As we step away from the outdoors and grapple with an increasingly pervasive virtual world, we not only lose touch with something that transforms our lives for the better and has always been tied to humankind’s survival, but we also put our planet at risk. As we’ve focused on the indoors instead of the outdoors, we’ve entered a new climate change epoch—and we’re now nearing a time when we will not be able to undo the damage being done to our planet.
When I think about the world that today’s children are growing up in, and the one that future generations will be born into, my daughter—now three years old—is at the forefront of my mind. I often ask myself what her relationship with the outdoors will be in the space-age world of 2066, when she’s fifty. There is enormous positive potential in the discoveries of tomorrow—things like advances in personalized medicine, synthetic biology, automated work, machine learning, and more—but there are also great threats. If we focus too much on technology, or misuse it, how might humanity and the planet be threatened?
We desperately need an outdoor-centric action plan for people to reconnect with the natural world and care for it. We need to recognize the importance of our planet and embrace it, preserve it, and delight in what it has to offer. This is a mission we should all stand behind. Today’s world is one of bitter political divisions, but we need to put our differences aside when we consider the environment. We are not just citizens of our cities, states, and countries, we are citizens of the natural world, and we are identical in this. It is a citizenship each of us is born with, and one that allows us advantages but also gives us responsibilities. When we fulfill these responsibilities, caring for and standing up for our planet, and we regularly enjoy the outdoors, we take pride in this citizenship and we earn the right to call ourselves Outdoor Citizens.
“Outdoor Citizen” and “Outdoor Citizenship” are terms I’ve coined to reflect how ordinary folks can step up by stepping outside and making commitments. I believe that we need an outdoor-centric action plan and an epoch of Outdoor Citizenship to address the dangers our natural world is facing. This requires both individual responsibility and the widespread support of leaders who value the outdoors as Outdoor Citizens do and will enact legislation to protect it. Together we can orient our lives around the outdoors. We can make our cities Outdoor Cities, where green spaces are the epicenters of our communities and sustainability is embraced on every level; we can foster engagement in outdoor leadership; we can address pressing global challenges; and we can become healthier and happier by enjoying the natural world.
Bringing a Dream World to Life
The great writer Jules Verne was supposed to pursue law. Verne’s father was a lawyer and expected his son to follow in his footsteps, studying law in Paris, France, and then returning to practice in their hometown of Nantes, France. Jules had another idea; he wanted to write, to create, and he did so marvelously. With his vivid imagination and quest for knowledge, Verne would become a groundbreaking author. Among the thrilling expeditions he took readers on are the ones in Journey to the Center of the Earth, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, and Around the World in Eighty Days. With Verne, we descend into a volcano; we accompany Phileas Fogg on his voyage through distant and exotic lands; we plummet into the sea with Captain Nemo in his indomitable submarine, encountering creatures at never-before-explored depths. Verne was arguably the father of science fiction, but many of the inventions, sciences, and technologies he imagined are realities today.
Verne was forty-eight when the Appalachian Mountain Club opened in 1876. Given his fantastic appreciation for outdoor journeys, I think if he’d been living in the United States, he would have been drawn to it. Maybe his imagination would have been sparked by the thought of hiking through unadulterated mountain passes. Maybe he would have been drawn into the AMC by its alpine zone conservation science; maybe by its trail building, phenological or astronomical studies, or landscape painting; or, perhaps, the pure exhilaration of rock climbing or snowshoeing. I can imagine a group of summer hikers getting ready for bed, each lying on hay covered with a wool blanket. They look up at the stars and discuss the cosmos, and Verne delights them with tales of rocketing into space, visiting the moon, or discovering new life in the deepest reaches of the ocean.
It’s easy to romanticize the joy and curiosity that the founders and early members of the AMC must have carried with them as they explored. Today, too, visionaries, creatives, scientists, and inventors look to the natural world for inspiration and innovation. Humans have never before been more capable of fulfilling the dreams, imaginations, and fantasies that were science fiction in Verne’s day and seemed impossible even just a few years ago. Given our advances, I have to wonder if Verne would look at us today and say, “Get on with it! You’ve got the goods, so go explore—let nature inspire and excite you! What are you waiting for?”
To overcome the threats facing humanity and the planet, it is useful to harness the audacious simplicity of childlike imagination—to not limit our thinking to what seems possible and dwell on the obstacles in our way, but to instead defy the very notion of impossibility. Some problems may necessitate hard work and creative thinking, but there are solutions to be found. Large-scale issues like preventing the flooding of cities might entail the construction of giant sea gates; sucking up carbon dioxide from relics that still run on fossil fuels might require engineers and scientists to work hand in hand. If technology is used well, it will help us far more than it will hurt us. This could mean using artificial intelligence (AI) to prevent forest fires, or using the Internet of Everything (conceived of as an intelligent network of people, data, processing, and things) to empower citizen scientists. With humanity’s intelligence, collaboration, and determination, tomorrow is rich with possibilities for humankind and the natural world.
A Call to Action—A New Kind of Citizenship
When we talk about world changers, we often refer to big influencers and well-known names: billionaire philanthropists, award-winning scientists, mega-entrepreneurs, game-changing innovators, and exceptional and effective government leaders. Top of mind might be Bill and Melinda Gates, who do wonderful work in health and education; Elon Musk, with his groundbreaking work on the development of “space-age” transportation systems like hyperloops and reusable rockets; or former president and Nobel Prize winner Jimmy Carter, who works to combat diseases worldwide and build homes with Habitat for Humanity.
The work of these icons is spectacular, but we must not assume you have to be wealthy or a public figure to make a difference in our world. We are all capable of being leaders. With the way modern technology has globally connected us with one another, movements and innovation can be spurred on by anyone with a good idea and the dedication to sharing it and setting it in motion. People with a modest amount of social media know-how can muster an army of followers for a cause. Writers, photographers, podcasters, and other generators of creative content can inspire us to act through the powerful ideas they share, and today’s environmental entrepreneurs can have immediate global reach, providing next-generation sustainable solutions to those in need anywhere on the planet.
Outdoor activism is at our fingertips, and it’s easier now than ever before for people to get involved in outdoor organizations. Now’s the time for a new generation of outdoor stewards to take the helm, to advocate for sustainable infrastructure, increase capital investment and efficiency, spearhead local conservation campaigns, and foster a global outdoor community. Children and teenagers are also capable of being fantastic outdoor stewards, and we should excite them with experiential, immersive, and high-quality outdoor-centric programs. We should make sure that all youth enjoy outdoor recreation and learn outdoor leadership skills and why the natural world needs our protection. One day the world will be in their hands.
I hope that reading this book plays a part in your “outdoor journey.” In the pages that follow I will attempt to convey what being an Outdoor Citizen means to me, and I hope to inspire you to define yourself as one. It is my intention for this book to be a call to action. Outdoor Citizens pay it forward by encouraging outdoor-centric values in others, and I take
