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In "Nature at the Mall" Jennifer Price asks: "Is it possible that people in our culture have become so estranged from nature that their only avenue to it is consumerism?" (195). This is a pretty dire statement--do you agree? Are we too estranged or segregated from nature? How can we overcome that division? Are nature stores a cause of our estrangement from nature or are they a cure? In other words, are these stores a good thing?
What version of nature do these stores sell? Or, to put it another way, how do they write the environment? Or, do you think they sell “nature” or do they sell something else? What does Price suggest? What does it mean to be a “nature lover” at the Nature Company or other similar store?
What does Price mean when she says “The Nature Company has attracted nature lovers precisely by inhabiting a notoriously placeless site” (191)?
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I agree with Jennifer Price when she says that “people in our culture have become…estranged from nature” (195). However, I do not feel that our only ties to nature are through consumerism. Rather, I think that consumerism is the most convenient tie that our society has with nature. As the reading states, nature stores are most often found in the ritziest malls and are usually situated near the high-end stores. As Tom Wrubel, the founder of The Nature Company, suggested, “There’s nothing we [The Nature Company] sell here that [people] really need” (192). That philosophy, coupled with the fact that malls are laid out in a way that entices shoppers to stay a while, leads to the selling of more products. And when you think about the demographic of the shoppers who frequent upscale malls, you immediately think of those with well-paying jobs. Such individuals likely do not have much time set aside for recreation, with the exception of a quick trip to the mall. And as large, high-end shopping malls are found in cities, escaping to a natural setting is probably a bit difficult and takes much more effort than simply visiting a nature store. While nature stores may be convenient, we cannot expect them to replace the experiences and knowledge that can be gained from spending time in a natural, outdoor setting. We can overcome this division by slowing down every now and then to experience nature and clear our heads.
ReplyDeleteEveryone knows what nature is, but it isn’t easy to confine into a definition. The idea of nature is simple to visualize, but not so much verbalize. I believe this is because everyone thinks about nature differently. Beside the obvious geographic differences between people all over the world, the natural world is actually a very personal part of each individual’s life. Many people for example don’t consider anything that is man-made to be part of the environment, while others, especially from major urban centers, would clearly disagree. The Nature Company has found a huge consumer base somewhere in the middle of this debate, and as Price states, this is “a notoriously placeless site.” When you eventually find something or somewhere that is wholly natural, the only way to keep it natural is to do nothing. Even an exact photograph of nature isn’t nature anymore, but it is as close as it gets for most people. The Nature Company clearly understands this concept, and makes money by adding something to their products: meaning. Technically, a picture of a shoe is the same as a picture of a waterfall, but both images evoke completely different feelings. The Nature Company essentially tells their customers what they should be feeling about nature, and these feelings somehow lead to sales. Even though nature is a combination of physical things, emotions, and history, The Nature Company has managed to sell these abstract ideas as a product. It is no surprise people are excited to buy.
ReplyDeletePrice says "we've used Nature Company totems to tell meaningful stories about where we live and who we are-as all humans do in their encounters with nature" (187), and yet if you asked somebody about one of these totems sitting on their coffee table, you would not be regaled with an adventure-filled tale about when your friend was kayaking in the amazon and came across it. Instead, they would probably look a bit sheepish and go "uh..I got it at the Nature Company."
ReplyDeleteThese stores sell an empty version of nature. To paraphrase, Price basically points out that the blue whale model you can buy there might teach you about blue whales and its habitat, but it will probably just allow you to have a tiny plastic blue whale, and what you decide to do with it is your own decision.
People (especially yuppies) eat this kind of stuff up because it makes them feel good about their relationship with nature. If there is no time to go to Yosemite and go on a couple day hike, then why not zip over to the mall and buy an anatomically correct inflatable penguin or a pair of binoculars which you'll never use to watch birds? The mall is the perfect place to house this sort of store, because the store seems so different from the rest. Next to Victoria's Secret, it seems so wholesome. They both, however, sell ideals. The same people who buy the underwear to look like the models in the catalogues will buy nature objects to show how in touch with nature they are.
