Being in the Natural Environment

How do we see the natural environment? What is our relationship with it?

I love the natural environment. I love being out in the bush, on a mountain or by a mountain stream. To stand on a high point and look out over forest and untouched landscapes is exhilarating and awe inspiring. The complexity and sophistication of the way all parts of our ecosystems fit together is truly amazing. Being in the bush reminds me of its beauty and that I too am but one part of a glorious whole that is our natural world. The further away from signs of human impact the happier I am. I find the bush a safe place to be, much safer to body and soul than a city landscape.

The bush can be dangerous. Nature gives no favours - a storm will just come and go with no regard to who is in its path. In that way nature can be very humbling and provide an important reminder that our lives depend on the state of the natural world. Most of the danger though is when we make mistakes – we frighten an animal that then bites us, we walk into its territory that it then defends, we take a route we are not skilled enough to do, we allow ourselves to get too cold or thirsty and become incapable of looking afterourselves. These are avoidable dangers – and I relish the challenge of ‘travelling safely’. The danger I fear most is the danger of what people do to each other – theft, assault, car accidents – these are not in the bush.

I never think of doing something in the outdoors as ‘conquering’ or ‘fighting’ the conditions or the route. I believe that in being in the outdoors that we are doing what we can to work with nature, for example by being attentive to the weather, just as we are attentive to our position on the map and that we have to adapt to the conditions – a humble approach. The sense of having successfully managed in tough conditions is a sense of knowing my own competence but more importantly is an experience of ‘working with ‘ and ‘becoming part of’ nature.