1 Laura Berger Independent Research

Interpersonal Relationships In the Outdoors

Introduction
Environmental and outdoor literature has primarily focused on the intrapersonal relationship, i.e. the relationship that one has with oneself, that man has in the natural world. Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson, the founding fathers of environmental writing, discuss the idea of isolation in the outdoors and how it can enhance this relationship in a myriad of ways. Both authors, along with John Muir, Edward Abbey, Wallace Stegner, Rachel Carson and numerous others have discussed the idea of what a wilderness area is with respect to how it creates dynamic relationships between one and the natural world. What all of these authors address either implicitly or directly is the preservation of the natural world through ones intrapersonal relationship with it. What is missing from most outdoor and environmental literature is how recreation in the natural world usually augments interpersonal relationships more efficiently than the development of these relationships in most societal settings. I will be discussing through this philosophical dichotomy the idea that environmental literature seems to be missing: how in an outdoor setting people usually develop healthier social relationships with one another than in most indoor scenes. The idea that Im proposing throughout this paper is that in an outdoor setting, people usually form a stronger interpersonal relationship than in most classrooms or work places. When researching this topic, it was important to view the ideas about relationships between humans and the natural world. There are two types of nature writing in the past few centuries within American Literature; one being the intrapersonal relationships between land and man that nature authors discussed. The other pieces of writing are in social science journals focusing on adventure and outdoor education schools, which touch on how students form bonds with one another in the natural world. However, what these journals seem to focus on is the development of oneself when in the

2 outdoors, rather than the development of interpersonal relationships. Since the literatures and journals dont explore this topic fully, Im looking at how the creation of interpersonal relationships in the outdoors is usually stronger than in most work places.

Methodology
In this article I have examined two different types of writing to explain my idea, as well as show what has been written about interpersonal relationships in the outdoors. In order to do so, I have to take an in-depth look at the nature and environmental authors that emerged during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. I extensively combed through the Encyclopedia of American Nature Writers: Volumes 1 and 2, read about the authors philosophies and the influence of their writing on society. I read about everybody from Wendell Berry, to Cathy Johnson to Scott Momaday to Walt Whitman. There were a total of seventy authors in the two encyclopedias, and I decided to focus on two main writers during the nineteenth century: Thoreau and Emerson; two writers in the twentieth century, Edward Abbey and Wallace Stegner. Even though I picked only the most prominent writers, I read through all 70 just to be sure there werent any writers who touched on the subject. I selected these authors because I believe that not only do they embody the ideas of wilderness in relationship to man, but they also have very different views and philosophies about intrapersonal relationships with nature. I found that each author focused on similar ideas, that, with slight variations, they were proposing. The main focus was that there is the intrinsic value of nature, giving us reason to find a direct connection to it and a desire to be in the natural world. Each of the authors of the twentieth century rooted their work from this idea, expanding into musings of conservation and how the intrapersonal relationship with the natural world becomes reason for us to protect our lands. Additionally almost all of the authors that I read about had kept some sort of journal with their thoughts and views on the idea at hand; this idea is prevalent in my article, as will be explained later. Furthermore the second set of literature that I reviewed was the social science literature written about interpersonal relationships in the outdoors. I systematically read through the Environmental Education Journal as well as the Outdoor and Adventure Education Journal, NOLS: Wilderness Ethics and the online National Outdoor Leadership

3 School (NOLS) research library to find articles about interpersonal relationships and the natural world. I chose articles that related directly to the topic, using the words relationships and outdoors in the journal search bar. The literature on the development of interpersonal relationships in the natural world is limited, and related more to group development and community building in the outdoors rather than the creation of interpersonal relationships (Breuning 2010). I interviewed several different professors at St. Lawrence University who are working in or pursuing jobs in outdoor education and had individual conversations with these educators who have insights that have yet to be published in this field of research. Dr, Baylor Johnson I chose because I knew he had a history of working in the Outdoor Studies Department at St. Lawrence University. Also I spoke with Erik Backlund in the Environmental Studies Department at St. Lawrence University, Steve Alexander, Rachel Landis (former head of the Adirondack Semester at St. Lawrence University), Dr. Tom Greene in the Environmental Pyschology Department at St. Lawrence University, and finally Neil Kessler and Anthony Berkers who are both pursuing their Masters and/or PhD Degrees in environmental and outdoor education. It made the most sense to interview all of them since they have experience in outdoor education. I asked them questions such as, what are your beliefs about the development of interpersonal relationships in the natural environment versus intrapersonal relationships in the natural world? I specifically focused on Dr. Johnson, and his forthcoming book Adventures with Tess, which in certain aspects discusses the interpersonal relationship that one may have with the natural world. In addition I am drawing upon the ideas in my own personal journal, and extensively probed my own personal experiences. While I was a student at NOLS, I kept a journal of my thoughts in the moments that were most difficult, or those I felt like recording. These entries were written before I thought about this article so everything is authentic; I had no prior ideas of writing this going into the experiences my journal entries come from. Thus, every philosophy I wrote wasnt influenced by the fact that I needed research. Authors such as Thoreau and Emerson use their own personal journals to justify ideas they pose, as I am doing here. Looking back upon them, I saw that I took note of peoples interpersonal and intrapersonal relationships in the outdoors. Moreover I