To be a Nature Company nature lover is to love the commodity of nature. Nature isn't sold here; they even shy away from having anything that is actually taken out of it. Instead, everything in the store is representative of something....else. There is a reason that people buy cultural objects when they travel, even if they are available in some cheesy import store at home. In the same way, people should be able to look through the crappy excuse for real nature that these stores offer.
I think stores like this are only a good thing for certain cases, like toy dinosaurs or volcano kits. These things can't be experience in nature very often (or at all!), and so teaches as much as it can about it. However, things that can be found outside in every day life should be encouraged to experience for real, rather than a "second nature" of sorts in the store. This store bought nature is just putting a price on "nature", something that we find for free in real life.
ReplyDeleteIn reality you can't put a price on running your hands through manure and compost filled soil, or put a price on the taste of a tomato you just picked off the vine. Consumer America has been on this drive towards buying as many materialistic things as possible, and there are less and less people enjoying the outdoors. People in cities can even find "nature" when they try, as many community gardens are popping up everywhere nowadays.
Price suggests that it is simply a conundrum that we haven't quite figured out yet. Those who realize the contradictions of loving "nature" yet buying it in a store still have a hard time not being attracted to the material goods. I find this very true. But at the same time I feel like if more people thought about how things are made, and how they are usually worse for the environment, then maybe people will not buy these things and get outside and enjoy the trees and animals. It's all about environmental education!
Price suggest that the original vision for the Nature Company was a store which was “‘devoted to the observation, understanding and appreciation of the natural world’” (169) with a specific generation and demographic in mind. Today, as a personal consumer of multiple stores similar to the Nature Company for things such as “holiday shopping”(171) like Price suggest, I think the concept of mass producing “nature” is a difficult concept to flush out. The version of nature these stores sell is what is marketable and what consumers’ desire. Price composes a laundry list of items which represent a multitude of ideas and ideals we associate with nature and our natural environment. On Price’s list of desirable items are “bird T-shirts, wind chimes, paper weights, bird feeders, wildflower seeds, field gauges, videos, note cars, CDs, herb teas, bat shelters… Swiss army knives, Rainforest Crunch, plastic periscopes… petrified wood, rock polishers, dinosaur everything, star charts and galaxy boxer shorts” (171). All of these items show us as consumers our preconceived ideas about nature and our “natural” world. A lot of these products are created from raw materials which were extracted from the natural world and reconfigured to accommodate our consumer trends and popular items.
ReplyDeleteAnother part of this chapter which I found interesting was the list of items the Nature Company will NOT sell. As if saying there are parts of nature that have remained untouched by human beings, the list consist of not killing animals, no book or items which portray the humanization of animals, finally and most bizarre was no human images on posters. This re-sparks the debate of what is considered natural and nature. To me personally humans are just as much part of nature, as well as a very powerful piece of nature. Our actions and desire to consume is in our genes and should not be classified separately from any other part of this living Earth. This planet is our home and we are part of the nature on it.
B. I think these stores write the environment in a fake way or a way just to sell nature products. When I read the Nature Company's Mission statement, " Authenticity and knowledge are balanced with sufficient humor to give our customers an experience which makes them feel good about themselves and the world in which they live." I thought this was interesting because they only seem to display and see the positive sides of nature, like the rain sticks, the calming music with whale noises ect... and what makes people feel good just to sell their products. If products make consumers happy they will keep coming back so I just think that their mission statement didn't really care for nature, but catered to people's emotions.
ReplyDeleteI think The Nature Company sell's something different than nature, or they have their own meaning of what nature is. Price talks about this store won't sell which she says is more authentic, "trophy items", killing of animals; no butterflies, seashells, no furs, no mounted heads, no human images, and domestic animals have been in short supply. And they try to make all of the animals that do live in nature as authentic as possible." So I think Price really suggests that although the Nature Store is trying to teach people about nature they hardly carry anything that is really close to nature in their store which makes it unauthentic. Also she talks about how this store only caters to a certain class of people which is interesting because that's not the majority of people living in the U.S., so even if they are trying to teach people about nature the store can't reach to the masses because they cannot afford to shop at the Nature Store.
