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TEDx Talks
Published: 2017-09-05
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5AE4XmexFo
I suspect many of you have a special place in nature someplace you go when life feels a little bit too noisy and stressful a sanctuary turns out you're not alone the most popular Airbnb rental on the planet isn't a huge coastal mansion or swanky downtown condo it's a tiny cabin nestled in the California woods so perhaps it's the woods that is the sanctuary in the cabin
is merely an accessory with or without the cabin nature is the common denominator when we seek out these kind of peaceful retreats so let's consider those special places in nature that we go to heal from life's traumas has natural sanctuaries John Muir propose this a hundred years ago when he wrote thousands of tired near Shakin over civilized people are beginning to discover that going to the
mountains is going home that while this is a necessity that nature parks and reservations are more than just fountains of timber in irrigating rivers their fountains of life in the spirit of John Mayer I became curious about my own interpretation of a natural sanctuary remote wild places untrammeled by man I pondered that this question what does it mean to be remote %HESITATION when I saw Verizon
Billboard that was advertising a wash of red cell coverage across the United States I became curious about those small isolated pockets on the map where there was no coverage an exile light pollution map of the U. S. and again my interest was piqued by those places that felt like Darko way sees in a sea of light I begin to consider what it meant for me to
be remote if I could be in a designated wilderness and look up and see the night sky obscured by light pollution well if I could text and Facebook from my sleeping bag but didn't you like the true wilderness my natural sanctuary that I was looking for so it evoked the question where was the most remote place in the continental U. S. together working with the GIS
map maker I came up with a list of distinct conditions that for me scribed my ideal of remote wilderness together we put together a layered map of remoteness and isolated a sliver about twenty two square miles after some Google earth scouting I recruited my adventure but the price to join me on a quick expedition to see it it felt like a pilgrimage to someplace sacred after
leaving pavement we drove sixty five miles of dirt road how many miles of trail and arrived at the outer most edge of the civilized world I felt light untethered and completely absorbed by the moment absent of manmade distraction my mental clarity was at its peak my senses invigorated I think back to those forty eight hours exploring this remote sanctuary as me being my past self whether
batteries on my phone were weakening I was re charging off of nature I grew up as an only child on deer creek out in Dixon bill and my childhood was spent playing in the woods in creek behind my house collective years of my life were spent building forts doing yard work yeah yard work right %HESITATION %HESITATION fishing and since living in Portland for the past twenty
years %HESITATION my various careers of teaching tour guiding and running a business of required a lot of people interaction %HESITATION as a child I was introverted and shy around people and now I spend a lot of time around people I spend a lot of time at the computer and I spend far too much time more than I'd like away from nature see the outdoors was my
sanctuary and while living in the city I've drifted from that truth %HESITATION add in the relentless distraction of emails text messages social media and the consequence has been a deterioration of my own mental health and the declining resilience to those ABS inflows of life I am more susceptible to depression anxiety stress and questioning my own self worth my relationships with other people suffer because while I
may be present the noise in my mind prevents me from being present for those other people two years ago I put my life on hold and took a sabbatical from my work because I was no longer able to pretend that I was okay with that I could simply flip a switch and get over it I felt deep sadness anxiety insecurity I felt empty I would never
implied that my circumstances were all that exceptional but I have lost the mental resilience to overcome instinctively I knew I needed to spend time in a remote wild place in order to tap into that state of mind that is calm confident and happy I knew I needed to spend time in my natural sanctuary some may call it a midlife crisis others may diagnose it is depression
and while it felt very lonely I also begin to realize I was definitely not alone statistics regarding mental health in the United States are nothing short of pandemic one in five adults will experience a mental illness in any given year yet over half go untreated now the consequences of no treatment are pretty predictable serious mental illness each year in the United States because our country billions
in lost earnings is a leading cause of hospitalization and premature death estimates suggest that every day between eighteen and twenty two veterans die by suicide for those that are treated we annually spend more on mental illness than heart disease cancer and diabetes so what about alternatives to this tremendous cost for traditional care it could require a little more than spending time in a natural sanctuary across
science literature culture and politics a consistent and universal theme emerges connecting with nature is good for people now there are whether it's the most remote place or the neighborhood park anecdotal accounts of how it makes us feel better are endless and it's a sentiment that seems to span otherwise contentious religious and political barriers even Chuck Norris devout Christian conservative uber badass this year wrote spending time
in nature is good for our health most of the history of our species was spent %HESITATION lacking buildings and walls we're essentially wired to live in the natural world he goes on to reference eight nature therapy to opt in Japan in the early nineties called shimmering Yoko it's literally defined as forced paving very Chuck Norris seven well science as it turns out is developing some powerful
