|  Rather than being one definite sort of thing – for example, physical, spiritual, cultural, social – a given place takes on the qualities of its occupants, reflecting these qualities in its own constitution and description and expressing them in its occurrence as an event: places not only are, they happen. (And it is because they happen that they lend themselves so well to narration, whether as history or as story.) Just as a particular place is at least several kinds of things, so there are many sorts of places and not one basic kind only – one supposedly supreme genus. Sorts of places depend on the kinds of things, as well as the actual things, that make them up. A biochore or biotope directly reflects the character of its constituents, that is, its soils and flora and fauna; an agora is qualified by the people who pass through it or linger there; a dwelling is characterized less by its architecture than by the quality of the life that is sustained in it.
—Edward S. Casey A mail list is group Internet e-mail. An e-mail sent to the list server by any subscriber is automatically distributed, either separately or as part of a daily digest, to all of the other subscribers. List server software – a program such as LISTSERV or Majordomo – sits on the host computer, and subscribers send it commands – for example, to subscribe or unsubscribe – by email. Several Web-based servers, such as Yahoo! and Topica, provide free hosting for mail lists, in return for being allowed to put often annoying advertising messages on each piece of list mail they distribute. It is very difficult to recommend particular mail lists, because lists are living and changing organisms. A list may become moribund for a period and then revive; it may, for a time, warp off into outer space, leaving its stated purpose far beyond; it can go through periods of intense silliness, flaming, and rancor, prompted, usually, by a series of posts on either religion or politics; it can be shanghaied by one participant who posts massively and, for a time, determines the character of the discussion. On the other hand, some groups maintain their distinctive character and sense of community with remarkable stability. How do you find an active, interesting mail list? Check the number of members and the number of messages posted per week. A group with, say, five members and less than one post a week may just be waiting for your presence to spring to life. But probably not. Featured Mail List  Primitive Skills Group For general discussions of wilderness and primitive skills, our featured mail list is the PSG, which was originally founded in December 1996 by Dr. André-François Bourbeau, professor of outdoor pursuits at the University of Québec. The list was reconstituted by Par Leijonhufvud, who is the moderator and keeper of an evolving FAQ. There is both a static archive for the original list and a current archive available only to list subscribers. To subscribe to the list, sign in through Par’s Web site.
The level of discussion is consistently high, with participants sharing experiences and often highly sophisticated experiments. Among the topics discussed are shelter, fire, cordage, primitive tanning, natural foods, primitive living, primitive rafts and boats, primitive direction finding, primitive trapping techniques, weapons for wilderness survival, primitive hygiene, protection from insects, primitive weather prediction, fighting cold, primitive medicine, traditional dog sledding, edible plants, and primitive clothing. There is also discussion related to modern realistic wilderness survival, including surviving unexpected emergencies after airplane crashes and broken down snowmobiles, and discussion about very specific environmental concerns related to the practice of individual primitive skills. There is a relatively small group of very well-informed regulars, who are welcoming and polite to newcomers. Professional Mail Lists A number of professional outdoor and wilderness organizations keep in touch using mail lists, and the list may be more or less active, depending on the group. There are two relatively comprehensive lists of lists – James Neill’s index of outdoor education mail lists, and Roger Greenaway’s index of outdoor discussion lists – which cover lists related to outdoor education, experiential education, leisure, therapeutic recreation, and environmental education. Visitors to Wilderness Drum may find the following to be of particular interest. Adventure Therapy This is the mail list for the Therapeutic Adventure Professionals Group (TAPG) of the Association for Experiential Education. TAPG is committed to the development and promotion of adventure-based programming and the principles of experiential education in therapeutic settings. Its members use adventure-based practice and the philosophy of experiential education therapeutically within the fields of health, mental health, corrections, education, and other human service fields. To subscribe, sign in through the University of Georgia LISTSERV. The list maintains an archive. Association for Experiential Education The AEELIST is a general discussion group on experiential education. Its purpose is to facilitate discussion on a broad range of experiential education issues, including both classroom-based and field-based programs in secondary schools, colleges, corporate programs, youth at risk, therapeutic adventure programs, challenge education, and ropes courses. Details on using the list are available at the AEELIST FAQ. To subscribe, sign in on the Princeton University LISTSERV Web page. Environmental Ethics The ENVIROETHICS list is a forum for information dissemination and