nature “lovers” who hate their hometowns
so here’s something I’ve been thinking about for a while now, and I’m actually likely to make a video addressing it in-depth here in the near future.
recently I made some posts about the beautiful nature you can find in Ohio. I focused on Southeastern Ohio, since that’s where I’m from and where I studied, but people from all parts of Ohio responded with their own pieces of beauty.
I did this is response to the never-ending hate I see for Ohio, mostly from people in or from Ohio.
“it’s ugly,” “there’s just corn here,” “i’d rather die than live in ohio,” “i can’t wait to go somewhere that’s actually pretty.”
and you know, Ohio has a lot of problems. Politically, financially, and socially. But that’s not what these comments are about. The ones I addressed were all from “nature-lovers” who are tired of their ugly state. Useless, boring, corn-infested Ohio.
So y’all can’t wait to get out. You can’t wait to go to another state, or even another country, full of Nature you deem actually beautiful. Nature that meets your standards, Nature you deem worthy of protection and acknowledgment.
You say you want to save the world. You say you love nature. You love wildlife. You love trees. But here’s the thing: whether you know it or not,
Because Ohio, or any other “ugly,” “shitty” state you live in does have nature in it. There are natural areas and wildlife species and plants DESPERATELY in need of some “nature lovers” to notice them, to fight for their protection, and to generally just give a shirt about them.
But instead, you fetishize some distant idea of wilderness and nature that’s foreign to you and therefore more attractive.
You dream of abandoning the land you live on that needs your help to go visit some other land that’s often being damaged by tourism.
All for the sake of escaping modern living for a while and experiencing wilderness. But here’s the thing.
There is no such thing as wilderness.
Not in the jungles, not in the deserts, not in the poles. People have lived everywhere. Everything on the planet has been touched by humans.
“Wilderness” is a trick played on us all. We call some place empty of humans “wilderness,” but if you look into it, you often find that just 150 years ago, indigenous people were chased out after having occupied and affected those lands for hundreds or thousands of years, all so we could enjoy our “wilderness.”
Nothing. In Nature. Is. Untouched. By. Humans.
But everything in nature needs our help.
Listen. I’m not saying that on an individual level any of us are responsible for the downfall of Nature. No. Nature’s enemies and attackers are big. They’re corporations, politicians, wealthy greed.
But nature can’t fight for itself. We have to fight for it. It isn’t hopeless unless we abandon it.
That oak tree behind your house in West Virginia, that little swamp down the road in Ohio, with a cornfield on one side and a Walmart potentially going in on the other.
They’re not a rain forest. They’re not a coral reef. They’re not the faraway beauties you see in National Geographics. But they’re important. And they need you to start giving a damn about them.
So I’m begging you to stop looking at the nature in your backyard or your city park through such a jaded lens. I’m begging you to stop only looking for Nature somewhere faraway.
Because it’s Everywhere and it needs us.
