Happy doing what he loves...
This article first appeared in New Scientist.
Ray Mears has inspired millions around the world with his television programmes about bushcraft. The self-taught, self-deprecating Mears is an optimist who would like people to feel confident that they could survive in the wild. Even so, he doesn’t think most people would make it through a global climate crisis, as he tells Sanjida O’Connell.
You grew up in an urban part of Britain. How did you become interested in wildlife and nature?
The area wasn’t very urban when I was growing up. I was right at the edge of London’s green belt, a place of trees and rare species. I found fungi like morels in spring, and rare plants such as toothworts and wild cherry in the woods. It was only a 20-minute walk to the North Downs. Having all that on my doorstep, how could I not be interested in nature?
You’ve said that you spent a lot of time studying bushcraft in academic libraries when you were growing up. Do you do much research now?
As with any subject, it gets harder to find the answers as you get deeper into it. I still do a lot of work in some areas and it’s worth it. Two things concern me. There is so much spurious information about plants out there, a kind of New Age simplistic view of botany which doesn’t take into account the chemicals in botanicals. The other area is anthropology: knowledge from indigenous peoples, whose lifestyles are vanishing. I use all possible sources of information – books, experts, as well as following my own instinct, which has proved to be good. Instinct is an unconscious reading of empirical signs, and the more involved you are in a subject, the more you know how and where to prioritise research and the better your instincts become.
Do you consider yourself a scientist?
No, I don’t see myself as a scientist, although my methods are not dissimilar to those of a scientist. But I’m fascinated by science and I love reading New Scientist.
You started teaching bushcraft when you were just 19. How did that come about?
I was out walking with someone who was in the army and as we passed a hedgerow, he asked me if there was anything we could eat. I said pignut, the edible root of a member of the parsley family. I dug one up and it turned out to be rather large. That led to my first job, teaching the British army survival skills.
Should bushcraft be taught formally?
I didn’t go to university because there was nothing I wanted to study then. Now I’d be interested in medicine or ethnobotany. But the best way to teach bushcraft is to pair a new dog with an old dog, because it takes time to learn and pass on skills. My concern with the education system is that time is very limited. Some knowledge of the countryside and how to be comfortable in it would be useful, and it is very important to teach children natural history. We’re expecting them to take on the burden of being custodians of the planet in the face of global warming so we need to give them the right tools.
The public have become cynical about “survival” programmes. Do you ever set things up for TV?
The series I make are quite different from programmes presented by people like Bear Grylls. His are entertainment and mine are documentary. We don’t set things up as such. We plan what to film but we don’t have a script. I tear it up if I’m given one. I don’t mind if my pieces to camera are rough round the edges because that’s real. No one can make me say anything I don’t want to and so sometimes people say I can be difficult to work with, but whether they’re right or not, I care passionately about the programmes I make. I have worked with the same crew for years and they can respond to natural events, which is what gives you real emotion. It’s a harder way to work, though, as you need more time and money.
What is your new television series, Northern Wilderness, about?
This is a series I have wanted to make for some time. It’s about three forgotten 18th and 19th-century British explorers, Samuel Hearne, John Rae and David Thompson, who had a significant role in opening Canada up to the world. I’ve been knocking on doors for a long time wanting to tell everyone about them and the response was: “We’ve never heard of them.” But the role of TV is to tell us what hasn’t been told and needs to be told. These were people who lived off the land so there are survival tips; it’s a series about their story rather than demonstrating how clever I am. We also explain how the fur trade and the boreal forest works. I’m very pleased with it.
Do indigenous Canadians face similar problems to other peoples around the world?
The situation varies enormously. People don’t realise there are lots of different Nations. One group might have an unsuccessful land claim with the government while a neighbouring group might have the opposite experience, depending on how well they negotiated and the political problems they faced. There has been a resurgence of interest in traditional culture since the Canadian government apologised for removing children from their communities. In the past, they were in boarding schools and beaten if they spoke their own language.
There is a willingness among younger people to ensure survival of the way of life, and the elders use modern communication to keep their traditions alive. There is a high and unique degree of tolerance for tribal people. Canada was born of French, Scottish, English and indigenous peoples, and that led to the tolerant, fair-minded people you find today.
Do you worry about Earth’s future?
The planet will be fine, whether we are is another matter. What’s interesting is that the last time we faced climatic fluctuations as a species, we were hunter-gatherers and could up sticks and move. We can’t do that now, and we’re only just realising that the result of a static lifestyle is that you have to take greater care of the planet. I’m not a natural worrier, it’s more important to act in a positive way.
Obviously we should be concerned – I’ve seen signs of global warming myself – but what concerns me more is global pollution. That’s a tremendous worry. How can we survive without clean air and water? We’re seeing an increased amount of illness and we haven’t got to the bottom of the causes. I suspect the answers will be commonplace and linked to environmental conditions, so I think we should concentrate our efforts as much on pollution as global warming.
How will humans cope with climate change?
I don’t think most people will survive climate change. It will be a disaster. We have to adapt to survive and take lessons from nature. Adaptable things do better – the more specialised you become, the more marginal you are. My biggest concern is that people are turning their backs on Darwinian evolution. I don’t think there should be a conflict between Darwinian science and Christianity. If you believe in Darwin and evolution you don’t need to be faithless. Plenty of scientists would agree.
Do we all need to learn bushcraft skills right now?
No. I don’t think people should train in bushcraft skills just because there’s going to be a cataclysmic crisis. They should do it because it’s a joy to learn about the natural world and it’s important to understand that no matter how technological or concrete our world seems, we have seeds and soil and roots beneath our feet. We are still part of nature.
What are your top survival tips?
You need a sense of humour, because things go wrong. Don’t fear nature. Survival is about retaining a positive mental attitude. If you are in a difficult situation try and understand it. Just believe that you can.
Profile
Ray Mears is a self-taught expert in bushcraft and a television presenter. He runs Woodlore, the School of Wilderness Bushcraft, which teaches people about nature, including how to survive in the wild (raymears.com). His new UK series, Northern Wilderness, is on BBC2 (bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00nqhwl)
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