evidence based relationships between spending time in nature and improvements in our mental health in the twenty ten study of shin regno Q. researchers found that elements of the environment such as the odor of wood the sound of running stream water and forest scenery to provide relaxation and reduce stress participants in the study experience dramatic improvements in both mood and immunity and there's no shortage of additional
science to support these findings estimates suggest that the average American spends between eighty ninety nine percent of their lives indoors a trend that has led to a kind of nature deficit disorder as is in a medical diagnosis but rather a term used to describe a lifestyle in which the conditions lead to poor psychological and physical health now when treatments include a prescription to go spend time
outdoors nobody in this room is going to be surprised that these can be the outcomes we have very expensive treatments for all of these conditions yet it could be that nature has been the antidote to mental illness all along given the remarkable impact of these places on our well being and the huge economic benefit of the spaces a new value emerges beyond the traditional arguments made
for conservation for us to find health and healing in nature we require access to nature now does it matter whether it's the most remote place where the neighborhood park in terms of quality of nature yes in terms of its capacity to provide healing for someone struggling with a mental illness perhaps not what's important is that each of us identify our own natural sanctuaries understand the value
of these places to our collective mental health Indian advocate for their protection nature needs us and we need nature Franken genie more worthy unintentional pioneers of this effort before PTSD before forced bathing even before Chuck Norris said so Franken G. anywhere that preeminent champions for their own natural sanctuary on the north Umpqua river as a veteran of World War two Frank was not immune to the
trauma of war and when he returned %HESITATION he spent days fly fishing so many in fact that his wife Jeannie placed an ad in the Roseburg newspaper lost one owner and manager of Moore's cafe last seen at the north Umpqua river in the early sixties Franken Jeannie found the north Umpqua river and its tributaries under threat from destructive logging practices and greedy local interests their story
would define a legacy never bring the budget %HESITATION leaves come out again and ongoing cycle and boy out of them well I'm ninety five cycle in June nineteen forty four I came ashore in Normandy at Utah beach for the next year as part of the four fifty third we fought our way through France Luxembourg Belgium and on into Germany I didn't live I just I saw
things that you never get over it's alright with you I'm grateful that for some reason I would yield back Frank and I were married seventy five years ago just before he had to ship out for World War two when he returned like so many of the other young man he was struggling with it we today who called PTSD all of a sudden I got breakdown just
long like a baby and I wouldn't be as loving and I could have been to my wonderful wife I suppose I thought it might have something to do with or because I don't I didn't talk to me I didn't know how to help him but I could see that he felt a sense of peace where they were by fishing on the north Umpqua I can still
remember how I'd be standing out there and watching the swallows flying around and he looking up and she there rock bluff but the beautiful north looking down and Shia big steel hatch world at the bottom steamboat creek and is all of it tributary was so shy no angling back in the twenty and it is truly amazing that back then someone had enough foresight realize that this
had because of the protective spawning grounds north Umpqua river is incredible fishery for a while still had that it is over the years I have seen abuses of this watershed better not to the benefit of the land the waters or the American I would take it temperature above a clerk that it would be in the summertime utility fifty fifty seven degrees and go down below where
a clear cut one yeah Cooper's highest eighty four just a short distance it would climb thirty degree it doesn't take many like that to wipe out all life with them green Frank and I have worked a lot of years to protect this place the legislation that is proposed is designed to recognize steamboat creek has a special place for wildlife plants and people D. area will be
called the Franken gene more while still had sanctuary and gift encompasses hundreds out nacre all the drainages within this table it also is sanctuary where people can go and have a re birth rebuilding their souls so the natural world helps people feel a lovely as the hand of god this moves the rough place manner on Frank isn't the only veteran struggling with PTSD who was found
fly fishing on places like the north on qua to be therapeutic rusty Lennon here served eight years in the U. S. army and also found healing for his PTSD through fly fishing in twenty sixteen he started source one serenity a nonprofit that provides fly fishing retreats on the on quad geared specifically for combat veterans numerous other organizations or emerging across the U. S. whose mission it
is to heal struggling veterans by immersing them and natural sanctuaries there are few projections for a future which are turning our population is expected to grow to nearly ten billion by twenty fifty today over half of us live in cities and will continue to tip the scales toward the more urban lifestyle this means more people living more disconnected from nature which trends and study suggests his
will continue to erode away our collective mental health whether it's the most remote place the north Umpqua river or the neighborhood park all are valuable and all are vulnerable if conservation initiatives feel impractical consider that Aaron's returning from war our children growing up in an urbanized world with the one in five of us in this room that struggle with our own mental health for us natural
sanctuaries matter Franken genie are great examples of the more than words effort it takes to protect a place on behalf plants animals and people that seek sanctuary there look in your own backyard to see where nature needs help and be a champion for its protection nature needs us and we need nature like Franken Jeannie we all have the capacity to save our sanctuaries
