Rethinking "Leave no trace"

[Boarmaster]

Its good to be aware. Humans impact the planet. Based on what I see on trash day in my hood Im doing my part to minimize it. I usually have one kitchen bag of trash a week. Occasionally I fill up my recycle bin. I see other driveways with two big containers both full and three or four bags laying beside them Week after week. I do live alone but holy cow some of these households make some serious trash. I wear my hunting clothing until its pretty well trashed. If I do upgrade and the clothing isbin great shape I give it away to someone that could use it or the Goodwill box. I use some electronics but I toss very few batteries a years. Most of the stuff I buy now is rechargeable. That helps not tossing 50 aaa batteries a year like I did in the past.

I used to hunt with a guy who was a litter bug. It bugged the crap out of me. I finally leaned on his azz about it. I doubt he quite it altogether but he never tossed another wrapper in the woods in front of me.

 

[caesAR15]

This isn't complicated.

• Don't litter.
• Consume. Less. Stuff.

This applies universally; whether you're a tree hugger, 'public landowner' or MAGA man. If you care about conservation on an individual level it all boils down to Don't litter, and Consume Less Stuff.

It's easy to tell others to do these things, it's a different story when you're one being marketed to.

 

[caesAR15]

This isn't complicated.

• Don't litter.
• Consume. Less. Stuff.

This applies universally; whether you're a tree hugger, 'public landowner' or MAGA man. If you care about conservation on an individual level it all boils down to Don't litter, and Consume Less Stuff.

It's easy to tell others to do these things, it's a different story when you're one being marketed to.

BTW, have you guys seen the new 2021 Hoyt's?? They've got the new FirstLite pattern. I'm thinking I need to ditch my 2020 Hoyt in Kuiu Optifade. Need to match my bow to the neck gaitor I'm running and my new Crispi boots. This will surely up my odds of success...

 

[mauserfan]

Good thought provoking thread. It motivated me to get a pair of these tote bags for my grocery shopping.

Duluth Trading Fire Hose Logo Bag

Load up on huge bargains with the whopping big Fire Hose Shopping Tote built tough enough to carry weighty cargo.

www.duluthtrading.com

Those are great CHINESE bags. If they were DULUTH PACK bags, they were made in Duluth, Mn. I still have my Dad's Duluth Pack from 1926, been repaired twice from bear damage.......is used every year, a lot.

 

[GoferDog]

Would you say it’s a BEAR necessity?

 

[Mosby]

Sadly the biggest promoters of these environmental lifestyle issues are phonies. Al Gore, Hollywood elites... they tell us what we should be giving up, what we don't need, what we shouldn't do, while flying on private jets, riding in limo's, driving Bentley's and going home to 20,000 foot mansions.

Worth hundreds of millions, they could care less about carbon footprint. That stuff is for the common folk and suckers IMO. Al Gore's father made millions supporting the coal industry. Al Gore got paid millions for being against it. It's all $$$, politics and power to them. They talk about global warming and rising oceans and turn around and buy multi million dollar beach properties in California and Hawaii. They don't seem to be worried about melting icebergs any time soon.

I grew up 20 miles from Woolrich. They made great stuff, it lasted forever and it weighed about 100 lbs walking up a mountain. I like to be nostalgic but it sucked. I will take the new stuff. I just wish more of it was made in the US.

I buy what's on sale and if is comfortable, I buy more of it before they stop making it. I'm frugal. I do catch and release. I only hunt what I eat. I don't leave trash in the woods or by the road. I pick up after others if I have too. I like dogs more than most people and rescue abandoned and abused animals. I do my own thing for my own reasons.

 

[Jason K.Y. Wild]

What’s frustrating for me is the amount of packaging included in every thing hunting and non hunting related. You buy a trial cam and it has plastic wrapping on the cam, on the box, the battery’s are in another bag, fishing lures are even worst.


