leave nothing but footprints/take nothing but pictures

It's been a long time since my last post. I was very busy working at Crowsnest Lake Bible Camp and then settling into our new home. I let things that were secondary go to the side so I could focus on Josh and camp. But now I am ready to get back into posting more regularly, so prepare yourself for more of me talking about how I try to save the earth.

To kick off a new season of writing this blog I'm going to write a list of things I worked on/learned in the past couple months.

1) it is easier to make garbage, and somedays I don't have the energy to care and thats ok.  Zero waste is less important than my mental health, so when it gets overwhelming to exist I don't worry about trash. I hope one day to have zero waste be so much of a habit that it's easier to do when I am sad.

2) Zero waste concepts are the same as no trace camping. No trace camping is the practice of existing in the back country and leaving it a better place by "Leaving nothing but footprints/take nothing but pictures". Camp is very careful about being no trace. Digging no trace fires, packing out all our garbage, and cleaning all our campsites.

3) At camp we talk about the "fish bowl". The idea that people in leadership are constantly watched by everyone. Younger and older staff, campers, other leaders, and visitors are all watching you. At first it stressed me out, what if I did something that people didn't like, or if I lead a child astray? As the summer progressed I realized that it is not a burden to be watched, but it gave me a stage from which I could proclaim truth. The first truth is that Christ loves all of us, and secondarily that we have a obligation to be careful stewards of the earth. I personally believe that this obligation is a biblical mandate to care for the earth and I life that out by practicing zero waste.

4) It is much harder to reduce waste on a corporate level. Camp has to consider food safety and mass packaging so it's much harder for them to just not use seran wrap. But they are careful about no trace camping. In the backwoods it is easy to leave to trace with the proper education on no trace camping.

5) The world is not always conducive to reducing waste. Grocery stores put all your things in plastic bags before you even ask. Everything comes in packaging. Compost, at least in Coleman, is not provided by the municipality. (I miss Calgary). Paper towel seems easier then Culture is slowly shifting toward being more responsible. I want to be part of the movement toward caring. Because it matters.

6) It reinforced for me that buying secondhand is often a better way to shop, but I also want to start thinking about slow fashion and the ethics of the things I wear.

7) Living in a small town is going to make zero waste a lot harder. My local grocery shop doesn't really have a bulk section. So I'm going to have to get creative. It's weird to move from Calgary were compost is provided to Coleman were the city doesn't even pick up recycling. Maybe I shop become Mayor and change things, lol.