Leave No Trace
Rain Land - CMA Land Admin
Published 1st time in Summer 2006 Accord
What does this mean to everyone? Since I joined CMA less than one year ago there have been several conversations with varying viewpoints on why this phrase doesn’t always get followed. Either we have a hard time with recycling. No companies to pick it up. No one wants to take it with them. Or no one has room for all of it. Then there is the sorting. But what about the ways we can individually cut the amount of trash that we take to and generate at events.
I have been at the work weekends immediately following the last two events. Keep in mind my first two events, my only two events. I have seen the amount of trash left at the land and seen what it is. There is no reason to point fingers or get mad. That doesn’t change the facts. We generate too much trash as a group. I have come up with a few ways to minimize the amount of trash. Some things that others have mentioned and some I have thought of and usually heard out of others also.
First, we have to look at what the trash is, and of course not all of it can be eliminated. There are a few big things I have noticed myself. First is the packaging. Really, how hard is it when you have a new tent, air mattress, even water, and other misc. food items to take it out of the packaging before you leave home? We all have a way to get rid of trash that already costs us money and doesn’t make our yards look like that land does after an event. That in itself would help some. Water is another big thing. Everyone likes individual water bottles. Sure they are easier to deal with. But what is wrong with taking a few bottles and refilling them out of gallons or having a reusable water container of some sort to fill. 20 ounce water bottles take up a lot more room than we realize in the trash. The bottles you do throw away….. Crush. It takes 10 seconds tops to crush a bottle. One last thing I will point out is plates and plastic ware used for meals. If you have to use disposable plates, why can’t we burn them? There are fires everywhere. Keep your PAPER products separate and burn them. Or even better…… use plates and silverware that can be washed and reused. Our camp did that this past event and granted doing dishes sucks, but it is better than an over loaded trash dumpster that costs CMA.
I am sure some people are rolling their eyes by now, and others won’t read this. That is fine. I just know that we have beautiful land that I hate to see look like it does after the event. When we can’t put our trash in the dumpster because there is too much sitting on the ground which later draws the animals to it, and they scatter it. We can’t blame them, it is survival. But we can do our parts individually to make sure that we don’t leave it for them to get into. Let’s take care of our land and keep her as beautiful when we leave as she is when we arrive.