Bivouac

Winterslag terril, 8-9.IX.2023

10.09.2023
Philippe Vandenbroeck

PhD

bivouac | ˈbɪvʊak |

noun
a temporary camp without tents or cover, used especially by soldiers or mountaineers.

verb (bivouacs, bivouacking, bivouacked) [no object]
stay in a bivouac: we bivouacked on the north side of the town.

ORIGIN

early 18th century (denoting a night watch by the whole army): from French, probably from Swiss German Bîwacht ‘additional guard at night’, apparently denoting a citizens' patrol supporting the ordinary town watch.

Naess summed up his own position with the following guidelines for ‘ethically and ecologically responsible friluftsliv:

Respect for all life. Respect for landscapes. Traceless passage through the wilderness.
Outdoor education in the signs of identification. Instead of goal-direction and competition, deep, rich and varied interaction with nature.
Minimal strain upon the natural combined with maximal self-reliance.
Natural lifestyle. All-sided togetherness with the greatest possible elimination of technique and apparatus.
Time for adjustment when one comes from urban life to the stillness of nature. It takes time for the new milieu to work in depth. Several weeks must pass before the sensitivity for nature is so developed that it fills the mind.

Source: Gunnar Breivik (2021) ‘Richness in Ends, Simpleness in Means!’ on Arne Naess’s Version of Deep Ecological Friluftsliv and Its Implications for Outdoor Activities, Sport, Ethics and Philosophy, 15:3, 417-434, DOI: 10.1080/17511321.2020.1789719