Low Impact
Adventures
Go ahead and party with
Mother Nature, but don't
trash her house
What's out is in I rom rock (.limbing to scuba (In
mg, evervliody is rushing to join the latest extreme
sport but it might be more than the great out
iliHits can handle.
Vcording to environmentalists, it uninformed cttthusi
asts aren’t careful, they can do serious damage to land and
water.
lor example, as rock climbing gains popularity, it also
disturbs clitt dwelling birds and animals, destroys ancient
rock art, uproots plants and litters ledges with trash and
human waste. \s a result, some national parks have already
placed restrictions on climbers Joshua l ice National
Monument in Southern ( ahtornia, tor one, has banned
the use ot steel Imlls to anchor rojies ( tthcr parks are con
sidering rules such as keeping people oft unexplored tai es.
Because knobby wheeled bikes stir up soil, mountain
Inking can contribute to erosion and disturb wildlife
Vcordmg to Mark I eatherstone, a senior and president ot
the mountain Inking club at the l ot l tali, many trails are
already trashed
"Me try and stick to well worn trails to keep erosion
pretty minimal," lie says "It really comes down to paving
attention to wilderness areas and not biking where you
know you’re not supposed to."
(.ampere and Inkers can also scar the environment by
trampling vegetation, scorching the earth with then camp
tires and leaving behind human waste
I yen small decisions like wearing sunscreen can upset
the environment
( hris ( animus, a senior and president ot tin scuba club
at the l of Florida, says he has to explain the delicate bal
.nice ot coral reefs to novice divers
“1 have to tell them. ‘Please don't wear sunscreen, please
don't step on the reefs or pick anything up,"' he says
“1 veil touching bottom stirs up sand that lands on the
coral and kills it."
( >thcr u.iut sports like Imamu: .nnl skiing:
also .1 ttect wildlife. most notably manatees,
aquatic animals that live ill warm coastal
areas such as Florida Michael kennev, a
regional director tor the National W ildlife
Federation who coordinates student out
reach programs, savs lie's never seen a man
atee that wasn’t scarred by a boat's pro
pellet Manatees also entangle themselves
in fishing line
"There have been some improvements
latelv with propeller guards and no-walve
/ones," Kenney says "Anil tor the most
part sjtorts enthusiasts have a greater appre
ciation tor the environment. 1 here arc very
tew people who just don't get it."
*
§
3
Soma jtarki an putting restriction* an mountain climber*
David (ijrna, an environmental science mj|or at I exas
\i\\l l . savs, "Uc tell our (outdoors vlul>| mcmlvers to
'take only pictures, leave onlv footprints '"
\ccordmg to tin l S I .nest Sen lie, wilderness visita
turn peaked at Is million in I‘>H4, ami after a time of
dei line, recent numiiers seem to lie increasing
“’ion want people to i xpertenee wilderness to cdui ate
and gam apprei lation, but at the same time use is detri
mental, savs ( hris Ibsen, William and Mary |umor and
former Student I' riv icoinneiital \ition( oalitioii president
In an effort to get the word out to sjxirts enthusiasts,
nonprofit groups like the l/aak Walton I i ague ot \merii a
and l eave No I rate promote environmentally safe out
door recreation through pamphlets and in - the field train
mi; I eave No 1 race otters If) principles tor sjmrts enthu
siasts
Leave No Trace * Top 10 Suggestions
* Plan ahead and prepare before you go
■ Concentrate Impact in high use areas
- Spread use and Impact In pristine areas
■ Avoid places where impact Is just beginning
* Minimize horse Impact
- Use campfires responsibly
- Pack It in. pack it out
- Properly dispose of what you cannot pack out
1
Climbing can disturb local wildlife
■ Be considerate or others
■ Leave what you find
"People ire hungry fur this information,"
savs I ran \o Iran outreach nKirilmatot
Rich Bra mi “Recreation and preservation
are not necessarily at odds with each other.
I duration is the answer "
And Brume warns that destruction has its
price "Where education tails, regulation
enters," he savs “The countrv is filled with
parks that have been closed due to overuse
Sometimes it's |iist to allow recovers time,
sometimes complete rcvegetution must lie
done. It doesn't matter it you set aside all
the land you want it you love tl to death." 0
viewpoint
He said the end
was at hand He pre
dieted that in time
the yap between hun
gry mouths and the
limits of agriculture
would result in mass
starvation ^
The year was 1798
the man was Thomas
Malthus. and today
there is more food than
ever before
Malthus was the first
in a long line ol environ
mentalist doomsayers
with a cloudv crystal
'Environmentalists
routinely place the
interests of people
below that of
lower creatures.
ball More recently in 1968 Paul Ehrlich pre
dieted that we would run out ot clean watei by
the 1970s Unembarrassed by this and other
tailed prophesies. Ehrlich continues to proclaim
the apocalypse which is still imminent unless
we mend our ecological ways
No doubt most environmentalists are sincere
m their convictions But they don't seem to
make good prophets That is because environ
rnentalists make the mistake ol denying the
hierarchy ot life Environmentalists routinely
place the interests ol people below those ot
lower creatures Witness the recent battle over
the spotted owl. when the Environmental
Protection Agency placed millions of acies oft
limits to logging, putting the owls livelihood
ahead ot people's Out on the fiinge. some
environmental groups wreck construction sites
and put spikes in trees that injure loggers in
the service of protecting the earth
The simple truth is that some creatures are
higher than others Plants are superior to mam
mate matter animals are superior to plants,
and humans are superior to animals Rebellion
against this concept is a denial ot reality
We see the unique character ot humanity all
around us, but we don't often take stock ot it
Unlike animals humans do many things that
aren't related to eating or reproducing Religion
and art the summits of the human experience
are totally unnecessary to physical survival or
producing offspring We need to step back and
see ourselves in contrast to the universe Why
do we do what we do? Who are we, anyway?
Merely discussing this point proves that
humans are radically different than animals
For a human to ask What is man?" is not
unusual, but squirrels do not as far as we
know, ask What is squirrel?" Lower creatures
do not ask why, they simply are
With our intellect comes a certain amount ot
control over our surroundings Humanity has
the freedom to choose what it wishes to do
with ttie earth, and we must therefore choose
what is right
How do we know what the "right path is?
We can start by eliminating any philosophy
which reiects the hierarchy of life Such a creed
cannot give us any useful answers, and cannot
guide us toward a better understanding of our
precious world ■ Eric M Johnson, The
Bree/e. James Madison U