When my outdoor adventures began back in the mid seventies, it was all about being in nature. The meagre equipment needed for that was mostly repurposed, often second hand, and always secondary. But somehow in the fifty years since it’s all come to be turned on its head:

Outdoor pursuits are now mostly about the kit, the Outdoors has become a multi-billion dollar industry, and outdoor publications like the TGO unashamedly promote the Amazon Prime day.

I think it’s the lack of embarrassment over this state of affairs that bothers me most for it implies we have convinced ourselves that there is nothing wrong with the fast fashion, the ready-made food wrapper litter, the worker exploitation in far away places, the pollution from shipping, etc.

Whatever modicum of guilt we have left, we will appease by something made from recycled plastic (though it’s an open secret that making anything other than bottles from recycled plastic is worse for the environment than using new plastic), a donation to a rewilding project (which requires no commitment because it’s happening somewhere out there, though of course, messing with lives of people who I don’t know and/or care about), or maybe going vegan (oh, the power of deflection).

Or, perhaps, the simplest fix of all, by just not scrutinising the corporate PR (but surely not Patagonia!).

The point at which harmful behaviour becomes normalised is where change for better becomes nigh impossible, failing a major catastrophe; we have, I think, long reached that point. And, of course, once we are beyond this the positive change never comes from within the industry that benefits, whether it’s tobacco, fossil fuels, or 12 varieties of waterproofs.

The collateral damage of this is the quality of outdoor writing, for when everything revolves around the kit, there is nothing worthwhile to write about. But that’s the least of our problems.

Anyway, happy Prime Day! As for me, I have a car load of kit to pack for my next adventure.