4 wrote about the things that I noticed in nature, and mulled over similar ideas to the nature authors that will be discussed in my literature review. Besides my own experiences in the natural world, I observed those experiences of high school students and how they bond with one another. During the summer of 2011 I was an expedition trip leader for two different groups of children ranging from ages 14 18 at Wilderness Ventures (WV). One group consisted of six participants, while the other consisted of ten (not including my co-leader, Austin, and myself), and will discuss this later in my conclusions.

Nature and Environmental Literature Review

Many environmental authors from 1800 until present have discussed the intrapersonal relationship between man and himself and man and land conservation. Specifically I am going to be focusing on Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson because they are the founding fathers of nature and environmental writing. Its important to discuss both Thoreau and Emerson because they are the first well-known authors in American Literature who wrote about the environment and mans relationship to it. Their writings revolve around personal experiences in the outdoors, and how that has affected they view our environment to protect it for future generations. These authors were influenced by the naturalism movement, which began in the late nineteenth century. It steered American literature tradition away from interpersonal wilderness relationships, focusing on two facets of naturalism as an aspect of realism, the second part being pertinent to my article. It explains that theres a dichotomy of tension where naturalist stories sprout; either ones understanding of their own experience in nature, or the aesthetic recreation of experience. This ideas shows why there is no American literature written about interpersonal relationships in the outdoors.

NINETEENTH CENTURY NATURALIST WRITERS

As the environment began to degrade in the nineteenth century, naturalist writers came forward with their ideas about our relationship to and respect for it. The founding father of naturalism was Ralph Waldo Emerson, who brought the radical philosophy of

5 changing American society to distinguish it from European society. Revolutionizing the way that we relate to nature, Emerson argues that nature is the symbol of our spirit, attempting to define what nature actually is, and how every person connects to nature on a deep spiritual level. His writing is not typically descriptive of the outdoor scenic world as the nature and environmental authors that trail him. In Nature he claims that the natural world acts as a template to the spiritual world and nature is opposite of the soul, answering to it part for part one must recognize the correspondence between the individual soul and the natural world. Thoreau did as many nature authors discuss: he lived in isolation in the forest, trying to find the connection between one and nature. His most well known piece of writing is Walden, where he went into the woods because [he] wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if [he] could not learn what it had to teach and not, when [he] came to die, discover that [he] had not lived (90). The italicized part shows how Thoreau went into the outdoors purposefully to see what sort of intrapersonal relationship he could find as well as the social relationship that he could create with the natural world. However, this shows how nineteenth century writers wrote about intrapersonal relationships in and with the environment, not interpersonal relationships as I am focusing on in this article. Thoreau did touch on personal relationships in his first book, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, discussing the bond between himself and his brother, John. He doesnt specifically talk about how he developed a better relationship with his brother when in the outdoors rather than at home, but he comes the closest of any nature author that I have surveyed to talking about interpersonal relationships in the natural world. In the critical dimensions of Thoreaus writing, especially Walden, is the fact that it dauntingly paralleled his own lifestyle pertaining to isolation and turning to nature as a way to escape cultural, societal, and political issues. Thoreau deeply believed in the relationship between our human society and the natural world, in wildness is the preservation of the world (Excursions, 185).

