The Wild Within | Morten Clausen | TEDxKalundborg: transcript

Nature is wild. Humans are wild. What if we can connect to nature by connecting to the wild within? So, first, let me begin by letting you think about a question. When do you feel in contact with nature? Some of you might think about the setting sun that's going slowly down in the ocean.

Some might be in the calm deep forest. Some maybe recalls the touch of a butterfly or the smell of leaves in autumn. All those are perfectly good contact points with nature. But, uh, when I think about connecting to nature, I think about situations like this.

High intensity direct consequence situations where I'm in the natural surroundings of unpredictable elements. Here, I'm hanging at a lake 15 km outside Kalundborg city. And in this moment, I'm in deep flow. I can't think about anything else, and it's sheer happiness.

And for me to be able to be in this situation, these precious situations for me, is that I need nature. So, it fills me with thankfulness and care for the environment that I'm a part of. So, to share some more informa- observations on uh the wild connection, I would like you to take uh with me snowkiting. So, snowkiting It's uh actually quite simple.

Um you will take a kite and it's attached with thin lines. You will have some skis and you can go on the snow. And if you are going to be out for several days, you can pick up anything you want in your pulka that you're pulling behind you. This image it's the peak of snow kiting.

Blue sky, strong winds, and I'm probably going 50 km an hour in the deep snow. And in my pulka, there will be food and equipment enough for being out in 3 weeks. And I'm here with my friend Thomas. And from what is sticking up of my rucksack is a rifle for polar bear protection. We are far, far out in the backcountry of Svalbard.

This experience is what I guess Dixie Dansercoer, one of the pioneers of snow kiting describes as freedom of flow. And I totally agree to that. This is as wild as I get and this has been my way into connecting with nature in new, wild ways. These kites have a tremendous force and it can take us hundreds of kilometers out on the snow. And it has taken me to places >> [snorts] >> that is really remote and beautiful.

And I have even had the privilege to stay here in my tent with just a couple of friends. When we have the chance to live in these conditions, they for a short amount of time become our home. And a home that is something that we care about. We want to go back to it, and this is something that we deeply want to protect. When kiting here, the weather constantly changes in the mountains.

And it goes from blue sky to deep whiteout where you can't see a hand before you. But there is this moment where the skies are coming in just before everything gets white. And it kind of dissolves the whole landscape. And when you're kiting into this, it seems like you're dissolving into the landscape. And for me, that's where I'm no longer in nature as a spectator.

I kind of is the nature. These moments are rare because snowkiting in the Arctic is just hard work. Most of the time, there's gusty winds. We face ice and exposed rocks. And one wrong movement can mean a injury or a failure on our equipment, and then our trip is ended.

To be in these conditions, it takes all of our focus, and we can be only in the moment. And that is something that is so far away from my everyday life with a emails and and the calendars and all the meetings that just shed us one's attention. By having this hyperfocus on your environment, I get to see all the details on where I am, and I discover the complexity of the nature.

And for me for me it has this healing effect that it resets my senses. >> [snorts] >> But when it comes down nature is just brutal. And when we out here a polar storm is made [clears throat] of the most strong forces on the planet. And there's only one thing to do and that is to take shelter. And here we're digging a snow wall.

And these half a meter of snow marks the thin line between safety and chaos. And sometimes even life or death. And you really get to feel how strong nature is. And when sitting here safe in this strong environment it's filled with some kind of big contentment.

And also a deep feeling of of happiness. And from the Jon Krakauer book Into the Wild we learn from Christopher McCandless that happiness is only real when shared. But how do you share the freedom of flow from snowkiting on the endless glaciers or the loneliness of a polar storm here in Denmark when we don't have any mountains?

But we have water. We have lots of water. So together with good friends and strong partners we created Surf Town that is now known as Bryning a water hub. And here you can get easy access to wild experiences on the water in closeness to the emerging nature around this. And the core of all of this is just two towers with a quick cable running between them an electric motor that carries a rope and a handle.

But I promise you the moment you grab onto that handle you'll forget anything else than just gliding on the water. And nature contact it comes instantly and yes, sometimes it hurts. And sometimes the contact with nature is from within because you have swallowed quite a lot of water.

So, what we see here is a young kiteboarder becoming a part of the ecosystem of the lake. But what I love the most about this place that's all the wild people that are gathering of all ages and all mindsets. And we share the wild together and it's for some it will be jumping several meters up in the air.

For some maybe they have anxiety for going into the water and the first swim will be as wild as anything. But here everybody is supporting and we love and care about the environment that we are part of. So what I what I hope for you is that you'll go out and try something new and maybe something a little wild and try to notice if there is a moment where you dissolve a little and you become a part of the nature.

Because what we are part of we protect. Thank you. >> [applause]