Posts tagged with "middle class"

Privilege, wildness and middle-class navel-gazing

There’s been some talk recently, on Louise’s blog and coincidentally in various corridors of power, about the potential for the Natural Change project to be privileged middle-class navel-gazing.

Is going to wild places a privilege? Yes, definitely. Is this privilege a problem? Well maybe the point is being missed.

The work I do outdoors is exclusive. Less physically able people can’t do it, elderly people find it too challenging, those who can’t afford to equip themselves with all the right clothing meet an economic barrier to taking part. So, on this basis, should we say it’s unfair for anyone to go out there?

Being in wild places has the power to transform the way we think, feel and act towards the natural environment, each other and, indeed, towards ourselves. John Muir famously took someone who was extremely privileged out into the wilderness of the Sierra Nevada mountains - President Roosevelt. The result was the US national park system and the American Wilderness Act. Both of which are now global phenomena.

I think, on balance, the world is better off thanks to that particular camping trip.

I have numerous other examples of this type of process: Wilderness experience leading to radical personal and often social change. I wrote my masters thesis on the topic.

I think it’s important not to throw the baby out with the bath water, or to fall into the trap of mutual exclusivity. Just because wilderness approaches to personal and social change aren’t accessible to all, doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be used by some, or that they don’t ultimately effect many.

And then there’s the simple fact that outdoor access has always been a staunchly working class issue. In the 1930’s the largest mass trespass in British history took place on Bleaklow in the Peak District. The leader of the group was confronted by the Duke of Devonshire and his hunting party out on the moors. “Get off my land”, shouts the Duke. “Why?”, responds the trespasser. “Because my forefathers fought for this land.” The trespass leader casually took off his jacket, rolled up his sleeves and calmly said, “Right then, I’ll fight you for it now!”. Working class rhetoric at is Mancunian best. Access to wild land is not a middle-class privilege. It’s a privilege full stop.

To achieve social change for sustainability we all need to be working wherever we are most effective. We all have a place along a broad frontier of change. As long as we each move our bit of the frontier in the ‘right’ direction, we are helping the cause.

I work with people who have influence and I work outdoors. It’s where I find it easiest to create change. I think the “wilderness is a middle-class privilege” mantra is completely true. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t a hugely powerful and effective way of achieving social change.

After all, what are we trying to do here?

Posted: November 13, 2008 | Author: David Key | Comments: 1 

Logic versus Emotion

Suffering from a real sense of frustration as I write this, which I’m not sure is the best state of mind to be writing a blog, but anyway…

I think I’m picking this up elsewhere in other people’s blogs, and maybe this is all “part of the process”, but the frustrations are multi-layered for me at the moment. A list might be in order, as cogent sentences are tricky right now:

1. It this all just a bunch of middle-class, indulgent nonsense? It’s definitely felt like that sometimes - particularly the look on some people’s faces when you try to explain. I’ve certainly failed in trying to explain it to my hairdresser… a story for another blog…

2. How do you move this beyond a small group of individuals who have had incredibly transformative experiences through their personal encounters with nature, to something which makes mass impact? That really was on my mind as I raced along the street in the pouring rain the other day, caught short in my reveries of the rain on the solo day in beautiful Knoydart by the sight of a homeless man, sat outside a shop, resigned as the downpour fell on him. I bet it’s unlikely he finds beauty anywhere, and that makes my heart hurt.

3. Language, language, language - the communications bit is driving me crazy (which I suppose you’d expect from an ex-tabloid hack). Thinking that if I’m going to take my responsibilities to this project seriously, I need to get more informed, I went to an event on climate change. It was completely and absolutely impenetrable. No wonder people retreat to recycled bags and energy-saving lightbulbs, it’s a darn sight easier. I was left feeling stupid (and I’m not, I’m a smart person - not academic - but smart) - by all the language and theories. But when I spoke to someone after it, they were dismissive, vehemently saying that the ubiquitous “Top 10″ recycling tips just aren’t enough to save us. Which left me thinking: “Well, if they aren’t, someone’s going to have to find a new way of making this accessible” - and, as Dave’s recent post http://www.naturalchange.org.uk/dave-key/dont-despair/  points out, making people feel like the end of the world is nigh ‘aint gonna cut it.

4. Lastly to the title of this post - logic versus emotion. This is how it feels - the logical arguements overwhelming the emotion. I still feel the experience of that first weekend so strongly -I’ve not lost it, despite the “blankets” of daily life - but it does feel, if not diminished, then not powerful enough, on it’s own, to change things. And yet…what the people who have responded to these blogs have shown, it is the emotional side of things which touches them, which moves them: comments on personal testimony, on pictures, on poetry, are clear enough signs of that. Is that the path to natural change? But how does that sit with the arguements over scale of response?

I’m drifting into territory I don’t yet know how to express. There is no neat conclusion to this blog for me - just a jumble of questions - but maybe you have some thoughts you want to share?

Posted: November 1, 2008 | Author: Louise Macdonald | Comments: 5