When it comes to the outdoors, I’m more like Henry David Thoreau than Bear Grylls.
I’m not interested in cold camps or survival techniques. I don’t plan on hunting moose with a handmade bow like that one guy on the reality show “Alone.”
I’m more interested in the rocks and where they originated. The flora and fauna and how they’ve adapted to their environments over generations. I like hiking and exploring new landscapes. I’m really just a kid running around the woods at heart.
This curiosity has shaped how I think over the past ten years, including how I interact with the natural world and vote for policy.
But I didn’t always love nature.
Nature used to depress the shit out of me.
I drove myself crazy thinking about impending environmental disasters and how screwed we all are. The result of the global warming media frenzy and a science teacher who once told me that my kids would suffocate because I didn’t recycle enough.
I resisted doing anything outdoorsy because nature was doomed as far as I was concerned.
My attitude changed in my twenties — which tends to happen with serious subjects.
You read more. You listen to people who are actually experts and not pundits looking for clicks. You gain authentic experiences that make you say, “Oh, it’s actually much different than how it was described to me when I was young.”
Outdoorsmen Steve Rinella helped me put everything in perspective.
Steve Rinella and Ryan Holiday met up last week to record a podcast.
They’re two of my favorite writers, so I was pumped about it. Now I know how Swifties feel whenever Taylor drops a record. I listened to it twice so I could let everything sink in.
If you don’t know who they are, Ryan Holiday is an author who writes about stoic philosophy. He’s famous for books like Ego is The Enemy and The Obstacle is The Way.
Steve Rinella is an American outdoorsman, hunter, angler, and conservationist. He wrote a book called American Buffalo, which is one of my all-time favorites. It explores the complex history between Bison and the people of North America.
Steve said something on the podcast that hit me like a left hook. It’s something I wish I had known when I was younger.
“My oldest son is 13. The main thing I care about is instilling in him a sense of wonder, respect, and adventure for the natural world.”
“I’m not yet interested in the doom and gloom.”
“In school, he’s getting fed so much doom and gloom that he’s in tears about how it’s all over.”
If he absorbs that at 13, I think there’s a good chance you will end up with a very apathetic 20-year-old.”
Then he adds.
“If this generation is potentially going to save the planet. Let them love the planet first.”
He’s saying that it’s easier to come up with solutions when you actually care about the subject.
When you're taught early on that nature is doomed and a waste of time, you'll either grow to resent it or be traumatized, just like I was.
Saving the planet is overwhelming, so start learning to love it again.
Here are three things I learned about nature in my twenties.
1.) Nature is more beautiful than I ever imagined, and I plan on exploring it for the rest of my life.
2.) The earth is in trouble, and we are mostly to blame: Nature is a web. Everything is interconnected. Suck the groundwater out of California and you deplete the water levels, which reduces the habitat of one of the pupfish.
3.) It’s not doom and gloom:
We’ve created an almost artificial wildlife system, but it’s here to stay. Now, it’s our responsibility to protect it.
What does that mean?
It means converting old farmlands into swamps, forests, and wildlife sanctuaries. It means voting pro parks and forests. It means supporting biologists and game wardens who protect population levels in high-risk areas.
Don’t let this overwhelm you. As Steve suggests, start by cultivating a love and wonder for the natural world.
I have a funny feeling you will discover how you can help during that journey.