individuals present with seasonal affective disorder. Also, some individuals' mental states are adversely affected when their physical states are adversely affected by, say, air pollutants. It just so happens that most of the theorizing and researching is in the areas of relieving mental and physical symptoms, because nature is a given. Yet, there is also theory and research concerning how to predict what nature will do. Perhaps the whole idea of trying to predict what nature will do, instead of assuming that nature is so powerful and uncontrollable and will go ahead and do it anyway, is only beginning to take hold. As this area grows, more and more individuals likely to be adversely affected will be increasingly included in studies.

Research would be difficult in the area how people see their relationship to the natural environment. Suppose you were looking for a research grant, kameron. Describe a meaningful thesis and methodology that you would use.

How about evolutionary psychology?

'A major lesson of evolutionary psychology is that if you want to understand the brain, look deeply at the environment of our ancestors as focused through the lens of reproduction. If the presumptions of evolutionary psychology are correct, the structure of our brains should closely reflect our ancestral reproductive ecology. Thus, evolutionary psychology provides a method for perceiving the functional organization of the brain by studying the world--currently a far more tractable problem than disentangling neural assemblages.'
The Evolutionary Psychology FAQ

I’ve been working on Ecopsychology and closely associated with “Institute of Global Education” special NGO consultant to the United Nations Economic and Social Council. Their site is ecopsych dot com The web site provides a great deal of information about human ecology and the organic application of ecopsychology and ecotherapy.