GoingGreen C
ould you flood your home with one tablespoon of water at a time? Wouldn’t the water evaporate
before much damage was done? Could 100 people do it faster and cause more harm? Could 1,000? Try this activity: have a relay race,
which each camper getting their own spoon. One group of campers each have to fill their own mug, while another group all have to try to fill a single mug. What les- sons will they learn from such an activity? After the “race,” lead a discussion on
the cumulative effects of many persons with spoons versus one person with one spoon. Then, translate that discussion into the cumulative effects of footsteps in you favourite hiking spot or banana peels left in the woods, or everyone having a campfire. As we perform activities in the out-
doors, like hiking canoeing, kayaking, snowshoeing, climbing, horseback riding, mountain biking, fishing and camping, just
are:
1. Plan ahead and prepare. 2. Travel & camp on durable surfaces. 3. Dispose of waste properly. 4. Leave what you find. 5. Minimize campfire impacts. 6. Respect wild life. 7. Respect others. Through education and training, we can all learn more about the impact our
By Renee-Claude Bastien
The Collective Impact Leave No Trace education teaches campers that their actions have a huge effect on the world as a whole
to name a few, the personal enjoyment we earn can be immense. So can our collective impact. The trick is how to use what we enjoy,
while helping to preserve it. Leave No Trace is a program designed to help us all make good decisions about how to improve and practice outdoor skills. Leave No Trace principles are a very good way for camps to teach their campers about ways to mini- mize the impacts on our land while patici- pating in outdoor activities. The seven principles of Leave No Trace
actions have on the natural world. Some are obvious (e.g., our body waste fouls a stream and loud noises can disturb animal); some are learned only through science (e.g., burning plastic and even wood releases potentially very harmful chemicals into the environment); and some are less obvious, but not difficult to understand (e.g., repeat- ed camping or travelling on the same spot, erodes the earth away). The more we practice Leave No Trace
techniques, the more our favourite recre- ation areas can withstand the ever increas- ing flow of people. While practicing Leave No Trace techniques is not the final solution to dealing with the large number of people in the outdoors, it can be a very useful tool. When thinking about Leave No Trace
and ways to introduce its concepts to campers, it is a good idea to think of them
8 Canada Camps Spring 2010
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