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[H80Hunter]

One of these old onion headlines I love that seems appropriate here:

'How Bad For The Environment Can Throwing Away One Plastic Bottle Be?' 30 Million People Wonder

WASHINGTON—Wishing to dispose of the empty plastic container, and failing to spot a recycling bin nearby, an estimated 30 million Americans asked themselves Monday how bad throwing away a single bottle of water could really be.

www.theonion.com

 

[JiminAZ]

I'm 61 so I've watched marketing/consumerism/packaging evolve over my lifetime.

One thing my parents taught me was to buy quality stuff and then use it until it is done in. I really believe in that ethic. Less stuff of higher quality is the way to go.

With that said, we are a society awash in cheap goods from globalism, etc. When I was a kid the cost of things served as a rationing mechanism. You bought less because that's what you could afford.

Cheap shit changed all that. Mountains of cheap shit. People in the US are buried in it. I'd even argue that to a certain degree, all this crap rules our lives. I think about all the appliances in the kitchen, consumer electronics, multiple tv's etc etc etc that we have today. Back then not so much.

So in this context, the plastic in my Sitka stuff doesn't worry me much. I get a ton of use out of a product that has a very low volume of plastic in it.

Meanwhile, in my day to day life, every week the "recycle" bin is just full of packaging crap. I mean all the amazon boxes and bubble wrap and that damned clamshell clear plastic that even the most basic items seem to come in nowadays.

When I was a kid we drank water from a glass or the garden hose. Coke bottles went back to the store to be reused. Our trash volume per human was just way the heck less. Most things had a price tag directly on the item and little or no packaging.

Some things have gotten better. Cars are cleaner and get better mileage. Soaps don't have phosphates, etc. Industrial waste streams, while not perfect, are way cleaned up compared to the 60's and 70's.

I try to minimize the volume of crap but the choices are poor when it comes to food and necessity packaging. The ratio of waste to product has really risen over the years.

Simplicity counts for a lot. Still, like all of us, I'm a selfish hypocrite. At times I buy stuff just because I desire it and really don't need it. When the price is low it's really easy to say "I always wanted one of those and what the heck let's get one".

 

[fshaw]

I can’t tell you how encouraging I find it to read this thread. I recently retired as a science teacher, after doing a career in the military, where I taught biology, environmental science and alternative energy among other subjects. To see this topic discussed rationally, in a thoughtful and adult manner here is encouraging. I am a member of another major outdoor website where discussions about environmental issues devolve rapidly to “climate change is a conspiracy”, and “people that are concerned with environmental issues are libtards and communists,” and on, and on, and on.

Do what you can individually, teach your children “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without” thanks Clarence, and work to educate yourself and others about the facts of the issues, not the partisan political BS. Never give up and remember the importance of these issues when you vote.

Makes me proud to be a member of Rokslide.

Frank Shaw

 

[BravoNovember]

At a short 30 years on this earth, I realize that I can only control me and try to raise my family to do the right thing. Even if its a small thing like using a stainless water bottle instead of plastic it all helps a little.

 

[Pony Soldier]

As an official old guy and living rural, it is just natural to minimize junk. We collect our paper waste separately and burn that weekly. I take my garbage to the landfill quarterly. It's not that hard.

I have worn the same wool hunting clothes for 40 years. Lately as my woolrich shirts have gotten thin there has been a struggle to replace them. I have no interest in the new camo products. I watched a couple Minnesota hunters freezing to death on a log in them while I was very comfortable in wool.

In the 80s I used to get all my elk hides tanned and built chaps and varius hunting items out of them that have yet to wear out. A little maintenance with oiling and waxing goes a long ways.

All of my hunting seasons are cold to very cold so I don't need multiple types. I hunt as a resident for 5-6 weeks - every day - in snow- walking. I know many of you in other states have seasons so short it is hardly worth the effort.

On pollution we need to be aware of some of the testing procedures. I saw one and only one report on fish in Coure d Alene lake. They caught legal sized fish and tested the meat, guts, and skin separately. They found pollutants were focused in the skin and internal organs but rarely in the meat. A little closer examination showed EPA testing procedures focused on minnows run through a blender and tested and results displayed for all fish parts. Thirty seven years in government has taught me not to accept government results without question.

I urge you all to think things through before making radical decisions. A liitle practical thinking will go a long ways.