I agree for the most part with Price that we have become estranged from nature. I feel that people living in the cities have become detached fromt he natural world only encounter it in their entertainment world, like stores at malls, commericals or television shows. I feel that however people more int he country side are coming back to the land especially in the economic problems of today. My neighbors and family have started growing our own garden for get some of our food. We also have spent more time outside now, as to not use much electrity during the day. (Not sure if common for most but happening in my town). But I do agree with Price. People are discovering the environment not by getting in it but watching in on the National Geographic channel or the Discovery Channel or going to the mall and seeing these stores. People get excited that they have something from madagascar or a palm chair. People understand that having these such items they are connected to nature. Nature is a comidity these days. It is seen it the items being sold in these stores and not as much the forests, and landscapes around us. These stores are not a good or completely bad thing. They help educate the public about the wourld they live in but it also allows them to experience nature only from a distance, a comdity angle. It does not allow people to have the experience of being in nautre and understanding the feeling that one has in it, the feeling that one is not larger then life. I believe people like this relationship to nautre because them seem eco-friendly but are staying in control of their environment.
ReplyDeleteC. Price states that "the Nature Company has attracted nature lovers precisely by inhabiting a notoriously placeless site." Price calls the mall a "placeless site" because it is usually dull and boring, attracting people with fancy things who don't have anything better to do with their time. Going to the mall has become an American past time, centered around consumerism. Adding a store that sells nature products, and tries to recreate nature in a mall setting, goes against the principles of nature. People who like the environment are attracted to the Nature store because it incorporates nature into a place that is the complete opposite of the outdoors, and maybe more familiar to consumers. It fuses our love for consumerism with our love for the environment, in a very accessible and dumbed down way. It provides a place to escape from the craziness and maybe hostility in malls, and supposedly get in touch with the natural world. Price describes how "browsing there feels a bit akin to taking a nature walk in the forest."(191) The store is purposely arranged to mimic the woods, with earthy colors and recordings of birds singing playing in the background.
ReplyDeleteOver Christmas break I went to the mall in Little Rock, Arkansas (my hometown) for probably the first time in over two years. I could not believe how superficial and fake it seemed to me and how much time I used to spend there as a young teenager. I agree with Price’s statement on malls and the consumerism on our society and culture. However, I do not believe that all stores that sell, or are fully dedicated (for lack of a better word) to, nature products are wrong or superficial. I think that to an extent they are playing into consumerism and the fact that it is becoming cool, once again, to be “outdoorsy.”
ReplyDeleteI think that the stores in malls, and everywhere else, are estranged from nature (no matter what they say) but I honestly have no real ideas as to how to close this divide. People try to bring nature into the malls, by making the stores seem to be really in nature, but there is no real substitute for nature and there never will be.
2)The version of nature that these stores sell to their consumers is a manifuctured nature that is made to make money off of what people think nature consists of. They sell a fake nature that is not real, yet is made for the pleasure and enjoyment of people. People that are not educated on how unnature the products they are buying and the mall that they are buying it in. I believe that they are selling goods that resemble things that are in nature. They are buying goods that are created to educate, yet in the process it is missing a real message. A message that could educate the young and old on naute and how to perserve it. Buying goods that are manifuctured in mas quanties by native americans or skickers of bugs is not the nature that I know. The nature that I know is, that native americans are not environmentalists and stickers and posters of animals. I think that being a nature lover has a different meaning for everyone. Being a nature lover could mena that you like to take walks in a park all the way to living green and off the grid. I believe that being a nature lover in my view is trying my hardest to be a conservationist. To consume as little as possible in every aspect of my life. I also really enjoy being far away from any people in nature to enjoy the stillness and peace that nature has to offer.
ReplyDeleteIn "Nature at the Mall" Jennifer Price asks: "Is it possible that people in our culture have become so estranged from nature that their only avenue to it is consumerism?" (195). This is a pretty dire statement--do you agree? Are we too estranged or segregated from nature? How can we overcome that division? Are nature stores a cause of our estrangement from nature or are they a cure? In other words, are these stores a good thing?
