Camping is near and dear to my heart, and I try to do it as often as possible. That may mean once per year, or several times, depending on my schedule, but no matter how many times I trek out into the wilderness, I always practice eco-friendly camping.
It wasn’t always like this for me, because I grew up in a disposable society. When camping with friends or family, we would never take any real dishes with us, opting for plastics and paper items to use and when finished with those things, the first words about disposing of garbage was to "burn everything."
Back then this had no effect on me, but nowadays when I recall all of the plastic knives and forks, plastic bottles and bags that were mindlessly tossed into the fire, I feel sick to my stomach just thinking about it. Times and my mindset have changed drastically. Camping now is a celebration of getting back to nature and attempting to leave as little of a carbon footprint as possible. The only regression I will take when camping is to have a campfire. This may sound counterproductive to the whole idea, but it’s not.
Camping in a state park, which I believe in doing because it generates funds for the department of natural resources, means there is plenty of downed wood all over the place. This wood will be collected and burned anyway, because it is ultimately viewed as a fire hazard. So burning a campfire in a state park gives off no more or less pollution then there would have been regardless.
What I don’t do anymore is to randomly burn everything, mainly because there is almost nothing to burn. I leave with virtually everything I bring in camping, unless it is recyclable, in which case that goes into the proper bin. But, I no longer bring in paper or plastic ware of any kind and I no longer bring plastic bottles.
Everything I now bring into the campsite is reusable, like real plates and real silverware. I wash them after each use with biodegradable dishwashing detergent, and I am good to go. This task takes about the same amount of time as it does to gather everything and throw it in the fire. Realistically, there was never any benefit to burning everything since it didn’t save any time (not to mention all those plastic fumes that were polluting the air).
Speaking of pollution, it is important to know the real pollution in parks comes from vandalism and littering. For whatever reason, people still throw garbage on the ground or need to destroy something. Both are absolutely foolish things to do, and although I will pick up trash on my travels when I see it, there is nothing I can do about a spray-painted building, a tree that’s been cut up, or signs and information boards that have been purposely destroyed. But this article is about eco-friendly camping, so here are a few Green Guy tips on the ways to do just that.
As stated before, take real stainless steel knives, spoons and forks and wash them with a bio-degradable detergent. Get a five-gallon jerry can for water that you can have at your campsite for washing, rinsing and drinking. I have used the same one for more than 20 years, and it is still going strong.
I use a natural insect repellent and sunblock that works great, with no chemical additives. No chemicals means that even using them before going swimming will not be harmful to the water or the wildlife that use it. Get reusable cups; mine are coffee mugs from a resale store. They are strong, sturdy and are easily washable.
I personally love drinking the water from the Wisconsin aquifer, but I also have reusable plastic 32 oz containers for soft drink mixes. Again, I have had these for years, and they are easily portable fitting into a backpack when I go hiking.
For bathing I use both organic soap and shampoo, and although I use the campsites provided showers, in a pinch, washing in a lake or a pond can be done safely with no harm to the environment.
When you go camping, you should not contribute to noise pollution either. When I go camping, I am thrilled by the sounds of nature. I never take a radio or any other electronic noisemaking device. This is my own personal preference, of course, but I’d rather hear the natural drumming of grouse wings out in the woods than the synthetic drumming of a hip-hop band.
I generate virtually zero waste when I go camping. What I bring in can either be recycled or reused, and Because Action speaks louder than words, just by following these tips, anyone will be able to go eco-friendly camping just like me!
Source: BecauseAction.com
