As you travel in the wilderness, you need to be sensitive of how you treat and care for the environment. More and more travelers are exploring the unknown which may leave a huge impact. Environment elements such as streams, forests, river and campsites are commonly the ones we should look into.
We recommend providing little to no impact on the environment when participating on camping or hiking trips. This will greatly help preserve its beauty for the new set of travelers and even the next generation.
Tips on How to Care for the Environment
As what others say, “take pictures only, leave not trace but footprints”. It is necessary to leave minimal up to no trace to keep it in the state when you found it. In this way, others can participate on world environment day which aims to keep the surroundings clean.
Here are some things you may do to start partaking in this noble mission. We recommend you practice them every time you travel.
Carry out items that you took in
We tend to bring a lot of things as we travel. These include food, drinks and everyday essentials. Food particles tend to attract wildlife especially insects. With this, it is suggested to manage your waste properly.
You must leave the area you are eating on free from any trash. In fact, it should appear as if you were not there. In this way, the next user or camper may fully enjoy its facilities. It is pertinent to be considerate of others.
You should even be more conscious of the surroundings when there are locals living in the area. The waste you produce and leave may affect the lives of the locals as unwanted insects may proliferate. You may regard the place as your home, allowing no dust or waste to dirty the place.
Keep the water sources pure and clean
Water keeps you hydrated and energized on your outdoor activities. Most natural water sources offer clean water which you can readily drink. To keep it in this state, it is important to remove any sources of impurity which may dirty it.
We recommend getting a separate bucket of water when doing personal activities. These include bathing, washing dishes and doing the laundry. It is suggested to carry water at least 10 yards away from your stream. This prevents the soap from tampering the pureness of the water. Moreover, soap shall be filtered by the soil.
When taking a dip, you must first remove any creams or spray in your body. These include lotions, bug spray and sunscreen. These products may have harmful chemicals that may contaminate the water.
This task follows the seven environmental principles. Thus, you must take the time in removing these products first as you prepare for a swim.
Bury biodegradable waste
It is inevitable to produce biodegradable, especially human, waste. You can carry a plastic trowel that is light enough to carry on your backpack. You may utilize this handy tool to dig a little hole where you can bury these waste.
We recommend burying your waste on at least eight inches deep. The biodegradable waste shall break down with the help of microorganisms.
Nevertheless, there are locations where you cannot readily bury your waste such as the dry desert. The environment on such location is not applicable.
It is recommended to find alternative options to employ. You can research for protocols when dealing with biodegradable waste on different types of locations.
Build fire
A fire provides a number of purposes. It can keep you warm and dry on cold climate. We recommend building a fire that leaves minimal to no impact when completed.
You can use a down and dead wood. In this way, you can easily keep the fire small and easy to maintain. As you finish, the next campers should not recognize that there was a fire in the same spot.
It is suggested to take a brief moment and think about the positive results of caring for the environment. When in doubt, you must ask yourself, “Will this minimize or provide no impact to the environment?”
There are several advantages of keeping track of your contribution to the wellness of the environment. Provided in the next section are the benefits you may reap from the simple deeds you make now.
Benefits of Caring for the Environment
Caring for the environment does not require one to be a full-blown environmentalist. You just need to be conscious of what you do.
What is leave no trace?
This technique aims to preserve the natural state of the environment. There are several benefits that we can gain from caring for the environment. We recommend you look into the leave no trace seven principles to obtain the following benefits:
1. Provide healthy living conditions
There are several outdoor locations in today’s time that were already polluted. These include toxins and contaminants that may potentially harm your health.
Pollution does not only occur in air. It may also be reflected in the water. Water pollution may cause several medical complications such as reproductive problems, gastrointestinal illness as well as neurological disorders.
Despite having water treatment equipment for outdoor or camping trips, it is still better to prevent pollution. The air and water sustains our basic necessities. Thus, it is essential to start preventing pollution.
2. Maintain temperature
Nowadays, the earth’s temperature has considerably been increasing. These small changes in the temperature may lead to different occurrences of intermittent weather conditions and patterns.
There are several activities during camping that may lead to global warming. Greenhouse gases cause global warming which may affect the weather. This may present detrimental effects on water, agriculture, wildlife and forests.
For the sake of the next generation outdoor adventurers, we recommend you become more conscious with what you do. It is important to prevent the effects of climate change even in our own little way.
3. Promotes biodiversity
Biodiversity includes animals, plants and others considered as living things. It can be affected in a negative way by harmful natural forces as well as human activities.
We should know that our basic necessities for survival such as shelter, water, air and food. All of the species living in the environment affect the consumption of these necessities.
Should there a not preferable chain reaction happens, a negative effect may occur. We need to maintain good biodiversity so that nature provides a sustainable outdoor or campsite for everyone.
Overall, we must acknowledge that the earth is our one and only home. To preserve the environment, we should participate in even small activities that can contribute to it.
We recommend you check out some ways you can help as an outdoor adventurer. There are a number of online resources you can look into. Even as simple as picking up trash and burying your biodegradable waste can be a great help.