Type and hit ENTER
  • HOME
  • ABOUT
    • About Fi
  • CONTACT
  • OUTDOORS
    • Outdoor gear reviews
    • Map reading and navigation
  • TRAIN ADVENTURES
    • Ideas to get you started
    • Station to station walks
    • Devon and Cornwall
    • UK train adventures
    • Europe train adventures
  • WRITING
HOP ON BOARD
I'm a freelance writer and content creator with a passion for the outdoors and sustainable travel. I specialise in sustainable travel, gear reviews, walking routes and outdoor advice. Let's chat about your next project.
Fi Darby Freelance
Image Not Found On Media Library
Image Not Found On Media Library
  • HOME
  • ABOUT
    • About Fi
  • CONTACT
  • OUTDOORS
    • Outdoor gear reviews
    • Map reading and navigation
  • TRAIN ADVENTURES
    • Ideas to get you started
    • Station to station walks
    • Devon and Cornwall
    • UK train adventures
    • Europe train adventures
  • WRITING

We outdoor writers have a responsibility.

February 5, 2021

With Venice and Bali being amongst the latest holiday destinations to be in the news for placing a tourist tax on visitors, it’s clear the impacts of over-tourism are coming to a head across the world.

But here in the UK tourism and visitor behaviour can also cause issues.

Our empty places are at risk

Whether we opt for UK staycations or travel further afield will be up to us but one thing’s for sure; many of us are looking for opportunities to find a bit of empty space in the good old British countryside.

This is ironic because our rush to find space is going to result in a lack of it in many areas.

Search engine politics

If you’ve done as much online reading about the outdoors over the last five years as I have, you’ll have noticed, especially in ‘certain’ types of publication (yes I believe I am a travel-reading snob) the trend towards attention-grabbing titles. Nothing new there you might say but I’m not just talking about the attention of a human readership here, I’m talking about the search engines.

It’s our own fault (readers and writers). Online writing is pointless unless somebody finds it to read. This means that understanding and using the ‘right’ keywords has become vital for anyone who wants their writing to have any kind of impact.

You can investigate this for yourself. Try typing ‘secret’ into a search bar, or ‘wild’ and you’ll soon be overloaded with results for ‘secret escapes’ and ‘wilderness cottages’. It’s the same for ‘countryside’, which will bring up lists of peaceful villages and cute cottages.

The problem is of course that the end result of a first or even second-page search engine result is likely to be the exact opposite of secret, wild and peaceful.

Even greater a problem is that our top ‘beautiful’ and ‘idyllic’ spaces are sometimes so overwhelmed with visitors that they are at risk of becoming anything but.

Finding the outdoor balance

So what can we writers do about this? How can we help protect our outdoor spaces whilst continuing to encourage even more people to enjoy the health benefits of an outdoor lifestyle?

There are no perfect answers but I have thought long and hard about this. Here are the three key questions I’m planning to make the basis of my future writing.

  • As well as attracting people to the outdoors, have I helped them understand how to look after it?
  • Will any locations I have included in my writing suffer from overcrowding or damage as a result?
  • Does my outdoor writing encourage the development of an exploration mentality over an ‘ultimate destination’ one?

The commodification of the outdoors

Much has been written about the commodification of the outdoors but in truth, it is nothing new. From hunter-gathering to modern-day well-being travel, we have used our outdoor spaces to suit our needs, and will almost certainly continue to do so.

Urban nature is increasingly seen as a manageable resource to enhance human well-being. By viewing nature as a commodity that supplies health benefits, and by identifying minimum amounts needed to gain benefits, we risk trivializing a deep affective response to nature.

Yolanda van Heezig and Eric Brymer - Nature as a commodity: What's Good for Human Health Might not be Good for Ecosystem Health

We are responsible for nature

There’s no getting away from it. We outdoor writers might love our outdoor spaces but by making a living from them, we also use them as a commodity.

This brings with it enormous responsibility. Skilled though we might all be at writing, route planning, and persuading, my recent research suggests we are far less skilled at delivering the friendly and educational ‘look after this space’ messages our green spaces so desperately need.

It’s time for a sea change but it won’t necessarily be a difficult one. If we all shifted our thinking processes a couple of steps from ‘benefitting us’ towards ‘benefitting the outdoors’, it would make a huge difference.

Guardians of our landscapes

Encouraging people outside is a laudable activity. It is good for them and, with the right input, has the potential to also be good for our outdoor spaces. However, the last couple of years have shown us that encouragement without education is irresponsible.

Whether we choose to be or not, we are guardians of our landscapes. Let’s think about how we are going to face up to that responsibility. And let’s do that now!

 

February 5, 2021
Email
No comments yet

Related News

Other posts that you should not miss.

Three basic navigation skills that could get you out of trouble in an emergency

March 31, 2022

The best walking route apps allow you to find or plan your own routes then follow them as …

Read More
March 31, 2022

A freelance conundrum… What does a girl wear to an indoor outdoor conference?

October 21, 2019

One of the wonderful things about freelance working from home is that you get to choose exactly what …

Read More
October 21, 2019

What on earth is a Dryrobe? Different types of winter outdoor swimmers

February 27, 2020

Minimalist? Flamboyant? Prepared? If you're a cold water swimmer, you're probably one of these types. Read on to find out why.

Read More
February 27, 2020

Leave a Comment

Your feedback is valuable for us. Your email will not be published.
Cancel Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

OUTDOOR AND TRAVEL WRITER

Outdoors life by Loch Lomond in Scotland

You love the outdoors. I love the outdoors.
Let's make beautiful content together.

fi darby
Channel 4 - Devon and Cornwall

adventures by train blog writing car free devon family walks freelance writing hiking outdoors outdoor writer outdoor writing station to station sustainable travel torbay torquay train adventures trains Travel travel writing walking walking route working from home writing

HOP ON BOARD
I'm a freelance writer and content creator with a passion for the outdoors and sustainable travel. I specialise in sustainable travel, train adventures, gear reviews, walking routes and outdoor advice.

LET'S CHAT ABOUT YOUR NEXT PROJECT

OUTDOOR AND TRAVEL WRITER
  • January 16, 2025
    Travel writing tips – how to take effective notes
  • January 7, 2025
    Is geotagging bad for the environment?
  • January 1, 2025
    What does an outdoor influencer look like?
  • December 23, 2024
    Outdoor and travel writing trends for 2025
  • Instagram
  • Email
Fi Darby Freelance
© Fi Darby 2025 All Rights Reserved
We outdoor writers have a responsibility. - Fi Darby