Summer time is commonly filled with camping trips and outdoor adventures. YAY! Spending time in nature is so refreshing and energizing for the mind, body and spirit and hiking/camping are personally some of my favorite activities anytime of the year.
But with many other activities being limited or closed due to COVID-19, it seems that more people than ever are going camping than before. Of course, this is something we should all be able to enjoy, and I think more time in nature is just what everyone needs these days! But with everything else in life, it is important to pause to make sure you are being aware and compassionate before acting. Time spent outdoors is a gift and it is up to us to protect these beautiful places!
As mentioned – Cory and I are avid campers and we have learned a few tricks over the years while simultaneously increasing our sustainable approach to living in general. I wanted to share a few of the simple tips that we’ve incorporated into our trips and hope that you may pick up a few new camping-hacks or can share with your friends who may be newer to camping. 🙂
1. Save your food scraps & sort your waste. We’ve all heard of the importance of composting to prevent organic materials from being sent to the landfill. But sometimes when you’re out of the house without your compost bin/recycling bin in front of you, this can be an afterthought replaced with convenience.
While it may require a bit of planning ahead to pack a bag, jar or cup that you can use to keep your food scraps in and another to collect recyclables such as cans or cardboard, this is an easy solution to solve two issues commonly faced while camping. [A little hack we commonly use for those times you’re on the road and don’t have anything to put your scraps in – turn to your trash to see what you can upcycle. A lot of the time we end up having a bag from chips or veggie bag/carton/clamshell which works great!]
In addition to preventing resources from becoming trash, sorting your waste also protects the local wildlife. Often, camping consists of grilling veggies and/or snacking on fruit. Wile it may seem harmless to toss the ends/cores on the ground since they natural materials, don’t do it! Food scraps actually take a long time to break down and can attract wildlife to areas that humans frequent. When animals eat foods outside of their natural diets this can make them sick and/or can lead to them associating humans with food. More on that and other waste-related camping details here.
2. Reduce plastic use by refilling water bottles. You’ve got all you need to make breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. The next thing on your list when making your final market run is likely water. Since they’re easy to buy right on the shelf, people commonly pick up a few 1 gallon water bottles and call it a day. Of course, hydration is key and you always want to make sure to have plenty of water – especially in summer heat! But these single use plastic bottles do add up.
As sustainable approaches are always an evolution, I will admit this is something I commonly did years ago. As we learned more, we started to save our bottles to refill from home and use again to prevent purchasing new plastic – which is a start and a better solution than just tossing them out. But we’ve since bought a 5 gallon refillable jug for water that can be filled at many grocery stores or water refill shops instead and this has been a game changer!* Not only are you likely bringing more water than you would have before, you’re saving money and preventing waste along the way.
3. Leave it better than you found it. A lot of the time with dispersed camping you will have times where you’re brushing your teeth or washing your hands/face into the nearby dirt/bushes at your site. Making sure to use products that are biodegradable and made with natural ingredients ensures you aren’t adding any foreign substances into the environment that won’t be able to breakdown or process naturally.
4. Pack it in, pack it out. This seems like it should be a no brainer, right? But WAY too often when hiking or camping you’ll come across trash laying around. (Or sadly now, masks.) Sometimes it may be just a wrapper here and there and I like to give people the benefit of the doubt that it may have dropped out of their backpack on the trail. While it isn’t your trash, the simple solution is to pick it up and toss it out at the nearest trash bin.
But sometimes there’s those other cases when you come across a campsite that is strewn with trash – cans, boxes, toilet paper etc. that has just been left there…and there’s really no excuse for that. While I may never really understand how people can spend time amongst nature and proceed to leave trash behind without a second thought – I have a hunch it stems to lack of appreciation and awareness.
I just recently finished reading Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer, a book about indigenous wisdom and the teachings of plants. There were so many great insights and observations in this book from Robin’s scientific perspective and I highly recommend giving it a read! But she shared a story about how growing up her family would leave firewood for the next group at their campsite that overlaps perfectly with this concept. Robin tied their actions to the perspective of seeing time in nature as a gift and the indigenous practice of in turn giving a gift when presented with one.
Now days, it isn’t uncommon to hear about people coming out to campsites and being reckless. Rather than seeing nature as a gift they heartlessly cut down trees to use as firewood, trample in brush, or leave trash behind. We can all benefit from being present and tuning into the natural beauty we are blessed with – but especially these people. 😦
5. Planning and preparation to prevent single-use and packaging. There’s no denying that it is much more time consuming to opt for zero waste approaches when it comes to food in a society filled with conveniently packaged goods that are easy to purchase at the store. There’s so much to unpack there and hopefully we’ll see more actually sustainable packaging being developed in coming years. With that in mind, taking time to plan and prep as much as you can ahead of time so you can cook your food at camp rather than eating out is a big help in preventing excess packaging where possible.
We are really blessed to have plentiful vegetables (perks of dating a farmer!) so our camping prep often looks like throwing all of the ready to eat produce into a bag and grabbing some good grains and legumes to go along with it. I urge you to opt to buy your fruits/vegetables without packaging as often as you can – for example buying whole singular carrots rather than pre-cut sticks.
On that same note, remembering to pack your reusable silverware, plates, cups enamel mugs etc. will prevent a scramble of needing to pick up plastic or paper versions on the road. We keep a “camping kit” ready to go in a backpack with the camp stove, plates, cutting board etc and have started using this super cute old tackle box to keep some of our other things like silverware, tea, and snacks.
What sustainable camping or travel tips do you and your family incorporate into your trips? Please comment and let me know below. We can and should always be improving and I’d love to learn from you! Happy camping everyone! 🙂
*While looking for a photo of a 5 gallon water jug I came across this post by Kermilia. Take a look at her post for even more benefits of water refills instead of using plastic bottles!
Must Love Sunshine 