Sean Yoro (Hula) used chalk and water to paint these murals somewhere in the forests of the Pacific Northwest. A message on wildfire, deforestation and climate change.
"The artwork is called Puliki, which means 'to embrace' in Hawaiian."(cnn)
Perhaps the subject of this blogitem is an anthropocene subject par excellence ;-) Want to know more about rewilding? Just read and look on for this quick introduction.
"The short film (3’39) explains Rewilding Europe’s vision and approach to make wild nature a normal part of a modern Europe in the 21st century. Learn why we believe there is a historic opportunity to shape our natural landscapes of the future. Find out how rewilding can provide new perspectives for rural communities living in Europe’s countryside."
George Monbiot tells us in this Ted presentation on the reintroduction of wolves in the National Park Pick your own language...
Nice, the idea of forest that's to be feared, in contradiction to the 'view in the UK'! A view from North-Rhine Westpfalia, wilderness in orderly Germany? (4:17)
Does the Slow Movement ring a bell? This item is on the slow movement, slow travel inclusive an iconic landscape travel TV, mindfull slow movement...
This movement started with slow food ,
but rapidly expanded in many other cultural fields, including slow travel.
Well, by now you perhaps know I'm studying aspects of pilgrimage, landscape, movement and experience. So, I want to guide your attention on a spin-off. The nice concept of slow travel or slow tourism as an example of performed transmodernity. A concept related to backpacking, eco-tourism and volunteer tourism. A concept related to pilgrim/tourist traveling.
Encountering a new lifestyle.
Here are a few pointers...
Introduction
Wikipedia: "The slow movementadvocates a cultural shift toward slowing down life's pace. It began with Carlo Petrini's protest against the opening of a McDonald's restaurant in Piazza di Spagna, Rome in 1986 that sparked the creation of the slow food movement. Over time, this developed into a subculture in other areas, like the Cittaslow organisation for "slow cities". The "slow" epithet has subsequently been applied to a variety of activities and aspects of culture."
Ted presentation by
Carl Honore: In praise of slowness
(20:00)
Manifesto
"Slow travel is about making conscious choices, and not letting the anticipation of arrival undermine the pleasure of the journey. By choosing to travel slowly, we reshape our relationship with place and with the communities through which we pass on our journeys. In 2009 we launched our 'Manifesto for slow travel'."
Carl Honoré, journalist and author of In Praise of Slowness, talking about Slow Travel
(7:59)
Carl Honore
Slow Travel,
presentation from Verena Erin
SLOW - A short film about van life- English version
Because life’s too short to live too fast.
"Synopsis: Two couples traveling around the world in two camper vans decide to discover the Ecuadorian jungle together. Through a word game they realize that everything is interconnected. This short film is a reflection on the structures Western society forces upon us.
Directed by: Marta Tibau and Marià Miño"
(9:59)
Mmviatges - Furgo en ruta
Topping off
How can we deal with the addictive nature of speed? Carl Honoré, Gervais Williams, Deepa Patel and Kate Fletcher explore how we can improve our quality of life, well-being and creativity by applying the principles of slow.
The slow revolution
RSA
(17:43)
And finally if you have some time to spend. The Bergen line to Oslo, an iconic slow-TV program in 2009. See the slow slowly changing landscape. (7:14:13)
More on mindfull walking is said and written by Thich Nhat Hanh .
The miracle of walking on the earth.
Perhaps here is a clue on taking the 'camino experience' home, at least partly! See more on this website article 'From pilgrimage to walking meditation'
There are several 'slow' related books like..
(and many articles...)
An article on pilgrimage and slow travel from these books can be found on Academia: " We are
pilgrims through time - Augustine
The path of modernity is one
characterized by acceleration, interconnection and mobility. Amidst the
increasingly fast tempo of life in late modernity, contemporary pilgrims and
other ‘slow travellers’ express needs and desires for alternative experiences
of temporality, while subverting the dominant ‘cult of speed’. My objective in
this chapter is to focus on issues of temporality in exploring three aspects of
slow travel: the potential contradictions it presents, its direct relationship
to modernization and its link to pilgrimage."
This, I think, is an interesting compilation on some popular topics of nature.
I'm deeply researching landscape, experience and pilgrimage. So, yes, also interested in relationships of human - nature, let's skip the dichotomy;-)
Perhaps it's the postmodern motive to long for the rural/nature to escape from the urban.
Perhaps humans have attachments to specific landscapes, like the savanna as ancestral environment of early Homo in the savanna theory. Which perhaps leads to problems with our modern environment?
Well, I compiled some nature snippits.
Have a look at what nature does for the brain,
find out of nature is right for you,
know about this nature practice: shinrin-yoku?,
enjoy the nature therapy,
plus a bonus and some additional links to other readings and research.
And by all means, try the nature therapy,
it's not the real thing, but does it work in any way for you?
Startoff with an article from the Guardian.
"Travel broadens the mind, but can it alter the brain?
Studies suggest that taking a gap year or studying abroad can positively influence your brain to make you more outgoing and open to new ideas.
"Rock graffiti is not natural. It's a form of vandalism. Rock graffiti, even if seemingly impermanent, disturbs the natural state of the environment for other visitors."
Some Facebookers agree, some say the park's opinion is way over the top.
Well, that's an interesting phenomenon.
Are the tourists in the national parks natural? Are the natural parks natural?
In protected areas or cultural heritage sites this people-practice is probably unwanted. Don't want to build these cairns of Palmyra heritage stones.
Cairns are longstanding manmade objects in nature, perhaps you recognise them from mountain tops or along trails.
(Wikipedia commons)
Adagium for urban explorers/photographers: leave nothing but footsteps, take nothing but pictures. Many tourists, pilgrims, travelers however like to leave a 'I was here' (ego cairns), I'm part of this landscape, a souvenir not taken home. The objects become part of the landscape.
On the Camino the Santiago, in itself a manmade trail, people often see these sculptures as an important practice. What anthropologist Tim Ingold would call a taskscape.
For those who walked: remember the impressive tens of thousands of crosses in fences in several places?
The following examples are no traditional pilgrimage endeavour. Allthough, several scholars (Couldry, Hills, Beeton) consider film-induced tourism as a contemporary form of pilgrimage (says Leotta in 2016 Navigating Movie (M)apps).
Don't know where to go during holidays? Some suggestions..
Travel weekly had an item on increasing rail tourism due to film tourism.
“This year, for example, we can report that countries including Spain, Austria and Switzerland, all of which have been involved in major motion pictures recently, enjoyed a healthy increase in the number of train travellers from Australia and New Zealand in the first half of 2016."
"Fredrik Sørdal, the mayor of the nearby town of Flakstad said the growth in tourism was “challenging”, warning that infrastructure was already at breaking point, with acute problems with waste disposal, public toilets and parking, and severe erosion on paths leading to popular coastal locations.
“In Flakstad we have for example become extremely unbalanced when it comes to tourism this year, and need to take many measures before next year,” he said."
And finally some relativation:
"Depressingly, studies worldwide have shown that cinematic tourism has a limited life span as far as pulling tourists is concerned. In most cases, they are effective in kindling thoughts about a place in the minds of the clientele for a period of 4-6 months only."
![Slow Tourism: Experiences and Mobilities (Aspects of Tourism) by [Markwell, Kevin, Fullagar, Simone, Wilson, Erica]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51IckA5zYHL.jpg)
