Download (PDF 328 KB): https://research.fs.usda.gov/download/treesearch/31060.pdf
Abstract
Friluftsliv is a unique Norwegian cultural heritage, which is believed to be of great importance to modern society. A brief introduction to the cultural roots of this Nature caring tradition is given.
Friluftsliv is a legitimate child of European Romanticism- said to be a “protest movement” against the Age of Enlightenment. Artists and philosophers were the leaders of an offensive against the philosophy of the French founding father of the natural sciences, René Descartes, reducing free Nature into res extensa (having only measurable dimensions and no value in itself). The European middleclass profited by the revolutionary technology developed on the basis of Cartesian methods to start the Industrial Revolution. The same middle-class was charmed by paintings, poetry and music of the “protesters.” They left the crowded and polluted cities for the Alps to adore the great wonders of free Nature. Giving themselves the name tourists, they enthusiastically sought out the sublime places and admired the natives of the Alps-“the noble savages.”
Parent Publication
Keywords
wilderness,
biodiversity,
protected areas,
economics,
subsistence,
tourism,
traditional knowledge,
community involvement,
policy,
stewardship,
education,
spiritual values
Citation
Faarlund, Nils; Dahle, Boerge; Jensen, Aage. 2007. Nature is the home of culture-
friluftsliv is a way home. In: Watson, Alan; Sproull, Janet; Dean, Liese, comps. Science and stewardship to protect and sustain wilderness values: Eighth World Wilderness Congress symposium; September 30-October 6, 2005; Anchorage, AK. Proceedings RMRS-P-49. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. p. 393-396
