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Show AUGUST NACHO VON Norwegian School of Nature Life Takes Root and Blossoms in Park City Southwestern, Mexican Cuisine Have a mid-day or Avon betwee meme OPEN MON-FRI 11:30 a.m. — 10:00 p.m. Tom Cammermeyer has a problem. His Park City- am. an equal part of nature, based myself . . . And then I can 1821 Sidewinder Dr. Park City 645-TACO Norwegian School then of Nature Life — which teaches “the unselfish and simple life in nature” — is almost too successful. how to bring a — true tion, meyer’s lish the on four LOCALS FAVORITE Breakfasts Home Baked Awesome Private Lunches Pastries Desserts Parties - Catering 801-649-5686 Open 268 Everyday Main St., at Park 7 A.M. City the Main Street Photographer Park City’s Fastest Finest, Quality Photofinishing 523 Main Street * One-hour Photo * Two-hour Slide Processing (E-6) * KODAK Create-A-Print™ + Black & White Processing * Custom Enlarging, Negatives or Slides * Portrait & Commercial Studio * Passport Photos + Unique Photo Frames & Accessories 649-6465 Avenue, rain or shine or all this snow. He was something of a solitary figure, taking part-time jobs in order to pursue his calling: the teaching of “friluftsliv.” Literally translated, that’s “open air life,” or living the simple life in nature. But after fourteen years returned to Norway earlier this year, somewhat perplexed. He needed to ask Faarulnd, face-to-face, if he had lost his way since leaving the nest in 1980. ammermeyer’s concern was that his school now has a dozen “teacher-mentors,” an office manager, a program director, a secretary, contracts with a high-powered accountant and keeps records on a computer. The Norwegian School of Nature Life, in some respects, is adopting the trappings of corporate America — the antithesis of “the simple life in nature.” “I found that it was OK to have a computer,” says the soft-spoken and easy-going Cammermeyer with wide grin. Faarulnd reassured him that some of the tools of the ‘90s can be useful without losing sight of living the simple life in nature. “We get teased a lot that we have expanded so much . . . But we try to hold on to our philosophy . . . Even though we are caught up in a techno-culture, we can still slow down and smell the roses.” The essence of teaching through the Norwegian School of Nature Life, is to take adults and youngsters into shep- herding the American version of the Norwegian School of Nature Life, Cammermeyer of led him to estab- Norwegian American Cammermeyer Set 2 Tom Cammermeyer pauses by a creek. In the early 1980's, Cammermeyer could be seen with backpack and knickers strolling down Park Mountain and hundreds School soil, began with a life-threatening blood clot he developed on his brain during the early 1970s. During a long and forced recuperation period, success? Hearty 1994, sey, which is now counties, not to mention the University of Utah. So what’s wrong with of he kids came through the Norwegian School of Nature Life. And the American version of the Norwegian School continues to expand. Cammermeyer’s odys- numerous in care others,” Con-sideration In slowly organization take of Commitment. developed a small handful of his own “mentors,” who others the could teach philosophies set forth by Norwegian Nils Faarulnd. The Park City school slowly expanded during the 1980s to work therapeutic wonders for problem teens. Teaching that every being is equal in nature, Cammeraffiliated with school districts must care said. To that end, the Norwegian School does not teach competitiveness but emphasizes four other ‘C’s: Cooperation, Communica- appreciation of nature back into their hectic lives as a source of renewal, the Norwegian School — that is, Cammermeyer I take A one-man mission that sought to teach work-a-day folks SAT & SUN 5:00 p.m. — 10:00 p.m. THE 1995 a PAGE nature on hikes, cross-country ski tours and rafting expeditions, among other things, all the while enlightening participants to a philosophy that emphasizes humans as a part of nature, rather than separate from it. “We gogo in nature to find a respect . . . to see that there is value in all living things, even the bugs on the ground We ask people to take off their watches and try and stop and smell the flowers,” Cammermeyer explains. The source of renewal, or grounding for “youths at risk” is that everything in nature is important. All things being equal means that each individual is important — a premise lacking in many kids, Cammermeyer noted. “If I feel good about myself and 6 recalls that he began to question his own direction and values. A he was raised ini merica, to return to Cammermeyer his Norwegian wanted roots. It was in the late ‘70s that he came under the tutelage of Faarulnd in Oslo, who was teaching a philosophy that held, in essence, that Homo sapiens should return to a simple life that would include such things as the use of natural fibers for clothing, wood skis instead of metal or fiberglass and collective transportation. Faarulnd, who himself had left a successful career as a microbiologist, taught his students to move away from materialism as a means of achieving self-worth. “Nils wanted to teach his students in deep _philosophical approaches to this way of life,” Cammermeyer recalls. It was Faarulnd’s strategy to make his students into “mentors” who would go forth into the world to teach that modern cultures should not take the natural world for granted. “Nature has become foreign to us,” Cammermeyer says. “But we must find a balance between cultural tradition and the reality of what is happening around us in the natural world.” @ |
