When you put on the ‘lens’ of Sustainability,
‘Aha’s’ happen everywhere—in any place, at
any time.......
As I hiked the picturesque Ozarks near my home this past weekend, (yes, I sat right by that waterfall pictured above and had lunch today)
I was reminded of Henry David Thoreau’s quote "In wilderness is the preservation of the world."
Leave No Trace principles that have been pervasive in the world of sustainable ‘outdoor recreation’ for many
years, now offer us some Best Practices
for Sustainable Business as well.
At its core, Leave No Trace is about Sustainable Recreation; "Ensuring that our activities today do not adversely impact those tomorrow."
...........Does that sound familiar?
Leave No Trace is a set of principles for participation in outdoor recreation that seeks to minimize the impact on the natural environment.
Proponents of Leave No Trace believe that individual impacts caused by
recreation can accumulate to degrade the land
Leave No Trace is often summarized: "Take only photos,
leave only foot prints."
The roots of Leave No Trace can be
traced to the 1970s and 1980s. In the 70s, groups such as the Sierra Club were advocating minimum impact camping techniques. In 1990 a
national education program was developed by the United States Forest Service in conjunction with the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS).
Leave No Trace is best understood as an educational and
ethical program, not as a set of rules and regulations.
Principles: Leave No Trace framework for outdoor recreation decision making
- Plan Ahead and Prepare: Poorly prepared people, when presented with unexpected situations, often resort to high-impact solutions that degrade the outdoors or put themselves at risk.
- Travel and Camp on Durable Surfaces: Damage to land occurs when surface vegetation or communities of organisms are trampled beyond repair.
- Dispose of Waste Properly: Though most trash and litter in the backcountry is not significant in terms of the long term ecological health of an area, it does rank high as a problem in the minds of many backcountry visitors. Trash and litter are primarily social impacts which can greatly detract from the naturalness of an area.
- Leave What You Find: Leaving rocks, plants, archaeological artifacts and other objects as found will allow others a sense of discovery. Similarly, Leave No Trace directs people to minimize site
alterations, such as digging tent trenches, hammering nails into trees, permanently clearing an area of rocks or twigs.
- Minimize Use and Impact of Fire: Leave No Trace encourages people to use lightweight camp stoves, instead of fires, because the naturalness of many areas has been degraded by overuse of fires and the increasing demand for firewood. True Leave No Trace fires show no evidence of having
ever been constructed.
- Respect Wildlife: If enough people approach or interfere with wildlife, it can be disruptive to animal populations.
- Be Considerate of Other Visitors: Following hiking etiquette and maintaining quiet allows visitors to go through the wilderness with minimal impact on other users.
The Leave No Trace program is managed by the Leave No Trace
Center for Outdoor Ethics, formerly Leave No Trace, Inc., which is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
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