Nature Videos On YouTube

Chetco’s Outside

“Nature Videos On YouTube”

by Chetco Timmins

I was making this video and thought it might not be that interesting. I'm on YouTube all the time, and there are so many engaging things out there. But why is that? When it comes to nature—plants, rocks, and animals—there are a lot of beautiful parts, but there’s also a lot of ordinary stuff. People like me find all of it interesting, but objectively, some places are cooler than others.

Currently, I'm at Meadowdale Park in Washington. It's not a national or state park, and I’m not sure who owns this land, but it’s a county park, I think. Right now, it's quiet; nobody’s here except for people on the bigger trail down to the water. It’s Sunday, and I find it great—very green, vibrant, and quiet, minus the sound of airplanes. However, if I were to watch this video, I don’t know if I would feel the same way. The reason might be that you miss a lot when watching YouTube, especially videos about nature.

Many of the nature videos I watch focus on human achievements outdoors or educational content. Very few show the outdoors itself. When you reduce the entire natural world to a YouTube video, you're presenting a really organic thing in a very inorganic way, reducing it to just one or two senses—sight and sound. While there's a lot you can do with those senses, it can’t capture the full experience.

I can hear a little stream and some birds nearby, which is nice. The absence of sound is also pleasant. I'm not smelling anything in particular, but nothing bad, either. The things I’m touching aren’t unpleasant, and there’s no wind, so I’m quite warm. I can see all the plants and trees, along with little bugs flying around and spider webs glistening.

If you’re like me, you might feel overwhelmed by all this, but it’s a different kind of overwhelming. In nature, everything is organic, and there’s a term called "fractals," which describes how shapes split off into smaller versions of themselves. This is common in trees and plants, and it's been found that humans find fractals soothing. I feel very calm looking at all the organic shapes. My goal with these videos is to encourage people to experience the same relaxation I’m feeling now. However, it’s hard to convey that through a barrier like a screen. I want to help people take actual steps to experience this, not just through a video but through a real experience.

The best way to share information is through human interaction because face-to-face communication encompasses many sensory experiences that get reduced in audio and video formats. I also think about the idea of fractals and the color green, which is proven to bring joy to the human brain. Green often signifies food and health, making it beneficial for survival in the wild.

Even though human creations can also be seen as part of nature, I believe that they often don’t promote human flourishing. Structures we encounter daily might serve purposes that aren't conducive to well-being, influenced by factors like capitalism and materialism.

I think it would be interesting to design buildings that incorporate organic shapes and colors, conducive to human flourishing. The structures we have now don’t necessarily benefit us, as they’re often designed with right angles and patterns.

I’m trying to figure out what I want to do with these videos. I aim to make them better because I believe people become good at things through practice. I’ve currently made zero videos, so I think if I create many, they’ll naturally improve. I had no real intention for this video, so I’ll probably stop here.

Watch the full video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twYRcG4rOnc&t=4s