My heart aches for nature, I get out as much as I can. Those in power feeding off of us have designed it so people don't/can't get out in nature because they do know the benefits. Keep kids on video games or TV so they don't go outside. I remember as a kid, I was outside every single day I could, all day at times. Make it so people have to work more to survive, no time to get out.
I live in the country and am a homesteader. My husband does most of the chicken tending but I grow half our food. My time outside is usually three hours a day, seven days a week, because that's the limit of exposure before I need a shower to wash off chiggers. Less in the winter.
I think--degrowth is the answer. I mean, we face a polycrisis, multiple existential threats, and those in power are working hard to make it all worse--because those in power are machines focused on profit. Mostly corporations, which are machines, not people--but even the other entity with power, billionaires, while human, are machinelike in their thinking. Meanwhile, ordinary people keep trying to force them toward the policy changes we desperately need--and get nowhere, because the ruling class has been cementing its place on the throne for the past 40 years and has succeeded in making its power unassailable. So where does all this lead? Quite possibly, human extinction. But it's also quite possible that the inability of the rulers to solve increasingly urgent problems--because the solutions inevitably involve reduction of their wealth and privilege--make some kind of collapse very possible, likely within the next decade. And that collapse opens up possibilities. I think many of not most of us will be growing at least some if not all of our own food, and likely relying primarily on feet for transportation, and each other for entertainment--all of which means much more time spent outside.
Few people planning holidays intend to spend much time indoors, so we do know this at some level. Most of us who can, choose to live somewhere greener or leafier. Yet, here in the UK at least, schools sell off their playing fields and local authorities are being encouraged to sell off vegetable allotments (although I anticipate huge push back on that). The poorer you are the further on average you live from a green space, and in the UK the further you are from an urban centre the less welcome people of colour feel. So this is a matter of equity as well as health and degrowth.
Hey Matt, great stuff and I couldn't agree with you more, both about the benefits of being outdoors, and the importance of degrowth! My substack is a collection of outdoor activity guides for children and their adults that supports them in developing a kinship worldview. I'm currently working on transforming those posts into a book to be published by Chelsea Green Publishers. https://peterkindfieldphd.substack.com
I have started volunteering at a local Nature Reserve, as a Wilder Learning assistant, helping kids connect with Nature. This is a win-win for me: it gets me out of the house and in Nature, plus I get to do something that I believe in passionately. I can recommend it wholeheartedly.
Hey Jessica, you might want to check out my blog. It's a collection of outdoor activity guides for children and their adults that supports them in developing a kinship worldview. I'm currently working on transforming those posts into a book to be published by Chelsea Green Publishers. https://peterkindfieldphd.substack.com
Let me start by your final question, which I regard more important (you are free to reproduce my answer in later posts), and then proceed with something I thought while replying to the poll.
Some things I recommend to get outside more is organising dance events in squares/parks, walk or bike around, hang out at a park, go to a flee market (not a big fan myself), go to outdoor festivals, exercise outdoors instead of going to a gym. There are certainly other things too.
I was surprised at first by the two most popular answers, especially for readers of a degrowth blog. I am now somewhat less surprised but, at the same time, more surprised about the general population, granted what the average is — I was not aware that it is that low.
My heart aches for nature, I get out as much as I can. Those in power feeding off of us have designed it so people don't/can't get out in nature because they do know the benefits. Keep kids on video games or TV so they don't go outside. I remember as a kid, I was outside every single day I could, all day at times. Make it so people have to work more to survive, no time to get out.
I live in the country and am a homesteader. My husband does most of the chicken tending but I grow half our food. My time outside is usually three hours a day, seven days a week, because that's the limit of exposure before I need a shower to wash off chiggers. Less in the winter.
I think--degrowth is the answer. I mean, we face a polycrisis, multiple existential threats, and those in power are working hard to make it all worse--because those in power are machines focused on profit. Mostly corporations, which are machines, not people--but even the other entity with power, billionaires, while human, are machinelike in their thinking. Meanwhile, ordinary people keep trying to force them toward the policy changes we desperately need--and get nowhere, because the ruling class has been cementing its place on the throne for the past 40 years and has succeeded in making its power unassailable. So where does all this lead? Quite possibly, human extinction. But it's also quite possible that the inability of the rulers to solve increasingly urgent problems--because the solutions inevitably involve reduction of their wealth and privilege--make some kind of collapse very possible, likely within the next decade. And that collapse opens up possibilities. I think many of not most of us will be growing at least some if not all of our own food, and likely relying primarily on feet for transportation, and each other for entertainment--all of which means much more time spent outside.
Few people planning holidays intend to spend much time indoors, so we do know this at some level. Most of us who can, choose to live somewhere greener or leafier. Yet, here in the UK at least, schools sell off their playing fields and local authorities are being encouraged to sell off vegetable allotments (although I anticipate huge push back on that). The poorer you are the further on average you live from a green space, and in the UK the further you are from an urban centre the less welcome people of colour feel. So this is a matter of equity as well as health and degrowth.
Are you familiar with the 1000 hours outside project?
I am now.
I am!
Honey please message me
Hey Matt, great stuff and I couldn't agree with you more, both about the benefits of being outdoors, and the importance of degrowth! My substack is a collection of outdoor activity guides for children and their adults that supports them in developing a kinship worldview. I'm currently working on transforming those posts into a book to be published by Chelsea Green Publishers. https://peterkindfieldphd.substack.com
I have started volunteering at a local Nature Reserve, as a Wilder Learning assistant, helping kids connect with Nature. This is a win-win for me: it gets me out of the house and in Nature, plus I get to do something that I believe in passionately. I can recommend it wholeheartedly.
Hey Jessica, you might want to check out my blog. It's a collection of outdoor activity guides for children and their adults that supports them in developing a kinship worldview. I'm currently working on transforming those posts into a book to be published by Chelsea Green Publishers. https://peterkindfieldphd.substack.com
Let me start by your final question, which I regard more important (you are free to reproduce my answer in later posts), and then proceed with something I thought while replying to the poll.
Some things I recommend to get outside more is organising dance events in squares/parks, walk or bike around, hang out at a park, go to a flee market (not a big fan myself), go to outdoor festivals, exercise outdoors instead of going to a gym. There are certainly other things too.
I was surprised at first by the two most popular answers, especially for readers of a degrowth blog. I am now somewhat less surprised but, at the same time, more surprised about the general population, granted what the average is — I was not aware that it is that low.