Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Day 113 of our Green Year: Hiking Green

About a month and a half ago, Layla and I took part in the Mount Roberts hike, a tradition in our small town. It involved hiking to the Canadian flag on top of the mountain over the course of a day. It was a long and difficult hike, but it was a lot of fun and we really enjoyed it. In fact, we have always enjoyed hiking and while hiking is a very green thing to do, it can be even greener, hence why Layla and I are committing to be very green with our hiking beyond the 'leave only footprints' methodology.

The first thing we will be doing is buying second hand equipment, rather than the new and pricey equipment available through many retailers. We will do this because then we can help someone else re-use something, instead of having it thrown into the landfill.

The second thing we will be doing is ensuring we only hike on prescribed trails. There will be no hiking through areas that we are not supposed to because we may inadvertently be damaging sensitive plant species by walking where we should not.

The third thing we will be doing is packing lunches for hikes in reusable containers at all times. That way we do not create any garbage, we do not take away from the environment to make one-use only plastic wrap and we help keep the world a bit greener.

Lastly, we will only take pictures in the wilderness and nothing else. There will be no picking flowers or anything else while we are in the forest.

Hiking is very green, but it is possible to go even greener when you are hiking out there, and Layla and I will be doing that to help us become even greener when we do something we love.