discussion in any area of environmental ethics. Topics for discussion include value theory and different methods of approaching environmental ethics, such as utilitarian, deontological, and contractarian. There is also a discussion of a range of applied topics, such as restoration of damaged areas and lost species, ethical implications of development, ”rights” of future generations, different treatment for wild and domestic animals, conflicts over use of wilderness, and any other issues relevant to environmental ethics. The list is moderated by Dr. Clare Palmer and Ian Tilsed, and is open to anyone with an academic interest in environmental ethics. To subscribe, send email to mailbase@mailbase.ac.uk with no subject header and the words join enviroethics firstname lastname in the message body. Outdoor Education The OUTDOOR-ED list is open to anyone interested in outdoor education as a forum for discussion on research in progress, responses to papers in the print journals, exchange of bibliographies; the dissemination of papers, theses, book reviews, or abstracts; and the posting . course syllabi, subject handouts, and job information. Announcements of conferences, new books, new journals, or reports may also be posted. There is no moderator, so postings should be scholarly, but may be less formal than contributions to traditional journals. Discussion on new or alternative theoretical approaches to outdoor education is particularly encouraged. The list is sponsored by the Department of Outdoor Education at Latrobe University in Australia. To subscribe, send email to listserv@latrobe.edu.au with no subject header and the words subscribe outdoor-ed firstname lastname in the message body. Ropes This mail list was established in May of 1997 to allow ropes course and adventure education builders, designers, facilitators, and operators the opportunity to discuss questions, answers, concerns, and comments that arise from such programs. The members of the Ropes List Service represent a wide variety of organizations, with over 400 members from around the world. To subscribe, sign in through the Ropes Online Web site. Wilderness Education Association The Wilderness Education Association promotes wilderness safety and conservation by training competent outdoor leaders. This list is for discussion of WEA programs and activities. To subscribe, sign in through the WEA list page on Yahoo! Wilderness Emergency Medicine This mailing list was created to serve as a meeting place for physicians, researchers, medics and EMTs, SAR team members, trip leaders, and those interested in wilderness first aid, wilderness EMS, or wilderness emergency medicine for any reason. The list is maintained by staff at the Wilderness Emergency Medical Services Institute (WEMSI). To subscribe, send email to majordomo@list.pitt.edu with no subject header and the words subscribe wilderness-emergency-medicine in the message body. The list maintains an archive from 1995-2002. Yahoo! Mail Lists Yahoo! has become the major provider of free – that is, advertising-supported – mail lists. The following lists, all on Yahoo! groups, are too many, too various, and too changeable for me to comment on in any extended way. Below I give the name and a brief description of the group, taken from the description given by the mail list host; then the date the group was founded, the approximate number of members, and the total number of posts in the group during the month of, say, June 2004. All these numbers should be taken with a grain of salt, since the number of posts in any group can vary greatly from month to month; for example, a group with many members but a small sample posting rate may just be temporarily quiet. But the numbers provide some clues as to whether the group is active or comatose. Remember that this list is just a sampling of all the wonderful and bizarre stuff there is out there, so look around on your own. By the way, there is a fuzzy line separating the topics of wilderness survival on the one hand and survivalism as a social and political philosophy on the other. People who are interested in wilderness living skills are not necessarily survivalists, just as survivalists may not be particularly interested in wilderness living. Still, because of the overlap, survivalist discussion groups often carry helpful information on wilderness survival. Back to Basics Homesteading, cheap building methods, gardening for food and pleasure, recipes and cooking, how-tos, farming, and old time skills. Founded: July 19, 2000, Members: 25, Monthly posts: 0. Backpacking Gear A forum to learn, teach, review, and discuss the latest and greatest toys for the backcountry. Founded: April 19, 2000, Members: 216, Monthly posts:17. Backpacking Light A mailing list devoted to discussing lightweight backpacking techniques and gear. Founded: December 1, 1998, Members: 4257, Monthly posts: 845. Backwoodsman Backwoods skills – fire starting, shelter building, food sources, survival, and general outdoors knowledge. Founded: July 21, 2001, Members: 274, Monthly posts: 539. The Campfire A hiker hangout, a catch-all for the off-topic stuff that some folks complain about in the other lists; this group is about meeting people, and generating a camaraderie with other hikers that are a part of the online community. Founded: Jan 18, 2003, Members: 183, Monthly posts: 2168. Edible Landscape Landscape plants that you can eat – fruits, nuts, berries, shoots, leaves, and other food byproducts. Founded: April 6, 1999, Members: 404, Monthly posts: 28. Food Storage Recipes Old family recipes, historic recipes, nonfood recipes for household use, food storage, and back-to-basics