ReplyDelete-I do think that people have lost their attention to nature. I think we are so isolated from the outside with our industrial buildings and many different types of people live within urban areas that are relinquishing the roles nature plays with sky scrapers and artificial nature. I do think we can overcome this however with a return to nature without the nature companies. They are cool dont get me wrong, however they arent as awesome as nature itself. I think that people must think that buying nature is equivalent to the actual thing. Until people are able to appreciate the things that are outside their windows can we truly return to our appreciation with nature. Nature stores will only really perpetuate the problem, because as long as we can purchase nature we wont really understand it and we will definately take it for granted.
"Is it possible that people in our culture have become so estranged from nature that their only avenue to it is consumerism?" (195). This is a pretty dire statement--do you agree? Are we too estranged or segregated from nature? How can we overcome that division? Are nature stores a cause of our estrangement from nature or are they a cure? In other words, are these stores a good thing?
ReplyDeleteI think of those millions of suburbanites, living, working, and dying in a concrete jungle, whose only daily exposure to "nature" is picking up after their dog in the carefully manicured city park that obediently fits in the confines of a single block. We carefully selected the trees we wanted in the park, and carefully selected those traits we wanted and let those dogs mate to create the unnatural mutant we take on walks, so why not use a nature store to carefully select those aspects of "nature" that we like so as not to face the harsh reality of nature's cruelty and unattractiveness? I think a lot of people are so uncertain of what to do in nature, so intimidated by the vastness of it, that they need to have it spoon-fed to them. 'I'll buy this because it's been sanctioned by the nature store, so must be what nature is. It must be natural.' "Authenticity and knowledge are balanced with sufficient humor to give our customers an experience which makes them feel good about themselves and the world in which they live."(178) It's not about nature at all, it's about commercialism as a religion in a hyper-consuming society. These stores are a mixed blessing, because at some level, they do offer a peek into nature, but a tame and watered-down one. If someone were to try to spend a weekend backpacking using only tools sold there, they would probably die of exposure, hypothermia, starvation, or animal attack from all the sugary candies they packed with them. But a city kid who has never seen, and never will see, the stars would be in for a nice treat.
When I visited the nature store at the Mall of America, I thought of my friend's cabin. She has a large log cabin up north and it's nothing near my idea of a cabin. It is full of decorations found in that store: "my cabin up north" signs, "gone fishing" cross-stitched pillows, and many other quirky decorations. Although it is very cute and warm, I feel like I’m at a house up north rather than in and surrounded by nature (which cabins are supposed to be). I don’t see a problem with the nature store, but perhaps it deserves a different name because there is no way, in my opinion, to put a price on nature. I don’t mind being side tracked to places like this when I’m out Christmas shopping and getting tired of being at a mall, the Nature Store is the bridge between not being at the mall and the fast pace scene of the mall. The reading mentions on 184 that the theme park inside the Mall of America is decorated with woodland characters. It does seem sad that children can’t be out playing in this woodland and instead their parents drop them off here to go shop, but I think if used on occasion it is a great place to have fun while learning a bit of history about the loggers.
ReplyDeleteI support the idea that the Nature Store keeps adults young. I always search for silly gifts that my friends can actually use. I saw a group of adults at the beach yesterday flying kites and I hoped that would be me someday- I think the Nature Store does a great job of promoting this. It might help consumers who are against this store to donate a portion of the proceeds to a nature cause.
Each individual has their own definition for nature, whether it be the "wild" overgrown forest in your home town, the Alaskan wilderness, or simply the materials used to build our classroom. I do agree that people have strong ties to nature through consumerism, but i feel that those who truly identify with nature do it in more intimate "natural" settings. Those who are tied to nature through only consumerism do not truly experience nature in my opinion because what they purchase in most cases is processed, packaged, and priced. True nature has never come in a package, and it cannot fit in any store at any size mall, and it most definitely is priceless. Identifying with nature through consumerism is like identifying with the ocean by swimming in a pool. Personally i only feel as though i am truly experiencing nature when all that surrounds me is naturally occurring and there is nothing produced by man anywhere around. Unfortunately in the society we live in there is less nature around than developed land and it seems children are more commonly experiencing nature through consumerism, like in the nature store, than out in the outdoors.
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