Are Leave No Trace Principles Effective?
Leave No Trace is philosophy of seven concepts that help minimize human recreational impact on wild lands. As wilderness recreation has become more popular, and the National Wilderness Preservation System has increased its wilderness lands from 9.1 million acres in 54 wildernesses in 1964 to 104 million acres in 628 wildernesses in 19991, the need for guidelines to help reduce degradation of these lands has become increasingly important. In 1979 Jim Bradley wrote about the need for an educational approach for managing recreation impacts instead of regulations that antagonize the public rather than win their support2. Teaching good practices is more effective than imposing strict regulations because most harms done to the wilderness by recreational activities is due to lack of knowledge of a less impacting technique, and because it is very difficult to enforce regulations in large tracts of wild and remote lands.
Leave No Trace Principles:
1) Plan ahead and Prepare
2) Travel and camp on durable surfaces
3) Dispose of waste properly
4) Leave what you find
5) Minimize campfire impacts
6) Respect wildlife
7) Be considerate of other visitors
Some of the concepts have effects that are less tangible or less able to be empirically evaluated, such as: ?be respectful of wildlife, and ?be considerate to other visitors. However, these two concepts have far reaching implications, and in a sense embody the other five guidelines: ?plan ahead and prepare, ?travel and camp on durable surfaces, ?minimize fires, ?leave what you find, ?properly dispose of waste. If one is respectful of wildlife, and considerate of other visitors, then they will plan ahead and prepare so that they ...
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...ore aware of the consequences of littering, and also more aware of the positive effects of treating everything with more care and respect.
Sources Cited
1 http://leopold.wilderness.net/research/nutshell/database
2 http://www.lnt.org (History of Leave No Trace)
3 Leave No Trace North America booklet (P. 10) available at www.lnt.org
4 www.lnt.org (History of Leave No Trace)
5 http://leopold.wilderness.net/research/nutshell/llama.pdf
6 Professor Ralf Buckley, “Breakdown of Human Waste in Three Sub-Tropical Australian Ecosystems” available at www.nols.edu/resources/research/abstracts.shtml
7 Professor Michael D. Ellis “The Fate of Feces and Fecal Microorganisms in Human waste in Alpine, Temperate, and Arid Environments and the Impact of Disposal Methods on Surrounding Environment” available at www.nols.edu/resources/research/humanwaste_Mt.Rainier.shtml
Cronon, William “The Trouble with Wilderness; or, Getting Back to the Wrong Nature” ed., Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the Human Place in Nature, New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1995, 69-90
the idea of the wild and its importance and necessity of human interaction with the wild.
The wild is a place to push yourself to the limit and take a look at who you truly are inside. “Wilderness areas have value as symbols of unselfishness” (Nash). Roderick Nash’s philosophy states that the wilderness gives people an opportunity to learn humility but they fight this because they do not have a true desire to be humble. Human-kind wants to give out the illusion that they are nature lovers when in reality, they are far from it. “When we go to designated wilderness we are, as the 1964 act says, "visitors" in someone else's home” (Nash). People do not like what they cannot control and nature is uncontrollable. Ecocentrism, the belief that nature is the most important element of life, is not widely accepted. The novel Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer depicts a young boy who goes on an exploration to teach himself the true concept of humility. Chris McCandless, the protagonist, does not place confidence in the universal ideology that human beings are the most significant species on the planet, anthropocentrism.
The effects of deforestation around my home and throughout my state are becoming more evident every day. When a deer or other wild game loses its home, they move into cities, urban areas, and parks; thus causing issues with the human population. Most people living in Illinois have hit or nearly killed a deer driving on Southern Illinois roadways. This common occurrence could be kept at bay or maybe even avoided if the deer and wild game had more space to reside. There are many points that coincide with this reality but the main issues are the small subtle ones that affect everyday life and are often overlooked. Picture the Illinois we will leave for our children. Do you see a lush green forest or miles and miles of concrete and steel?
I think that Leopold is trying to say that in conservation someone will always loose out. For example man pollutes a river with trout in it, the trout die and there is a decline in trout population so the conservation commission feels to help trout populations get back to normal they will kill herons. This is better for the fisherman but not for the ornithologist. So it would appear, in short, that the rudimentary grades of outdoor recreation consume their resource-base: the higher grades, at least to a degree, create their own satisfactions with little or no attrition of land or life. It is the expansion of transport without a corresponding growth of perception that threatens us with qualitative bankruptcy of the recreational process.
Despite protecting millions of acres of wilderness, this act provided for the numerous groups of people affected by the establishment of this law. Stipulations regarding the use of protected lands by private landowners were made. People living inside the park lands were guaranteed the right to subsistence hunting and fishing, as well as the guaranteed access to their lands. This right of access is the main concern for this argument, as it is a major management issue for park officials and land owners alike.
He believes that the wilderness has helped form us and that if we allow industrialization to push through the people of our nation will have lost part of themselves; they will have lost the part of themselves that was formed by the wilderness “idea.” Once the forests are destroyed they will have nothing to look back at or to remind them of where they came from or what was, and he argues everyone need to preserve all of what we have now.