cooking. Founded: February 22, 2001, Members: 300, Monthly posts: 14. Homesteading Homesteading and self reliance. Founded: January 15, 1999, Members: 945, Monthly posts: 144. Homesteading and Self-sufficiency Homesteading, self sufficiency, small group sufficiency, hunting, bowhunting, fishing, butchering, bartering, gardening, homeschooling, and building of dwellings for both animal and people. Founded: August 6, 2001, Members: 216, Monthly posts: 69. Humans Tracking Humans Visual tracking of subjects in search and rescue opeerations, mantracking in the wilderness, crime scene investigation, and the intense following of a lost, missing, or overdue subject who may be down and unresponsive. Founded: March 6, 2000, Members: 165, Monthly posts: 16. Indigenous World For indigenous peoples and people working to assist and advocate for indigenous peoples with their problems of daily living and survival, such as food, water, medical needs, shelter, land, identity cards, and effect of missionaries. Founded: February 15, 1999, Members: 58, Monthly posts: 8. Living Primitive For those interested in primitive skills, wilderness survival, and knives. Founded: October 18, 2000, Members: 45, Monthly posts: 4. Native American Skills Technology Dedicated to the sharing, rediscovery, and preservation of Native American technology skills, including flintknapping, ethnobotany, primitive pottery, primitive archery, atlatls, cordage making, beading, quillwork, basketry, and brain-tanning of leather. Founded: October 8, 2002, Members: 165, Monthly posts: 244. Primitive Wilderness survival –.fire making, shelters, finding drinkable water, plant and animal foods, primitive crafts, tracking, and survival attitudes. Founded: May 25, 1999, Members: 131, Monthly posts: 16. Primitive Archers Primitive archery and living, trekking in the woods, and everyday life the old-fashioned way. Founded: May 28, 2000, Members: 10, Monthly posts: 0. Primitive Backwoods Camping Primitive camping and backpacking, the latest gear for survival camping, places to camp. Founded: July 31, 2001, Members: 93, Monthly posts: 0. Primitive Living and Native Skills Co-op The art of primitive living – firestarting, edible and medicinal wild plants, flintknapping, survival skills, shelter building. Founded: May 23, 2001, Members: 30, Monthly posts: 0. Search and Rescue Volunteers Forum created for all SAR members to come together in common intrest of improving on such a vital emergency service. Founded: Oct 26, 1998, Members: 81, Monthly posts: 2. Self Rescue Topics relating to caving self rescue, including improvisation techniques, wilderness medicine in the cave environment, caving equipment, rescue equipment, and simple caving rescue techniques. Founded: June 8, 1998, Members: 217, Monthly posts: 2. Super Survival Post Outdoor skills, survival, primitive skills, combat survival, combat skills, camping skills, first-aid, self-sufficiency, survivalism, wild plants for food and first-aid, survivalist skills, tracking skills, trapping skills, survival poaching, survival books, tapes, outdoor gear, and essential skills or subjects for the outdoors person. Founded: January 29, 2001, Members: 545, Monthly posts: 291. Survivalism Discussions about fire, shelter, defense, food, water, personal hygiene, medical transportation, various packs, where to go, and survival scenarios. Founded: May 25, 1998, Members: 22, Monthly posts: 40. Survivalism and Preparedness Food storage, firearms, canning, gardening, self-sustaining communities, back-to-basics, water purification, alternative power, conservation, homesteading, and first aid. Founded: October 20, 2000, Members: 1559, Monthly posts: 595. Survivalism Advanced For the advanced survivalist, who has spent tens of thousands of dollars on her lifestyle, is well-read in survival literature, and lives in a rural area west of the Mississippi. Founded: September 23, 1999, Members: 74, Monthly posts: 0. Teaching Drum Discussions on Native spirituality and lifeways, primitive living skills, Balance, self-discovery, personal healing, attunement, and other related topics, sponsored by the Teaching Drum Outdoor School. Founded: April 23, 1999, Members: 225, Monthly posts: 34. Thrower A list about throwing weapons, for sport, survival, and self-defense, primarily knives, but also axes, hatchets, spears, atlatls, boomerangs, bolas, sticks, steel balls, and casting weapons like whips, including events, promoters, calendars, and competitions. Founded: June 25, 1999, Members: 453, Monthly posts: 113. Tracker School For people interested in tracking, nature, wilderness survival, and spirituality as taught by the Tom Brown, Jr. Tracker School. Founded: November 30, 1999, Members: 928, Monthly posts: 1335. Tropical Rainforest Ecology For the exchange of ideas and opinions about the ecology of tropical rainforests. Founded: December 15, 1998, Members: 23, Monthly posts: 1. Visionary Shamanism A list for entheogenic and visionary truth seekers, dealing with shamanism, psychedelic shamanism, death and dying; plant sorcery, Native American spirituality, alchemical gardening techniques, tricksters, and fringe physics. Founded: April 12, 2000, Members: 959, Monthly posts: 1689. Wild Edibles Discussions concerning wild edible plants, animals, mushrooms; including identification, recipes, and folklore concerning berries, nuts, roots, greens, flowers, mushrooms, insects, and marine invertebrates. Founded: June 20, 1998, Members: 510, Monthly posts: 48. Wilderness Medicine For guides, Wilderness First Responders, Wilderness EMTs, adventurers, and others interested in backcountry medicine. Founded: January 15, 2000, Members: 19, Monthly posts: 0. |