 

[FatCampzWife]

OP's spot on. Long story short, I do what I can, when I can, to reduce, reuse, & recycle. Ziplocks are a bad habit, and there are certain things I just will not give up, but I try, & am aware of all the non-biodegradable crap in my purchases.

I started teaching a "preserve the planet" course to college students...how to reduce food waste, how to decrease your entire footprint, the zero wsste movement, sustainability, myths vs reality...all that. It's only 16 students at a time, & a hella lot of work, but some of my students will more than likely be in politics or journalism, & be able to influence others. We talk about diet choices, the crap in your cars & furniture, re-purposing, off-grid living, transportation, ag trends, hunting... many come in with one mindset & leave with a completely different one.

I try not to dwell much on most things OP discussed, as they're depressing as hell. I do what I can, that's all I can do.

 

[goathunter.oregon]

Of all the environmental problems we've managed to create, microplastics has captured my attention the most lately. It turns out that when we wash clothes that are made from synthetic materials, clothes fibers go out with the rinse water and eventually end up in our rivers and oceans where they become food for micro-organisms. Instead of getting a belly full of nutrient-dense calories, they fill up with tiny plastic particles.

No one knows yet where this is headed. Oregon State University is studying the effects. The NY Times recently published an excellent article about microplastics in "ocean snow".

We need to do better: less plastic, less trash and I'd like to see the outdoor recreation industry take the lead on innovating products without plastic.

 

[gabenzeke]

Of all the environmental problems we've managed to create, microplastics has captured my attention the most lately. It turns out that when we wash clothes that are made from synthetic materials, clothes fibers go out with the rinse water and eventually end up in our rivers and oceans where they become food for micro-organisms. Instead of getting a belly full of nutrient-dense calories, they fill up with tiny plastic particles.

No one knows yet where this is headed. Oregon State University is studying the effects. The NY Times recently published an excellent article about microplastics in "ocean snow".

We need to do better: less plastic, less trash and I'd like to see the outdoor recreation industry take the lead on innovating products without plastic.

Plastic made from hemp is the answer to a lot of problems.

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[WyoKid]

A very good discussion. As outdoors folks, hunters, fishermen and women, I agree that we talk about conservation and habitat preservation but often do not give a thought to how we might be impacting the environment with our own day-to-day actions and choices. I recently moved to Aurora, Colorado, and several miles North of me is a trash mountain. It is literally landfill that has been made into a extremely large hill made of trash and covered with dirt. There are 2 and it looks like they are working on a third. I imagine most towns and cities are the same worldwide.

I am afraid we have become a throw away society. Consumerism is now the new norm. I may be a pessimist but I do not think there is any way of going back. Technology has brought a lot of useful products into today's world: Big Screen TVs, Cellphones that are essentially mini-computers, GPS and Garmin In-Reach devices, microwave ovens, air fryers, coffee makers that use individual coffee pods, vehicles with on board GPS/mapping and Satellite Radio, etc. Then there is construction, new homes covered in Tyvek, blown or foam insulation, vinyl windows, vinyl flooring, etc. Speaking of which, I have been watching new houses being built in my neighborhood and it is shocking to see all of the good lumber that gets tossed into the dumpster along with cardboard boxes, plastic covers, excess Tyvek, wiring, plastic pipe and scrap metal. None of the extra or unused materials goes to the next house or habitat for humanity - it goes into the dumpster and there is a dumpster for each new house that gets emptied weekly. And, then there is waste from hospitals, dentist offices, airports and airplanes, restaurants and grocery stores. There are plastic water bottles everywhere.

We have made great advances across the board in living standards, medical, technology, shelf life of food, fresh food from around the world, transportation and communication. Yet, it all comes at a cost of greater waste and pollution, and more plastic and heavy metals. Is anyone going to give all of that convenience up? And, will enough people give it up to make a difference? I don't think so. We haven't even talked about other countries that are using resources to reach the same level of wealth, materialism, living standard and opportunity as the U.S. We have wonderful things but it still just things. At the end of the day, it gets tossed in the garbage. A thought provoking discussion.