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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

There’s no replacement for human relationships fostered in wild places, writer says

Scientists have latched on to what mothers have known instinctively for generations: Playing outside makes children and adults healthier and happier. It’s a topic Florence Williams latched on to in her book “The Nature Fix,” in which she “sets out to uncover the science behind nature’s positive effects on the brain.” (Independent Record / Courtesy)
By Brett French The Billings Gazette

BILLINGS – Growing up in New York City, Florence Williams was the daughter of a “hyperurban” mother who hated camping.

Her father, on the other hand, loved to take summer canoe trips. As a youngster, Williams got to tag along on a weeklong paddle down the Dumoine River in Canada. It rained every day. She had a blast.

“It was such an antidote to growing up in New York,” said the author of the book “Nature Fix,” and a regular contributor to Outside magazine.

Scientists have latched on to what mothers have known instinctively for generations: Playing outside makes children and adults healthier and happier. It’s a topic Williams explores in her book “The Nature Fix,” in which she “sets out to uncover the science behind nature’s positive effects on the brain.”

Tales of outdoor adventures and wild places have long been a part of Americans’ cultural and literary heritage. Such stories, whether written in a photo album or told around the campfire, can tie people to a place and a belief system while also bringing down barriers between adversaries. Wild places can unite us.

Unfortunately for Williams’ father, it also divided him from five wives. Williams, too, is now going through her own divorce. Partly because of that transition, she has become interested in rites of passage, a common ritual across many cultures typically marking a youngster’s advancement into adulthood.

“Kids (in western countries) now think growing up means fun, earning money and freedom,” she said. “That’s why we’re seeing kids with prolonged adolescence.”

The outdoors, Williams contended, is the perfect place for children and adults to experience rites of passage. Her father gave her that experience, as well as taught her that nature is a place for recovery and self-renewal from the urban world.

“I’m still in need of rites of passage,” Williams said.

To meet that goal, she said an outing has to have some type of hardship, an element of solitary reflection, and include a mentor or be supported by elders or friends.

For Ellie Dunn, a Jackson Hole (Wyoming) Community School senior, mountain biking gave her a connection to a group of like-minded people and the outdoors that she wasn’t finding elsewhere in the resort community. As the mountain biking league she had joined grew from six to 60 members – the fastest growing in the nation – she said the coaches also taught lessons about responsible trail riding as well as giving back to the community via trail work sessions.

“It’s given me a wealth of support and opportunity,” Dunn said.

Too often these days, people are more likely to connect with each other online, through apps, Facebook or cellphones. Williams said in working on her book she found a general sense of “cultural anxiety,” partly related to many people’s addiction to such technology – some individuals are constantly plugged in.

“There’s a yearning for analog experiences,” she said.

“I believe nature has emerged as a strong alternate reality,” Williams added, without any sarcasm.

Dunn agreed, noting that her best rides and trips with friends are when they are unplugged from their electronic devices.

“There still is a place for wilderness in our hearts,” Dunn said.