Our resident deep-thinker and feeler, Ruby, muses over the one thing every person needs in order to protect the environment into the future – a relationship with it.

 

I don’t think there’s a single person on Earth who disagrees with the fact that trees are beautiful. 

I don’t think there’s a single person who sees a koala, spots a whale offshore, or stumbles across a lyrebird when they’re doing their roadside wee who’d disagree that the diversity of Australia’s wildlife is one of our country’s most treasured assets. 

But how do we turn that appreciation for individual aspects of nature into a collective determination to protect it all?

I think the answer lies in turning intellectual admiration of nature’s beauty into full-bodied respect and awe. It’s a big leap to make, but it’s vital if we’re to protect Australia’s biodiversity and ancient landscapes into the future. Because once you appreciate something with your whole body, you want to keep it out of harm’s way. 

 

Out of the thinking body, into the feeling body

Those I know who love nature are those who spend a lot of time in it. Who sit under the gums and watch the birds, stare at a patch of earth the size of a dinner plate and count how many species of plants they can see. Who ride and hike and paddle in wild places for days and weeks on end.

It’s almost as if once you stop thinking about how much you love the outdoors, you unknowingly find yourself carving out space to sink into and feel the beauty of the outdoors.

Yes, out of the thinking body, into the feeling body, just like your therapist tells you.

My relationship with nature started in my head. I went outside because I wanted to be seen as a person who went outside. My Instagram was dotted with hero shots, and I sought big adventures for the stories I could tell, for the stories that would, I hoped, define people’s perceptions of me.

I said I cared about the climate, but I certainly didn’t do anything that supported that belief. My values were a fashion item, a coat donned at particular parties around particular people.

But at some point, things shifted. I slowed down my adventures and found stillness in nature for a while. I blew out the raging fire in my chest and let the embers crackle and fade so I could see the stars.

 

 

I liken it to those moments with a lover when you stop running from date to date, trip to trip, and you flop on the couch, enveloped in each other’s arms, and sit in peaceful silence. It’s in those moments, more than ever, that you appreciate them and your life together. And I think it works the same way with nature.

After a day of climbing a mountain in cold, wet weather, scrambling on rocks and digging your fingers into the mud, you sit at the viewpoint and watch the sun set with the sea of clouds and the fullness of yourself and you feel small and large and overcome with this sense that everything is going to be okay, and that this is all you need. I believe that feeling is something everyone needs. 

 

Take your loved ones into wild spaces with you

One of the most tangible and fulfilling forms of advocacy you can do is to bring other people into nature with you and help them foster a full-body appreciation, too. To light a fire together, to take out a spotlight and look for nocturnal critters, to dig your bare toes into cold, wet earth.

 

 

And what better place to do this than a national park?

National parks are abundant with native flora and fauna, with teams dedicated to protecting the unique biodiversity found there. We need these places now, more than ever. For people and planet. For our adventures, and the longevity of all other life that is not our own. 

Thankfully, more people are visiting national parks than ever before. Campgrounds and trails bustle with people of all ages and backgrounds, sharing the outstanding beauty and uniqueness of the Aussie bush. It makes sense to expand these places further, wider, deeper. To give each of us more room to roam and hidden gems to explore. To protect more land that we can all share and enjoy, hopefully, for generations to come.

Read more: What’s the Difference Between National Parks and State Forests?

Imagine if we took world leaders with us

Imagine taking our world leaders into the bush, along with the heads of the most damaging companies (they already know each other well). We switch off their phones. Throw away their laptops. We light a campfire, pitch a tent, and we just sit there, watching the fish in the river and the Milky Way overhead. What if they did that, together? For two months. I wonder what would happen?

I know every time I do it (be it two months or two hours), I come out changed.

 

You can’t science someone into caring about nature. You can’t AI them. You can’t yell and bang your fist at the dinner table and force them into it. But you can take them to it. You can hold their hand and lead them up the trail and show them something they’ve never seen before. 

How to keep nurturing that relationship within yourself

Schedule a weekly nature date. Put it in the Google Calendar. Stick to it.

Next time you’re on an adventure with friends, duck off for a bush wee and sit on a rock for a few minutes instead. Take three deep breaths.

Invite a friend you wouldn’t usually take for a bushwalk. Try and make it as easy and accessible for them.

Open your journal, try writing terrible poetry about what you see. Nobody ever needs to read it. The more terrible the better (it’s supposed to be fun, so don’t re-read it! Just write. Start to notice things).

Don’t listen to music on your next trail run.

Vow to plant a native tree/flower/bush/ground cover every month. In your garden. With your local landcare group. In a friend’s garden. In the local park.

THEN: start reading, watching, listening to the stories and the science. Cultivate a practice of devotion to the cause and do what you can with the skills you have. We live in a beautiful world, and it is at risk. We need more people to advocate for its protection. We need people like you.

 

Read More of Ruby’s Musings About Nature

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