Nature is not a place to visit, it is home—and within that home territory there are more familiar and less familiar places.
Gary Snyder, The Practice of the Wild
When I was 20, I heard Gary Snyder read his poetry. I am not exaggerating when I say that hearing Gary Snyder read his poems aloud changed my life. He was the poet in residence at the University of Cincinnati. I was working as a young, idealistic educator in an experimental program for middle school students, and I was writing a fair amount of poetry. I hadn’t yet realized in my bones that poetry was an oral tradition. There on the stage before a crowd of hundreds of students, Gary sang his poetry and brought his stories of home alive. He has been a strong presence in my life ever since. I keep his newest book of poems, This Present Moment, with cover art by California artist Tom Killion and signed by Gary, right beside my bed.
Twelve years ago, when Tom and Gary read from their collaborative masterpiece, The High Sierra of California, I was sitting in the front row in my local Berkeley bookstore. The book features Gary’s journals from his travels by foot in the High Sierra for over 40 years. Alongside Gary’s writing are Tom’s woodcuts, based on sketches from his 30+ years of backpacking above 9000 feet in the stretch of the High Sierra he calls “California’s backbone.”
My High Sierra wanderings don’t come anywhere close to these inspiring master trekkers/storytellers—the poet and the artist. But my experiences with my young daughter, her father, and a few dear adventuring friends are the memories that surface today as I contemplate Earth Day, April 22, 2018. We worked at making some of the “less familiar home places” more familiar. It was a steep learning curve. It was challenging to learn how to pack what we could carry, how to insure we would have clean water, how to bring simple food to cook, how to figure out the best way to keep a wiggling toddler warm in the cold nights. We sought out other parent trekkers like the couple who gave us their son’s bright orange snowsuit as a wearable sleeping bag for our daughter. It did get easier as we figured out the systems over time. It was worth the pain.
I officially launched my first website on Earth Day 1995 with a personal imperative to use technology in the service of the greater good. In the spirit of those times, I focused the website on “Edge-ucation,” Right Livelihood, and Deep Ecology. A lot has changed since those early days of the “World Wide Web.” Today we all carry the web with us, almost everywhere we go. And yes, it’s a mixed blessing. According to research cited in the REI report The Path Ahead:
The average American spends 95 percent of their life indoors. As a result, we are becoming an indoor species, which comes with consequences. Our health and well-being may suffer. And the less we value our outdoor spaces, the less likely we are to protect them. It’s a slippery slope.
I mentioned the REI report in my post March 3 under the heading What I’m reading—online. For this Earth Day Mindful Digital Life post, I’m going to send you back there to read it. Think of it as an Earth Day meditation. If you’re a parent of a young child, read it and consider a few actions you can do in the next few weeks to really take it to heart and into your bones. If you’re the parent of an older child, use it as a source for your family technology conversation this week. For example, “I’m reading a report published by the outdoor company, REI. It mentions research that says 4 to 7 minutes a day is the average time American kids today spend playing outside. How much time a day do you think you spend playing outside?” Or…”I’ve been thinking about places outside I’d like to explore. Where would you like to explore?” Bring up an online map of your area. In Google maps, set the map to satellite and zoom in on the green spaces. Find some less familiar places. I am guessing there will be many. Ask your kids who they might enjoy inviting to join you and co-create an adventure with another family, or friends. Nurture a practice of exploring the less familiar outside with friends. You’ll be on the path to making nature your default.
Here is an invitation. Write me (to respond, use the contact form here) and let me know where on a continuum from We Do This All the Time to Absolutely Impossible—You’re Kidding, Right? you think you are. I’ll schedule a video call with you to talk.
Upcoming Event – Thursday May 3, 5:00 pm Pacific/8:00 pm Eastern
Please join me live for the first monthly Mindful Digital Life Q&A (free).
Bring your questions and challenges about how to live well with technology in the family. Are you getting a tween their first phone? Have concerns about your teenager and that new mobile game they’re playing every waking moment? Trying to figure out how to run a business which depends on being available on your phone AND model balance with your kids? Does your parenting partner have a completely different approach that’s presenting challenges? If you’re ready to discover some new strategies to help you navigate the 24/7 challenges of digital devices, this Q&A can help. Register for this free event here on Crowdcast. See you at 8 pm Eastern/5 pm Pacific! (If you can’t attend live, register to receive a link to the recorded event.)