Muir’s wilderness is rooted in the idea of an aesthetically pleasing natural scape given they fit into certain criteria such as, “ none of Nature’s landscape’s are ugly so long as they are wild” (Muir). The attachment of this emphasis on an aesthetically pleasing landscape was partial truth, which drove people out the national parks. While these places where indeed wild and beautiful, Muir sold the masses on this idea of all nature being pristine and pure, when in reality that was not the
Paul Lawrence Dunbar, an African-American poet, describes the suffering that blacks were subjected to in his 1913 poem, “We Wear the Mask”. In his poem, Dunbar asserts that blacks are partially responsible for the suffering of African Americans due to their belief that a deceptive “mask” was necessary for their survival.
For centuries scientists have used animals to study the causes of diseases; to test drugs, vaccines and surgical techniques; and to evaluate the safety of chemicals used in pesticides, cosmetics and other products. However, many scientists amongst animal- right activists forbid the use of animals in scientific research regardless how many illnesses are eliminated through the use of animals in scientific research. Amongst animal right activists, David Suzuki also raises concerns towards animal experimentation. In his article, The Pain of Animals, Suzuki argues that humans have no right to exploit animals because--much like humans--animals also experience pain. In contrast to Suzuki, Haldane, in his article, Some Enemies of Science, argues because animals are very similar to humans, scientists have no choice but to use animals in scientific experiments. Both authors greatly contrast their opinions towards animal experimentation; however Haldane has a more explanatory approach towards animal experimentation. He argues animal experimentation should be acceptable because other forms of animal exploitation are acceptable in society. Secondly, unlike other forms of exploitation which seek pleasure in killing animals such as leisure sport, scientists, most likely do not harm animals; if pain is intended on an animal it is strictly for the purpose of scientific advancement. Thirdly, although, animal experimentation may cause some extinction, it is only one of many other causes of extinction, if other causes are not condemned; then neither should animal experiment...
Paul Laurence Dunbar’s “We Wear the Mask” is a lyric poem in which the point of attraction, the mask, represents the oppression and sadness held by African Americans in the late 19th century, around the time of slavery. As the poem progresses, Dunbar reveals the façade of the mask, portrayed in the third stanza where the speaker states, “But let the dream otherwise” (13). The unreal character of the mask has played a significant role over the life of African Americans, whom pretend to put on a smile when they feel sad internally. This ocassion, according to Dunbar, is the “debt we pay to human guile," meaning that their sadness is related to them deceiving others. Unlike his other poems, with its prevalent use of black dialect, Dunbar’s “We Wear the Mask” acts as “an apologia (or justification) for the minstrel quality of some of his dialect poems” (Desmet, Hart and Miller 466). Through the utilization of iambic tetrameter, end rhyme, sound devices and figurative language, the speaker expresses the hidden pain and suffering African Americans possessed, as they were “tortured souls” behind their masks (10).
For years now people have been using animal experimentation to create new ways to help save the human race. There are people who believe that it does help, and that it is necessary to continue, while others oppose and want to fight for the elimination of animal experimentation. Scientists fight for the cures needed to help man kind, but struggle to do so as people fight against their work in progress. But as Jennifer A. Hurley stated, “History has already shown that animal experimentation is not essential to medical progress.” Stuart W.G. Derbyshire believes “The best hopes to treat or cure any number of diseases all rely in the current animal experiments.” Both sides have evidence that can allow both to be proven correct. But there are negative arguments that can prove the other wise. The real question to ask is, Does animal experimentation really help advance medical research?
Paul Laurence Dunbar, dispatches the cold troubles of African Americans in the lyrical poem, "We Wear the Mask." In this poem, Dunbar links imagery, rhythm, rhyme, and word choice to in order to institute a connection to the reader. From reading the poem, one can infer that Mr. Dunbar is speaking in general, of the misery that many people keep concealed under a grin that they wear very well. But if one were to go further and take the time to research Mr. Dunbar’s selection of this piece and the era of which this poem was written, one would come to understand that this poem focuses entirely on Paul Laurence Dunbar’s viewpoints on racial prejudice and the struggle for equality for the African-American’s of his time period. Though this analysis is not based on the meaning of this poem, it is necessary that in order to demonstrate the sound of analysis, one must first understand the poem.
Animal experimentation may be very harmful to animals and inhumane but it is the only thing right now that is helping to discover new medical advances. Animal experimentation has been used to save many people’s lives and other animal lives. There are many negatives to animal experimentation such as the cost and the treatment of the animals. People are now taking a stand in trying to save and protect the animals.
...mproper way of disposing of waste and other materials. Littering not only impacts our environment but also many animals. Even though many people see littering being done they do not do anything to prevent this. One thing that may occur is that many of these wastes that are improperly disposed of finds its way to the ocean or other places. This is something that can be very dangerous for many aquatic creatures because they could think that it is food and this would cause them to choke on it and eventually die. A lot of people litter because they really have no idea of the damage that they are causing our environment. Another reason why people do this is because they are too lazy to dispose the materials into a proper trash can. Most of the litter that is being thrown on the ground eventually goes and finds its way into the sewers and goes into the oceans and lakes.