UPDATED NOVEMBER 2024
For the 10 straight year, outdoor gear and sporting goods retailer REI has announced that it will close its 181 stores in the United States on Black Friday (November 29, the biggest shopping day of the year), process no online sales, and pay its employees to head out to enjoy the great outdoors.
In addition to encouraging people to bypass Black Friday, REI has launched the wildly successful #OptOutside movement, which not only seeks to get people outside, but also encourages to live more sustainable lives and clean up the outdoors, not only on Black Friday, but throughout the year. At its website, it offers 52 weekly actions that you can take to help make the world a better place. (Note: The article is from 2019, but there are many evergreen ideas in the article.)
(copyright Andrew Morkes)
REI’s decision should serve as an inspiration in a variety of ways. First, we should all find a moment on November 29 (or any other day) to get outside and enjoy nature—whether it’s at Yellowstone National Park or Theodore Roosevelt National Park (pictured above), a state park, or in a tree-lined city park. Too often, we spend our lives inside at work surrounded by cubicle walls and bad fluorescent lighting or in front of a TV or videogame at home. Modern life—especially for those of us who live in cities—is so frenetic that we often don’t take the time to take a deep breath and jump out of the rat race. A walk outdoors is the perfect antidote for the modern world. It will allow you to soak up the sounds of nature—the wind in the red-golden-brown leaves and the call of birds. You may even see a rufous hummingbird, indigo bunting, or bobolink heading south for the winter, and, if you visit a national park out west, you may get a chance to view the time immemorial battle between a pack of wolves and a herd of buffalo. In short, nature is awesome and awe-inspiring. Best of all, nature can heal you spiritually. Rachel Carson, a marine biologist and the author of Silent Spring said it better than I can: “Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature—the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.”
You might already have your own favorite places in nature, but if you don’t, REI offers a variety of apps and other resources that will help you to find the hiking, camping, or other outdoor activity that’s just right for you at its website. The National Park Service (NPS) offers a Find a Park tool. Here are some links to state parks and nature areas in the Midwest:
If you’re looking for some nature, hiking, history, camping, and/or activities for kids or for yourself in the Chicagoland area and beyond, you should check out the What to Do This Weekend section of my website for more than 140 popular and off-the-beaten path destinations. Here are links to articles about 10 of my favorite Chicago-area spots:
Cap Sauers Holding Nature Preserve: The Wildest Place in Cook County
Matthiessen State Park: Awe-Inspiring Canyons, Colorful Cliffs, and a Biodiversity Hotspot
Big Marsh Park: Spectacular Bike Tracks, Bountiful Birding, and Much More
9 Things to Do at Marengo Ridge Conservation Area
Moraine Hills State Park: Rolling Hills, Top-Notch Hiking Trails, Winter Sports, and Much More
5 Things to Do at Lake Renwick Preserve/Heron Rookery Nature Preserve
Indian Ridge Marsh Park: A Bird Haven and a Story of Environmental Rebirth
In addition to enjoying nature, I suggest that we all volunteer in the great outdoors so that we can continue to improve and protect our nation’s forests, grasslands, mountains, rivers, and prairies. Your local nature center and forest preserve need volunteers to remove invasive plants (such as European buckthorn), improve trails, or otherwise help out. The NPS offers the Volunteers-in-Parks program to help aspiring volunteers locate opportunities. For younger readers of this blog, perhaps your time outdoors will inspire you to pursue a career (or transition from your current job to work) as a naturalist, wildlife biologist, environmental lobbyist or writer, or park ranger.
There are two other reasons why I like REI’s #OptOutside movement. First, it serves as a clarion call to our consumeristic society to reassess what’s important in our lives—buying more “stuff” or spending time in nature (at no cost, by the way, in many settings) or doing myriad other fulfilling activities. And spending more time in nature can often translate into more quality time with your loved ones (if they join you). I guarantee you that when you die your son or daughter (or other loved one) won’t remember the Sony PlayStation you purchased, but rather the time you spent together, something funny you said, or the advice or support you gave in time of need. Some of my strongest memories of my long-gone father are those of him taking me on a hike through the hills and ravines of south-suburban Chicago, helping me to identify a cool bug or leaf, and paddling together on a 20-mile canoe trip in the wilds of upper Michigan. And even if you don’t like nature, other non-shopping-related activities such as spending time with family or friends, or volunteering, or even reading a book or painting a picture, are so much more valuable to the health of your soul than forking over your hard-earned money for another toy or gift that probably will be forgotten by next Black Friday.
Finally, thank you, REI, for providing an excellent example to other companies about how workers should be treated. REI is not new to worker-friendly practices. It’s consistently featured on “best company to work for” lists created by Fortune and other business magazines. (Of course, I don’t actually work there, but its frequent mentions on best company lists, environmental advocacy, and its ongoing commitment to support its workers on Black Friday announcement suggest it’s a company that’s on the right track.)
But in many other instances the American worker is under attack through the increasing trend of hiring contract workers (which deprives employees of much-needed health care and retirement benefits) and outsourcing positions to countries where workers do not receive as high pay nor have the same legal protections as workers in America do, to name just a few disturbing trends. Let’s hope some of our nation’s other large companies move beyond being “employee friendly” in name only, and make efforts to live up to this adage. And in the meantime, put on your hiking boots, strap on your skis or snowshoes, or launch your canoe into a wild river, and get out in nature!
Copyright (text) Andrew Morkes
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Looking for some great nature destinations in Chicagoland? If so, check out my book, Nature in Chicagoland: More Than 120 Fantastic Nature Destinations That You Must Visit. It features amazing destinations in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Click on the title to learn more. The book has 306 pages and 210+ photos and is only $19.99. Nature in Chicagoland received great reviews in the Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Tribune, Daily Southtown, This Week in Birding blog, and Beverly Review.
ABOUT ANDREW MORKES
I have been a writer and editor for more than 30 years. I’m the founder of College & Career Press (2002); the author and publisher of “The Morkes Report: College and Career Planning Trends” blog; and the author and publisher of Hot Health Care Careers: 30 Occupations With Fast Growth and Many New Job Openings; Nontraditional Careers for Women and Men: More Than 30 Great Jobs for Women and Men With Apprenticeships Through PhDs; They Teach That in College!?: A Resource Guide to More Than 100 Interesting College Majors, which was selected as one of the best books of the year by the library journal Voice of Youth Advocates; and other titles. They Teach That in College!? provides more information on environmental- and sustainability-related majors such as Ecotourism, Range Management, Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Built Environment, Sustainability Studies, and Sustainable Agriculture/Organic Farming. I served as a member of the parent advisory board at my son’s school for five years.
In addition to these publications, I’ve written more than 70 books about careers for other publishing and media companies including Infobase (such as the venerable Encyclopedia of Careers & Vocational Guidance, the Vault Career Guide to Accounting, and many volumes in the Careers in Focus, Discovering Careers, What Can I Do Now?!, and Career Skills Library series) and Mason Crest (including those in the Careers in the Building Trades and Cool Careers in Science series).
Here’s a list of the environmental-focused titles that I’ve written:
- Nature in Chicagoland: More Than 120 Fantastic Nature Destinations That You Must Visit
- Wind Turbine Technicians (Great Careers Without a Bachelor’s Degree series)
- Environmental Scientists (Cool Careers in Science series)
- Renewable Energy Careers (Cool Careers in Science series)
- Environment (Getting Started series)
- Solar Power Technicians (Careers in Infrastructure series)
It’s good to hear about REI’s commitment to its employees.