Spring is in full bloom and we all need to get out there. Indeed, recently outdoor enthusiasts of all kinds gathered at the Boston Outdoor Expo to check out the latest gear, tech and overall advice for hiking, biking and camping, and to hear relevant speakers on important topics like “Leave No Trace,” the principle of minimizing human impact when visiting precious outdoor spaces.
Inspired, I decided to learn even more about how to have my own wilderness-immersion experience. To start, I watched a few documentaries about wild animal-human encounters. Those were unsettling. Then I found Youtube videos on foraging edible mushrooms, including “magic” ones, thinking maybe this would be fun.
Finally, I sat through a few episodes of “Naked and Afraid,” the reality series featuring naked contestants tasked with surviving in the wilderness for a few weeks. This was a mistake. I quickly tired of the show’s implausible premise, the absurdity of the “helpful” items provided to the contestants (machetes for naked people?), and the constant distraction of their pixelated privates. I wouldn’t be doing any of that, even if I could find a bear-fighting machete in the aisles at REI.
I was getting nowhere. I felt adrift. I needed a few new books.
Thankfully, I found U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine’s new book, Walk Ride Paddle: A Life Outside, which recounts his three epic journeys across Virginia from 2019 to 2021. Kaine (while clothed) hiked more than 500 miles on the Appalachian Trail, from Harper’s Ferry to the Tennessee border, before biking 300-plus miles along the crest of Virginia’s Blue Ridge, concluding with a canoe excursion of another 300-plus miles on the James River to the Chesapeake Bay. This is a man who truly loves the outdoors and can zip up and sleep on the ground in all kinds of weather. Kaine kept a detailed journal as he traveled, describing Virginia’s historical and physical terrain as well his entertaining encounters with people along the way. That journal, supplemented later by Kaine’s reflections on faith, friendship, leadership and the need for community in an interconnected world, became this engaging book. Business leaders, environmental policymakers and, in fact, anyone who likes to walk, bike or paddle will appreciate this book.
So would cycling and hiking outside — or disconnecting from the 70-page merger agreement on my screen — actually help? Yes and yes, according to Harvard Medical School and MIT professor Dr. Jeff Karp, author of the fascinating new book: L.I.T.: Life Ignition Tools. Our brains, Karp explains, have evolved into complex machines that default to low-energy mode. Too much time on this autopilot leads to sluggish creativity, faded connections and slower processing — creating a situation that could, in some cases, result in agreeing to become a contestant on a naked survival show. Luckily, Karp packs the book with exercises and practical cues for “flipping the switch” to creative-power mode, including smart tips from some 40 accomplished people ranging from Nobel Prize winners to Olympic medalists and entrepreneurs. No surprise that Karp, a bioinspirationalist who looks to nature for problem-solving ideas and strategies, also prescribes a healthy dose of the outdoors.
In New England, we are blessed with many outdoor options. But leaving no trace needs to have greater meaning, all day, in more ways — especially now. So argues journalist Edward Humes in his brilliant new book, Total Garbage: How We Can Fix Our Waste and Heal Our World. On average, we swallow about 285 pieces of plastic a day through particles in our water, the air — even from our sugar and salt. This book will have you thinking about the food you eat, the stove you use and your role in preserving the great outdoors. For Humes, that’s exactly the point.
Tim Kaine’s journey offered him spiritual renewal, time for honest reflection and a chance to think anew about ways to maintain “our environmental bounty” for coming generations. I prefer his approach to reality TV. Now more than ever when outside, we need to be open to fresh inspiration — and also fully clothed.
Read in the Boston Business Journal
Larry Gennari is a business lawyer and chief curator of Authors & Innovators, an annual business book and ideas festival. Watch recent interviews with authors here. Gennari also teaches Project Entrepreneur, a business fundamentals bootcamp for returning citizens, at BC Law School.