TWENTIETH CENTURY ENVIRONMENTAL WRITERS

6 Next we have the twentieth century nature writers, who can be examined as environmentalist writers due to the fact that their literature focuses on conservation of the land1. Edward Abbeys emergence coincided with the growing popularity of naturalist movement and the prevalence of mans relationship to nature, which, as was discussed earlier, brings about our need to conserve the land, but doesnt focus on the interpersonal relationships that people have in the outdoors. Abbey looked at human behaviors with respect to the political scene, whereas I examine them interpersonally. He expresses in The Authors Preface to his Own Book, that I write to investigate the comedy and tragedy of human relationships. To resist and sabotage the contemporary drift toward a technocratic, militaristic totalitarianism whatever its ideological coloration (Patterson 2007). In this quote Abbey wants to focus on ones political interpersonal relationships instead of wilderness interpersonal relationship. He approaches environmental writing through social and political interpersonal relationships, not wilderness interpersonal relationships. Thus showing us that he had some ideas and opinions about how humans relate interpersonally and intrapersonally in the outdoors. Contradictive to his work above, Abbeys most popular novel, Desert Solitaire, is a question for the preservation of wilderness, an examination of the self and intertwines the two ideas together. Similar to Thoreau, Abbey says in The Journey Home, Now and then, when we want it, some space and solitude and silence. . . (187); the isolation of man in the wilderness and no meditations of peoples relationships between one another in the wild. Wendell Berry claims Abbey understands that to defend and conserve oneself as a human being in the fullest truest sense one must defend and conserve many others and much self (Patterson 2007), showing that authors during the twentieth century pondered political interpersonal relationships. What Stegner talks about, including The Sound of Mountain Water, One Way to Spell Man and Coda: Wilderness Letter, is the sense of place in regard to human relationships within it. We have an inescapable connection (political or personal) to the environment, which draws authors in to write about it. He finishes The Sound of Mountain Water with the reminder and the reassurance that it [wilderness]
1

Emerson and Thoreau both dont talk about legislation, while Abbey does. Muir, who comes in between these ideas, presents

political and legislative ideas in nature literature, leading up to Abbey.

7 is still there is good for our spiritual health it is good for us when we are young because of the incomparable sanity it can bring briefly as vacation and rest into our insane lives (147) and One Way to Spell Man with we need to learn to listen to the land, hear what it says, understand what it can and cant do over the long haul (177). These essays bring forth how we need to protect the natural world for our own well being by creating a relationship with it. A main idea Abbey touches on in relation to the environment is the idea of place and how people relate better to the natural world if they have a place-based environment they are living in. Wallace Stegners writing was place-based, but wrote about isolation and individualism concerning the environment in his Coda: Wilderness Letter, And so that never again can we have the chance to see ourselves single, separate, vertical and individual in the world, part of the environment of trees and rocks and soil, brother to the animals, part of the natural world and competent to belong in it. Stegner, was a conservationist, but differentiates by not combining his conservationist ideas with his fictional writing (Patterson 2007), saying, fiction ought to be concerned with the perception of truth, the attempt to get at the concerns of the human heart. It has to do with human relations and human feelings and human character and not with things that you could join [conservation movements]. Many of the nature and environmental authors that emerged through the naturalism movement in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries were influential in how we examine the outdoors. They discuss in depth the intrapersonal relationship one has in the natural world and how we view it as being something that we can conquer. As can be seen throughout this literature review, what is missing from these musings is how people relate interpersonally in an outdoor setting. Generally the relationships created outdoors are vastly different than those one might develop at a college university or a workplace.

Social Science Literature Review

This topic has become of interest to me because there is scant literature written about interpersonal wilderness relationships. What has been looked at is how group dynamics form and change within an expedition in relation to ones intrapersonal

8 dynamic growth. NOLS, one of the founders of expedition behavior, group dynamics, and community building in the natural world, expresses these ideas. NOLS has written books about ones interpersonal connection to the natural world such as Abbey does by utilizing the preservation of the wild, Nature has infinite lessons to teach human beings seeking to nurture or redefine their relationships with it (74). Though this school does harp on this idea of preservation, they claim that there is a specific reason why most group dynamics grow heartily in the outdoors: in sharing your wonder about a place with others, it is reaffirmed and maintained within you (74). Neil Kessler, a University of New Hampshire graduate student in Environmental Education, claims most of the literature and research focuses on the usefulness of student development in self-esteem, leadership, self-efficacy, and personal skills, while lacking studies in peoples interpersonal relationships in the natural world. The majority of outdoor education journalists dont address how people create better wilderness interpersonal relationships. Rather they talk about community development and group dynamics. Breuning et al. (2010) explores the idea of community development in the natural world, scantly discussing interpersonal bonds in the outdoors versus in a classroom. They claim that, there is a distinct lack of research related to psychological sense of community and involvement with nature (552). This article differs in the idea that Im pursuing by explaining how a sense of community development in groups is enhanced in the outdoors. They dont discuss the specific formation of interpersonal relationships, but instead talk about the group growth as a whole. Additionally Breuning et al. (2010) claim that being in an environment that places physical and emotional demands on the individual increases the need not only for self-reliance, but also for reliance on others in the group (552), which Dr. Baylor Johnson disagrees with. Some of the literature that closely relates to the idea Im discussing are the articles that look at camps for children, viewing how the majority of campers create strong friendships. This idea varies from my article because a) not all outdoor summer camps have long expedition periods, differing from my personal experience and b) children arent necessarily put into extreme outdoor scenarios forcing them to develop stronger interpersonal relationships, Mary E. Arnold (2005) claims that camps create a

