Buying Relaxation

Today in Western Society, we live in a culture where we work harder than ever and we relax less than ever. Our leisure time is defined as whatever remains after all our work has been taken care of. Leisure is typically seen as relaxation, but however in today’s society we have redefined leisure as something that relates to the economic realm.

We tend to believe that we need to have the best equipment, the fanciest equipment, to go outdoors. But that’s simply not true. Nature should be viewed as something that does not require a lot of materials or something that should be free even. However, the outdoor recreation is a multi-billion-dollar industry today that markets our intended desires. We tend to work pretty hard for leisure activities such as mountain biking or other outdoor sports that require a high intensity workout. We look to these activities for excitement in our dull lives. However, instead we should be looking at leisure as a state of mind that does not require an activity to be stimulated. It should be something natural and free-flowing. Leisure has turned into consumerism and it fools us into believing that we need to purchase goods to enjoy ourselves. This correlation is evident with the multiple companies and catalogs that market their products such as Patagonia. Patagonia offers a wide range of outdoor equipment at a higher cost in order to prove that they are environmentally friendly. This idea relates more to economic privilege rather than getting outside. We lose a more authentic experience of nature and rather create one for ourselves. It is an enormous injustice because companies and industries are profiting from this not nature itself.

Since the sixteenth century we’ve tended to over exaggerated nature. Within our paintings and pieces of art we exaggerate how the natural world looks to create a stronger sentiment towards nature. We change landscape paintings into something that’s more abstract rather than depicting a natural ecosystem. They relate more to aesthetic rather than literal images. Landscape does not mean habitat or place it is just a representation of a visual experience. Going off of this concept, scenery is also something that relates to a dramatic alteration of the natural world. We tend to make things look picturesque and aesthetically pleasing to us, even if those ideas might not be accurate. We tend to value landscape but we don’t necessarily immerse ourselves in nature as we should. We want things to look a certain way such as our lawns or we want our cities to have beautiful gardens. Our addiction to lawn care is an environmental concern as well. The amount of pesticides that are used show a positive relationship to cancer, birth defects, reproductive diseases, neurotoxic effects, and other serious illnesses. We need to pursue a more environmentally-friendly lifestyle and value nature.

Another key concept that we use to alter our natural world around us would be theming. We tend to make things look a certain way to give a certain natural appeal. Disney theme parks for example recreate rainforests to give the consumer the feeling that they are immersed in nature when it is simply just artificial. It tells people how to feel and it dictates how we act in society. We generally have this love for Disney and a strong connection to our childhood. So we don’t seem to notice the fakeness behind it and the fact that is taking us further away from nature. Nature shouldn’t be something that’s controllable or to exist only to fulfill human needs. The natural world it’s not just a form of entertainment for us. Humans are not the only aspect in the ecosystem.

TV and film also affects our viewpoints on nature. Environmental topics are almost non-existent prime television programs. There is less environmental knowledge being shared and the more TV that people watch the less they are to be likely environmental savvy. Nature generally just serves the movie’s plot and characters. When we watch movies with animals or documentaries we tend to get this idea that we’re seeing their natural behavior. However, there’s a lot we don’t see behind-the-scenes or what is needed to create it. We only see a human viewpoint because a human is controlling the camera work. Typically documentaries also feature a human narrated voice which also reinforces the idea that humans have dominance over nature. We got this false intimacy from watching documentaries and it only strengthens our mentality that we need to conquer or save nature.

Lastly, another key component of leisure that relates to the environment would be tourism. Vacation is very popular among Americans and the tourism business is enormous. Typically U.S. tourist travel outside their borders to reach more nature centered places such as Mexico. We tend to only view vacation as leaving our everyday places to go somewhere for more than 3 days. It is a getaway for us. We plan these vacations with the intent that they will reconnect us. Our TVs and movies also dictate how we view these locations. Postcards usually depict picture-perfect beaches or amazing weather and an overall good experience. But we forget that the people who live there are not benefiting from this type of consumerism. Generally only large corporations or businesses see profit while the people who live there are impoverished. For example our trade Agreement, NAFTA, effects tourism in Mexico. Our environmental laws are not being accounted for in the factories that we build in Mexico. It’s almost like these factories get a free pass and just ruin the lives of the people in the surrounding area. The Sierra Club released video about Matamoros in Mexico and how the community is damaged because of our toxicity. The people there have to deal with piles of garbage, numerous birth defects, and developmental defects because of the pollution in the air. We tend to overlook this side of globalism when we’re traveling because it is the ugly side of the truth. However, we need to be more responsible about how we travel and how we spend our leisure time to take into account what it truly effects.

Personally speaking, I love to travel. I’ve traveled to many different countries and it is hard to recognize the effects that my traveling has on the surrounding communities. For example, I’ve been to Mexico before in parts of Cancún. You only see nice resorts along the beaches, you don’t see the people who live there. For my travel plans for the future I hope to make a more sustainable effort and a lower impact on the environment. It is important that we all recognize the effects that we can all have not only our own communities but communities around the world. We like to see our countries as having borders but in reality we all share the same environment. The environment does not have borders and therefore we need to be more responsible about how we manage our own lives.

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