The Problem With Nature Porn

Are you a nature addict? Or do you just get off on photos of the stuff? Rachel explains why your obsession with nature porn may not be as beneficial as once thought.

Not many people will readily admit to looking at porn. But nature porn? That’s another story. We joke about it, openly drool over it and here at WAE we used to be proud that our Insta account was full of it (although hopefully you’ve noticed some changes lately). But is nature porn really okay? Can looking at it affect our relationship with the natural world just as much as a YouJizz subscription can interfere with our ability to have meaningful connection with real, live humans?

When skimming through pictures of epic landscapes online inspires us to throw on our hiking boots, or wetsuit or shiny gold lycra and get out the door, we reckon that’s a good thing. But sometimes it’s too easy to keep on scrolling until we’ve got leg cramps, a hunched spine and a very immediate need to pee. Not exactly the same physiological effect that a proper hike, or even a stroll in your local park will get you.

Photo by Scott Pass

And what about the psychological effects of drooling over a picture rather than getting immersed in the real thing? Relationship expert Esther Perel points our that pornography doesn’t require anything of us. We don’t have to take risks and we don’t have to give anything back, which is ultimately a dead-end in terms of satisfaction. She’s talking about human relationships but can you see the similarities? Nature porn is nature viewed from afar, objectified, used solely for our own pleasure.  

Are We Being Selfish?

The danger is that we start to approach nature as a place to get ourselves a great experience, bag a peak or tick off a bucket list item. Maybe there’s nothing wrong with that, but maybe we’re missing something deeper, like the genuine satisfaction of a real relationship. 

Real relationships require presence. For genuine connection to happen we need to be there, like really be there, with our bodies, our full attention, heart and soul. Phones down, eyes and ears open, personal agenda laid at the door for a moment. 

Photo by Jamie Humby

How often do we approach our time in nature like this? Uhhh, maybe never? Maybe it would mean heading out alone or making a conscious decision to have some phone free time or maybe it’ll look like factoring in some time to just wander, sit still or take an outdoor nap, without an adventure goal now and again.

Be A Giver

Relationships are also give and take. The nature porn approach would have us taking all the time and that’s so easily done. We receive so much from Mama Nature just by plonking ourselves in the middle of a forest or taking a breath and looking around when we’re halfway up a big slab of rock, not to mention the actual air we breathe, water we drink, food we eat…you get the picture. So what are we giving back? 

We’ve covered some of the practicalities and large-scale solutions we can contribute to in these articles. But without really feeling our connection to the web of life we’ll lack motivation to make changes, maybe even a conviction that it’s important to. 

Photo by Natalie Hardbattle

There are small everyday choices we can make to stop and notice and appreciate nature (including our own bodies, we’re part of nature too after all) that will, over time, add up to a whole heap more mulch on the great compost pile of life. Small mindset shifts like these can equal big changes as they slowly motivate us to form new habits and change what we can right where we are (like composting food scraps and rewilding cities).

Let Your Walls Down

Thirdly, really getting to know the wild world, just like genuine human connection, requires vulnerability. When we only see a curated version of nature we don’t experience any of the discomfort that really getting out there would entail. However, we also miss out on the deep joy and satisfaction of a real connection with wild places and creatures in all their dirty, messy, savage glory. At WAE we’re with you all the way to help you get the skills and confidence to hang out in nature safely, but we can’t guarantee it’ll always be Type 1 Fun. Still, to quote vulnerability champion Brene Brown, ‘Staying vulnerable is a risk we have to take if we want to experience connection”. 

Be Brave, Show Commitment

Finally, relationships require commitment. It’s something our digital culture is training us out of as our attention gets pulled by the next piece of clickbait. The nature porn approach is a bit like the seedy cousin of the free love movement in the ‘60s, encouraging us to flit from experience to experience, always chasing another new high. Even still, most of us would still agree that a truly satisfying relationship requires commitment. 

Legendary British ornithologist Bill Oddey talks about the concept of a ‘local patch’, a place you visit on the regular and really get to know. By revisiting the same spot time after time, adopting a slower, more present attitude you’ll notice seasonal changes and make friends with the locals – the birds, bugs and plants that inhabit certain spots. 

If you live in a city you might have to get creative – but your patch doesn’t have to be big.  Nature gets her leafy green tendrils into all sorts of nooks and crannies in our cityscapes. Bill Oddey’s patch is his local park in London and mine is underwater in a protected corner of one of Sydney’s beaches. Yep, Gary The Blue Groper and I, we’re pretty good mates. 

You’ll still find me indulging in a tasty bit of nature porn now and again *blush*. But I know for sure that scrolling is no substitute for strolling. Coming face-to-face with my true loves – trees, rivers and the ocean – and getting wet and dirty in more wholesome ways is so much more fulfilling.

Feature photo by Lisa Owen