9 development of knowledge, independence, responsibility, self-esteem, self-efficacy, and teamwork (2), which can be compared to the development of groups and of the self in an expedition setting. But, as was stated before, it is quite diverse. Much of the social science literature published about interpersonal relationships in the natural world relates to the development of group dynamics in expedition and camp situations (Arnold, 4). This is in opposition to the actual relationship that is created amongst members of the group when participating in these wilderness experiences. Since the literature on interpersonal relationships is so scarce it enhances the importance of my ideas about interpersonal relationships in the natural world. This idea can teach people how to connect to one another with no distractions, a rarity in our present-day society. It is a topic up for observation and discussion; a need to pursue the idea as a new piece of research.

Conclusions
PERSONAL OBSERVATIONS In much of Abbey, Muir, Thoreau, and Emersons works they spoke of the relationship between man and the outdoors. It is rare for someone to write about the strength of interpersonal relationships when recreating in the outdoors. The literature on this subject is rare; people have written about how group dynamics work in an expedition setting, like NOLS, and how personal growth develops because of these outdoor recreational settings. Within my own experiences and observations of students at NOLS and participants at WV. I have personally seen and experienced the development of these relationships in a more passionate way than relationships Ive created on my University campus. Dr. Baylor Johnson claims that it is not the natural world itself that creates a better development of interpersonal relationships, but rather that there are a few factors that take place when recreating that motivate this growth. Recreationally speaking, when nature lovers head into the outdoors, its normally in a less stressful, relaxed lifestyle that gives

10 people time to focus in on relationships with one another as opposed to the other daily activities that traditionally take up our time. He claims in a book hes currently working on, Travels with Tess, that this kind of slow afternoon, talking, watching the passage of the sun and clouds must have been a common occurrence once. Now it is a rare treat. We moderns have traded time and human connection for the material abundanceour nice tent and nifty climbing gear includedthat is choking the earth. We lucky ones have never a dull moment. As a consequence, we never have a chance to sit together quietly for a long afternoon, just keeping company, and patiently stitching the unbreakable ties of love. Johnson makes an interesting point of discussing how environmental forces that actually play a part in our relationship development in the natural world may just be a mental perception for outdoor recreationists. Where in reality the outdoors give us freedom, a lack of distractions and no forced bonds that characteristically occur within our society. Additionally, we discussed how being in the outdoors is such a powerful experience that it can either strengthen these bonds we strive for, or tear them apart depending on the situation one is put in and the people that one is with in these settings. Within the past year I have spent more than 50% of my time recreating in the outdoors, either as a student at NOLS, or as an expedition trip-leader for WV. Either way, my experiences in the outdoor world have been far and vast with people of different backgrounds, ever-changing scenery, and filled with extreme life-changing events. What I found to be most interesting was how often in my journal entries I wrote about my relationships with the people around me. I questioned their philosophies and beliefs and wrote about the joy I felt when I had made great connections with my instructors and my peers. But, like Thoreau, Muir, and Emerson I also discussed my desire for isolation early on in my NOLS semester, sometimes I feel like I need the isolation and the connection to nature more-so than anybody else around me. Thats why I recreate in the outdoors; thats why Im here thats what Im looking for salvation, relaxation, life in the simplest manner. A Thoreau-ian based attitude embodied in my soul. Although I ponder and search for isolation in the wilderness early on in my journal entries, as the days go on all I talk about is how my social relationships have become deeper and more meaningful than any other relationship Ive ever felt back at

