mgold5me
Registered: July 2008
City/Town/Province: Tulsa
Posts: 1
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Sitting atop a boulder in the heart of Wyoming’s Wind River Range, I forced myself to contemplate my personal relationship with the environment. It was a written assignment, part of the “Environmental Ethics” component in my 30-day National Outdoor Leadership School backpacking course this past July. Dropped off in the rugged, mountainous wilderness with an extraction point marked over 120 horizontal miles distant, our group of twelve high school students and three instructors hiked and camped day in and out, traversing majestic snow-capped peaks and icy glacial streams, observed the black bear and moose, and lived in accord with the Earth. We carried our entire lives upon our backs. Beards grew long and clothes went unlaundered, but we made our way through the clouds. And there, upon the weathered granite, I came to an infrequent realization.
My regular urban existence is that of a leech, sucking the world dry, gorging on natural resources to fulfill its daily demands for comfort and happiness. Oil products fuel my carbon-emitting vehicle, dirty coal powers my home, and a multitude of variously disposable plastic products consume both fossil resources. Yet for all the destruction I wreak, it cannot stop, for the American lifestyle demands at least some degree of participation. I cannot walk to school when I live eight miles away, and adequate solar panels to power my home would consume the entire backyard. Writing these harried thoughts into my travel journal, I could not help but feel disgusted. Though I may have left the world as most of us know it for a short interlude, virtually erasing my planetary footprint, I would return to society soon enough, only to repeat my old ways.
A few days later my instructor, Jesse, handed the journals back. Though she appreciated my earnest approach, she marked the bottom of the page with a single line, “Don't underestimate the power of small changes.” In the backcountry our expedition aspired to a “Leave No Trace” policy – zero human impact. But the truth is, I can never truly eliminate my environmental imprint, some aspect of my life will always leave its impression on this world. The best, most important improvements I can make are the small, individual changes that minimize my personal effect, call it “Leave Less Trace.” I do not have to buy an electric car, just recycle plastic bottles at lunch and turn off the lights in unused rooms, or perhaps ride a bike for short trips. Though each individual action may not have significance, a half dozen of them compounded add to a greater whole, and undertaken by many, the effect incredible. The Winds exist in a fragile state, and may not remain the same if I return. Their continued beauty lies dependent on all of our actions, beginning with me. Replacing incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescents and turning down the thermostat at night may not change the world, but it is a step in the right direction, for a better future.
-Published in the Holland Hall Upper School newsmagazine "Hallway" for Fall 2007.
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