I fucking love camping. It's January
3rd and I'm already looking forward to camping this spring/summer. (This -15ºC weather is certainly a factor in my being so
forward-thinking.)
I didn't start
camping until about five years ago. And I've only been portaging/backwoods
camping one time (which involved a long paddle in a rainstorm with two friends
and their friends who thankfully knew what they were doing and had the gear and
know-how to not get us killed). (It was awesome.) My parents didn't camp. My
dad dabbled in it as a youth but I don't think you could have paid my mom to
sleep on the ground with the bugs or be anywhere you couldn't plug in your
curlers.
I know a lot of
people who are super into camping, and it's no wonder: The benefits of being in
nature and, by contrast, the neurosis-inducing nature of city life are
phenomena that are well-documented.
Most people, I think, benefit
from/deserve access to natural settings. But there's something about being immersed in a forest, or being on the shore of a
vast body of water, or standing at the foot mountain that feeds the soul in
ways that a simple visit to the park won't do. (And here in Toronto we are very
lucky to have access to relatively ample greenspace and water for an urban
environment.)
One really shitty
thing about working that 9-5 life is the scarcity of available time in which
one can camp. Long weekends involve a mass exodus of cars to reaches (barely)
further north. The time spent on the highway is often (always?) worth it but
it's pretty counterproductive to the whole reason people go camping in the
first place. Plus, campgrounds, gear, outdoor equipment, and the like are very
expensive, increasingly so. So it's a shame that most people can't really
access immersive natural experiences. One, they're far away and hellish to get
to, and two, a lot of people just simply can't afford it.
In this way, the natural has become
institutionalized. It involves booking campsites months and months in advance
in order to get a spot among the throngs, booking precious time off of busy
work schedules to get time away from urban environments, paying exorbitant fees
and prices for a plethora of camping gear, and bumper-to-bumper pilgrimages on
crowded motorways. The natural world has become embedded in the capitalist,
workaholic, consumerist, urban landscape, despite being (supposedly) miles away
from it.
This is further complicated when one
examines the demographics of the typical camper. The population of people who
can't/don't camp is, I think, largely made up of people of colour/immigrants.*
Part of the reason for this might be cultural reasons (ie. hobbies and interests
are mimetic, and if no one in your culture camps, you're not going to know
about it or adopt it). But I think that a lot of this has to do with a)
financial barriers to camping and the racialization of poverty, and b) the fact
that a lot of immigrants to Canada who grew up in countries without the
Canadian 'standard of living' and/or in conflict areas probably came to Canada
to try attain a life that meant having reliable access to precious things like
a roof, a bed, running water, heat, and electricity. I'm sure the idea of
paying to not have any of these things is absolutely ludicrous to some.
Which brings me to my next point: I
think that camping is really just a 'lite' form of primitivist tourism.
A lot of people in urban areas in the
developed world like going away to wild places and seeing ancient structures on
indigenous land. Some tourism companies and endeavours strive to incorporate
indigenous and perspectives in tourist practices, and some even pay them a
living wage. (Hold your applause, please.) In short, people will pay to leave
their developed country to sleep in tents alongside indigenous tribes on
protected land next to ancient structures. They will marvel and speak to one
another in reverent tones about how "simple and beautiful" the lives
of these people are, and they will fetishize certain aspects of more
'primitive' cultures while ignoring elements of hardship, shortened
life-expectancy, exploitation, and ecological devastation. A lot of the time,
tourism is part of the perpetuation of these harmful elements, no matter how
'ethical' it is. It's a matter of trying to balance costs and benefits (both of
which are plenty).
I marvel in the joys of camping, I
think, because I never have been forced to sleep on the ground, with no heat,
with no electricity, no amenities. Camping is nice because I can leave and go
home. The same goes for primitivist tourism - I'll pay to sleep in a hammock in
the jungle, being led to an ancient structure by an indigenous guide through
indigenous land, and I'll marvel at the simplicity and beauty of the life there
- and then I'll go home to my first world country with my first world dwelling
and my first world life. I love it because I get to leave it behind.
As I so eloquently began this entry, I
fucking love camping. I also fucking love travelling to places and doing
amazing things. I am extremely privileged to be able to experience both, a few
times a year. I have to accept that camping is a form of primitivist tourism.
And I have to accept the fact that all primitivist tourism comes from a place
of privilege. And that a lot of tourist practices, despite their many benefits,
can also be very harmful. And I need to sit with that. It's fucking
uncomfortable, but I'm going to keep camping and travelling, so the least I can
do is acknowledge my role in potentially harmful systems and do my best to
mitigate the ill effects.
I would so like for immersive natural
experiences like camping not to be institutionalized like they are when they
are near to urban environments. But I guess the only way of doing this is to
move way out into the boonies where I can camp in my backyard for free. But
alas, I'm not about to move from the city any time soon. So I guess I'll keep
spending time in the institutionalized part of the natural world that I am lucky
enough to have access to.
Which reminds me: It's January! I
should get on booking my campsites for June.
*Although: These days I am seeing more and more POC and foreign-born people partaking in camping. As I believe camping is a sign of relative affluence, I think this change in demographics (if it is indeed happening and not just anecdotal) is a sign that foreign-born people in Canada/POC are gaining more access to rites of passage that were previously relegated to Canadian-born, upper/middle-class, white Canadians. We are seeing this demographic shift (veryyyy slowly) in other realms of our society as well.