11 home. I love the people Im studying, climbing, becoming friends with Each friend is similar or represents someone from back home but in a very different sense but I think the best thing that came out of today was that I made a personal connection with each instructor Late at night when everything calmed down I sat under the stars and gazed with a few close friends. It had become a nightly routine and created a bond within our group that is indescribable the night ended with a severe thunderstorm and hilarious stories concerning the boys livelihood. I think the stories brought us all closer together as a group. As an outdoor enthusiast and recreationist, sometimes it can be the environmental pressures that cause humans to bond closer to one another. Even though Johnson argues that its the lack of distraction that causes the development of interpersonal relationships, there are those who would argue that if we didnt have extreme environmental influences on us, the relationships might not be as strong, myself included. Or maybe its the idea that we know what the natural world could do to us at any one point that causes us to draw into one another and protect the other for survival and safety. Within my own personal experiences, as the student, I realized afterwards that I brought myself closer to those who surrounded me because they had gone through the same radical, uncontrollable environmental events I had. At our de-briefing session, one of our instructors said that the most important thing is that we hold onto these experiences and hold onto each other. I never understood exactly what he meant by that until months later, when after time had passed as I searched for someone to relate to in the same manner, I apprehended the fact that there was nobody else; nobody besides the people on my semester. What I noticed in my groups at WV was that the group size and gender roles determine the interpersonal relationships created. As is prevalent in our society, girls cling to girls, while boys cling to boys. That is to be expected. However, in our first group Wind River One (WR1) we had three girls while in the second Great Divide Two (GD2) we only had two. In each group we had extreme events that caused the group to bond together, but GD2 (six participants) seemed to bond closer together than WR1 (ten participants). The three girls in WR1 experienced a day in the Wind River Wilderness (known for extreme conditions during the summer) filled with hail and lightening storms, freezing rain, and deathly avalanche crossings for which

12 very few of them had ever experienced. One girl in particular was having a difficult time compared to the other two, and though the others were there to help her out through that section, they still left her to walk the trail alone in the back of the pack. At the end of the expedition when saying goodbye in the airport, some of the participants seemed to have an artificial goodbye, while others were sincere and upset to be leaving behind those who had cared for them in the wilderness. Although this group dynamic seemed to evaporate with the ice crystals on our eyelashes from that difficult afternoon, GD2 had a completely different scenario. Two girls, both 15 years old bonded better with four boys, ages 14 and 15, than any interpersonal relationship Ive seen with high school students before. Our group size was small, much more proportional than WR1, and additionally we had a natural event that was more severe than anything we had experienced so far that summer. The story is long and drawn out, but the quick and the short ends with one of the girl participants, Austin, and myself hurdling down a snow glacier towards a field of rock boulders at an almost unstoppable pace. This experience in itself was near-death, and I believe its because of this that the group became so inseparable. They stayed up late and talked by campfires, didnt include Austin and I in their conversations, stayed together on trail, carried each others backpack when somebody was struggling, had deep, meaningful conversations in their tents at night, and cried at the airport upon departure day. The combination of this intense event with the small group size, and lack of teenage distractions caused them to create this deep, connective, interpersonal bond that I once experienced with my own peers in the outdoors, as well as my fellow leaders at WV.

MUSINGS OF THE HEART Its impossible to explain personal events and experiences to anybody who wasnt there because they occurred only between you and those who were out there with you. That idea in itself draws such a deep link between people that when it is missing, even back in ordinary life with your best friends, it can still feel like there is an empty hole missing. Those interpersonal relationships created were deeper than anything else that has ever been developed before. The distractions, everyday safety from natural disasters, and

13 lack of time with your peers and family disintegrates the bonds that could be created if these things were taken away and replaced with unlimited time, silence of the wilderness, and environmental stressors. When it comes to developing an interpersonal relationship with someone, its almost impossible to find that deep connection that each one of us desires. These relationships are hard to come by in our society when distractions such as TV, radio, schoolwork, family issues, and a myriad of other things can get in the way of developing something deep and meaningful. Its almost as if you have to put yourself in a dangerous, environmental situation where the pressures of the natural world allow you to take care of those who you are with; most people in this society would not care to see someone injured despite their own feelings towards them. When you are in a classroom, the lack of these environmental pressures combined with the distraction of a college environment causes you to focus less on the people and more on the subject matter. But when you are placed in the outdoors, where adverse weather conditions, intense terrain, and lack of society affect your absolute being, we are forced into creating a denser, more loving interpersonal relationship with those that we have common experiences with. A situation similar to that is something that typically cant be recreated in the classroom, home, or the workplace.

REFERENCES

Arnold, Mary et. Al. (2005). Fun and Friendship in the Natural World: The Impact of Oregon 4-H Residential Camping Programs on Girl and Boy Campers. Extension Journal, 43. http://www.joe.org/joe/2005december/rb1.php Breunig, Mary et. Al. (2010). The impact of outdoor pursuits on college students' perceived sense of community. Journal of Leisure Research, http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3702/is_4_42/ai_n57898399/ Marsh, Paul. E. (1999). What Does Camp do for Kids? American Camping Association. http://www.acacamps.org/research/marsh

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Patterson, Daniel. (2007). Early American Nature Writers, Volumes 1 and 2.