Weather & Environment Blog

The call of nature is becoming immensely popular. The urge to explore remote areas has become a part of mainstream eco-tourism. Vacationers are more interested these days in moving out of the well beaten tourist track. The excitement comes from going to the unexplored and confronting the unexpected. This is a departure from the all too common perspective of going to a beach, mountain spot, water fall, river or wild life sanctuary where everything is too well organized. These sensitive travelers are ready to take on the hard life. Whether hiking, trekking, cycling or biking, these travelers prefer isolated spots to settle down and camp for a few days and nights.

The best place to spend your leisure time is the outdoors. During vacation time it is a good thing to get out of your house, rather out of your city and town and head for some location in the mountains or just the country side. This way you and your kids will get close to the nature.

Imagine the entire world rushing by you and leaving you in its wake a tired body and mind. That’s what it gets to with a hectic life. Don’t you feel its time for you to take a flight into the world filled with the sounds of music of the flowing life of nature’s bounties? But then are you scared to get away from the comforts of civilization? Don’t despair. It’s never been so easy. You have just the stuff to take the basics of civilization with you, and all as your backpack. That’s how easy it is with camping as a popular sport and leisure time getaway option.

In another example of the U.S. army leading the private world into a much healthier and much less fossil fuel dependent future, the U.S. Military Corps of Engineers is aiming to qualify for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification for the new high efficiency office building at Fort Belvoir in Virginia. The building was initially designed to satisfy a smaller standard but the Department of Defense has created a policy of going over and above minimal compliance with environmental regulations, in order to stimulate a lot more aggressive action on environmental security by the public area particularly in regard to climate change.

There is much talk of ecological crisis. It is said that most of these are man made. The ecological crisis that is being talked about consists of a vast array of problems. There are the oil spills that devastate vast areas in the sea and the coast line. The Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989 off the coast of Alaska is one such. Global warming, a result of the emission of green house gases because of human activities could flood many islands that dot the Pacific Ocean. The depletion of ozone layer will increase the radiation from the sun reaching the earth. Many species will disappear as a result of deforestation as well as desertification. Large plain areas will be threatened with devastating floods due to the vanishing forests up in the hills. It is estimated that some 17,000 to as many as 100,000 species vanish every year. Over the last five decades, seven million square kilometers of forests have vanished. Only one-fifth of the original forests survive intact.

As a recreational activity, camping has a unique place. It is not just about taking pleasure from the activity during leisure periods. It is also much more than about physical and mental well-being. It is about connecting to the need of establishing a symbiotic relationship with nature. Human progress has taken a heavy toll of nature. The land, water and air have been subject to heavy pollution. The rivers, forests and valleys have been ravaged in the name of human progress. There is a growing consensus that an ecologically sustainable development alone will allow species survival, both human and non-human.