Five places that changed my life: Jon Muir, adventurer and sustainability advocate

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Five places that changed my life: Jon Muir, adventurer and sustainability advocate

By Julietta Jameson
Jon Muir, OAM, adventurer and sustainability advocate.

Jon Muir, OAM, adventurer and sustainability advocate.

SOUTHERN ALPS, NEW ZEALAND

From the age of 16, I spent summers climbing in New Zealand's Southern Alps. One day, we reached the summit too late in the day to descend. During the cold, hungry, sleepless night that followed, I obsessed over my predicament and came to what was a life defining realisation. I had chosen to take on extreme challenges – I needed to learn to embrace the intrinsic suffering of this choice, to see the difficulties in a positive light and utilise adversity to more clearly understand myself.

MT ARAPILES, VICTORIA

Whilst rock climbing at Arapiles in 1981, I was killed by a rock. Broken ribs, punctured lungs, no breathing, no pulse. Dead. Three Earth minutes later, I returned from an eternity of blissful golden light – cliched, but true. In the moment that I returned from that liminal space, my conviction that I was on the right path became set in stone. I knew that life was short and I felt a deep commitment to pursue my passion whilst taking nothing for granted. The practise of gratitude became embedded in my daily life.

MT CHANGABANG, INDIA

For a team of four 21-year-old mountain climbers, one of the biggest hurdles in our audacious attempt on the extremely beautiful and difficult Changabang was ignoring all those people who said it couldn't be done. We were strong and experienced climbers and we understood our strengths and weaknesses – both individually and as a team. Reaching the summit of this mountain catapulted us to the cutting edge of world mountaineering. From this experience, I learned that anything is possible.

THE AUSTRALIAN DESERTS

Throughout my unsupported desert expeditions, including my traverse of Australia from south to north in 2001 and my walk to the Geographic Centre in 2007, I experienced a wonderful, un-peopled landscape. I realised out there that when we talk about trying to save the planet, we are mostly talking about trying to save ourselves. We don't need to save the planet. What we need to do is to rein in uncontrolled population growth and resource depletion – to pull ourselves back from being a plague species.

THE HIMALAYA

Climbing for many years in the Himalaya amidst richly diverse ecosystems and observing the subsistence farmers I met there, influenced me to take responsibility for the most important needs in my day-to-day existence. The extraordinary agrarian skilfulness and simplicity of those Himalayan farmers inspires me to reduce my own carbon footprint by gathering water, food, energy and shelter from the environment immediately around me and to utilise these resources wisely.

Jon Muir, OAM, award-winning adventurer and sustainability advocate is on a speaking tour in Australia in November organised by World Expeditions: Off the Grid: A Night with Jon Muir. Jon and his wife, Suzy, operate five-day farm stays at their home in Victoria. See grampiansritesofpassage.org worldexpeditions.com

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