Sing On

Two days ago, reflections were made on an ancient Chinese proverb. Upon reading this posting, I was reminded of recent experience with another well known saying, “Preaching to the Choir.”

This familiar adage was thrown out to a crowd of 150 individuals last night at a local public lands clean up. The diverse group gathered at Flagstaff Mountain in the late afternoon for a mass clean-up effort of the trails & climbing areas. It was after the work was complete that the organizer pulled all of the volunteers together to talk about the importance of what we had just done.

How lucky are we, he asserted, to have areas such as this to openly & freely recreate in every day. However, he furthered, just because these high-volume recreation areas are in our backyard does not mean that we have free rein to treat them however we want. As climbers, hikers, picnickers, or bikers, our debris is not immune to being labeled “TRASH” just because we are comfortable with that area. In short, these outdoor locations are not a local recreation center or gym – there is no caretaker who will come to clean up after us at “closing time.”

We all agreed, and noting the sea of nodding heads, and said, “I know I’m preaching to the choir on this one.”

Is there any better place to start? Yes, you and I both know the importance of taking care of our natural lands when we play outside. All of the individuals present at this event knew that, too. When you take a step back, though, that is 150 committed volunteers who can walk the talk and make a greater difference when they act together.

The Leave No Trace community – all 25,000 of its volunteers, members, educators & partners – are a choir of sorts, manifesting a belief in responsible recreation through memberships, financial support & volunteer activity. With each additional individual, Leave No Trace is stronger; it’s message & the collective difference we can make as supporters grows. It does not matter if we speak to someone who already knows how to “Pack It Out” or not… Simply by talking, sharing and acting, we cultivate the strength & affirmation that we all need to grow.