Leaving Civilization for a Life in Nature: Is it Really Possible?

[Jimmy Snyder]

Thanks to Sandy, right now I'm as close to getting back to nature as I ever hope to be. My biggest problem is that there are no lights at night and it's chilly in the house all the time. Even so I feel like I'm up to my eyeballs with it. I'll gladly take any of that civilization that you don't want.

 

[Ryan_m_b]

Kholdstare I get the distinct impression that you're confusing taking a trip to the countryside with living sans civilisation. They are utterly different things. Last night me and a group of friends hiked into nearby woods to set up a bonfire and have some fun. We had with us backpacks of food and drink, torches, multiple layers of clothes, appropriate boots, knives, newspapers to help start the fire and I had run up their earlier in the day to build a woodpile ready for the evening. We were "back to nature" in the way you seem to be describing. It was a lot of fun and definitely satisfied our biophilia over yet another night in town.

But that is nothing more than a theme park version of "back to nature". Even the most secluded inhabitants of the first world have the advantage of modern building materials, tools, medicine and the rest of the advantages that being in a "technosphere" for lack of a better word endows. You seem to be presenting this view that going "back to nature" will be multiple days and nights like I described above; pleasant experiences with no real hardship where even in the dark winter light and warmth arrive at the flight of a switch or lighter and food manifests at whim.

If you actually had to go back to nature in the same way that isolated present day tribes or ancient hunter gatherer societies did you would not find it pleasant. Nearly every waking hour would be spent working to gather and hunt food, to build and maintain tools, to tend to your aches and pains (hiking through fields and forests is a lot less fun when you don't have proper shoes) etcetera.

It sounds like what you really want is to move far from urban environments to a hamlet in the countryside. So long as you can find a good source of income you can have this Hawaiian lifestyle with no noise pollution and lots of leisure time with the great outdoors. Nature is cold and hunger and pain and sickness and misery and strife and there is a very good reason we developed complex technological societies to tame it and make it bearable. It is not some idyllic garden of eden that we've walled ourselves off from with dirty concrete and nosy cars.

 

[Astronuc]

There's a guy who lives in Hawaii (I don't want to put his name here). He is over 50. Has a balloon shop in town. Goes to spearfishing. Eat banana and papaya and relaxes. He's an inspiration.

Then make sure one gets back to Nature in the tropics, and preferably not where typhoons occur or with a long wet season.

One would need a source of clean water, with minimal heavy metals and no micro-organisms. Many folks hiking in the back country may not appreciate the presence of micro-organisms, e.g., giardia, among others, in the ground water.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giardia

Amoebic infections can be nasty, especially if the enter the eye or central nervous system. And then there are risks of dengue fever, cholera, yellow fever, malaria, . . . .

A dry, warm shelter, that is structurally stable and resilient, is important to one's survival.

It sounds like the gentleman in Hawaii lives on the fringes of modern civilization, which is fine. He may have a reliable source of clean water and ready access to medical care if necessary.

 

[Pythagorean]

I think living in the country is a good enough compromise for me.

 

[Kholdstare]

Hmmm. I guess That's it. I won't survive for longer period in nature on my own. Probably I'll work to raise a good enough bank balance and retire early to some small city. :D

 

[Astronuc]

Hmmm. I guess That's it. I won't survive for longer period in nature on my own. Probably I'll work to raise a good enough bank balance and retire early to some small city. :D

Actually, one might want to consider survival training.

http://www.boss-inc.com/
or http://www.wilderness-survival-skills.com/wilderness-survival-training.html
or http://www.mountainshepherd.com/
(no endorsement expressed or implied; example only)

It's possible to get 'back to Nature', and clearly 'primitive tribes/communities' do exist. However, one must have the knowledge to succeed.

One must know the edible plants, and one must know where to find food from wild life. One must know what to avoid. The Inuit, and other aboriginal peoples, have survived.

 

[AlephZero]

I think living in the country is a good enough compromise for me.

Even that has its good and bad points. Hearing the dawn chorus in spring is nice. Being woken up by the dawn chorus at 5am seven days a week is not so nice...

 

[WannabeNewton]

The ability to walk into some wilderness and know how to thrive is not handicapping yourself, it's empowering.

It doesn't have much practical use in modern society.