NOTE: This post is part of the Blog Action Day: loads of blogs talking about the environment on October 15.
Well, T-F is certainly a personal blog…the crux of it this past year as been my Project 365 photo gallery and a few random surveys and posts. When I created this blog, I had two main goals in mind:
- Learn how to set up a use a blog package (done!)
- Write about things technological and how they interact with the more personal side of things.
After I joined with Blog Action Day, I had planned on writing something about technologies that can help the environment like compact fluorescent bulbs, hybrid cars, low-flow showerheads, etc. But, I am really, really sure that those topics will be covered well on other blogs.
As I was driving back from my recent trip to North Carolina, I passed through one of my most favorite parts of the planet Earth…the mountains of Western North Carolina. I worked for several years at a summer camp outside of Asheville and have hiked/climbed/played all around there in the Pisgah National Forest and other parks and forests. The drought has kept the fall colors at bay so this year will not be spectacular but the area is lovely, no matter what. Being in the woods was always important to me and I still love it today…it just takes me a little longer to get up the energy (and pack all my “necessities” for such a trip – I am SO not a part of the pack light movement any more).
So, how can I pull in my love for the environment and make it part of a post on the Techy-Feely blog?
So, I began to think about how much technology I now take with me when I travel to the woods. I remember getting my first Gore-tex jacket. It was some “new fangled” high tech material that was supposed to keep me dry and let my sweat get out. Didn’t work very well. But, I was an early adopter.
I also had a high tech sleeping bag that squished down really really small. Today’s bags get even smaller but I still use that sleeping bag. That was my high tech gear.
Then, I splurged for a Coleman Peak 1 backpack stove and was jealous when my brother got a whisperlite stove instead. That was back when I was still backpacking and weight was an issue.
On more recent camping trips, we had at least two big stoves, several gas lanterns and other camping gear along with: laptops, digital cameras, cell phones, MP3 players and portable speakers and more. It was like a Best Buy Goes Camping (heh) but it represents how pervasive personal technology has become in my life and the lives of my friends.
In fact, the last time we went out, after we drove to the top of the mountain, everybody started making cell phone calls because we had reception up that high!
Having this personal technology did not diminish our enjoyment of the camping trip..and I have some great photos from the trip…but I also sometimes find myself thinking back to the days when I would throw a long sleeve shirt and a water bottle in a daypack and hit the trail to go up a mountain to just look…not take a picture…not take some video….not have a headset on to listen to music…just sit.
As much as I love me some personal technology, I think I will try to do that a little more. Just sit.
Happy Blog Action Day, everybody!
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