Sustainability while Thru-Hiking. Beyond LNT

[TippyTumbles]

Hey everyone! So while in the process of planning for my thru hike in hopefully 2013, I've been thinking about how to do it in the most sustainable way possible. Over the course of the past few years I've been trying to make my day-to-day life as sustainable as possible, and I'm hoping to keep my life on-trail as sustainable as possible as well.

Of course we all know the principles of Leave No Trace. But what about a more comprehensive view? Hiking itself is obviously low-impact. But what about everything that goes into supporting hiking? For example, where is your food coming from? Is there a way to plan to eat locally as often as possible, resupplying at co-ops/farmers markets/etc? Obviously this can't be done all the time and it would be more expensive. Fuel for stoves is often pretty bad for the environment... what's the most sustainable way to cook food? Are your hiking boots fair trade? A lot of oil is used in making technical wear. A lot of water is wasted in the process as well. And getting to/from the trail also poses an issue.

Anyone know of any articles/resources on this?

[mkmangold]

There's a short article about this in the final edition of "the Complete Walker." Instead of a Zip Stove, I'd probably opt for this: http://biolitestove.com/CampStove.html , and use the charger to charge a light instead of relying on a solar charger.Go for natural products like wool, silk, and cotton in your clothing choices but avoid jeans. Obviously the less processed the food the better. Avoid Snicker bars. Cheeses and jerkies are exceptions. You can sprout seeds. Filtered water vs. Boiled vs. Chemical treatment? I question which wins overall.Just a few thoughts.

[swjohnsey]

Down south you can get your fuel from moonshiners. I hear 'possum can be quite tasty.

[TOMP]

Just bought new La Sportiva FC ECO 4.0 GTX that uses some recycled material and is supposedly better for the environment (had nothing to do with my purchase decision though). Fair trade hiking gear, I dont know if anyone actually advertises thier stuff as fair trade. And its kinda subjective what is and isnt fair, but most cottage industry gear is made my a handful of American workers, and I dont think many if any brands use child labor. Patogonia and North Face spends a crap load of money buying forest land in Chile and the Patagonia range. Stove fuel really isnt that bad when you put it in perspective; driving a car daily or even using a gas stove in your house, or even using electricity in your house is much more energy dependant (alcohol is still greener I guess).

Food miles isnt really something you have a choice about on the trail you resupply every four or 5 days so whatever is in town is what you get, unless you maildrop (which kinda defeats the whole point). And really what can you get at a farmer market that is dehydrated anyway, buying ramen from them isnt much different than buying from walmart.

Unless you live in an eco-village commune environment normally, hiking is about as low impact as you can get.

[swjohnsey]

Most of your gear will be made in China by slave labor.

[Juice]

Most of your gear will be made in China by slave labor.

Child slave labor!

[Leanthree]

As or more important than local food (ranked in order most to least important):
Don't fly to the trail, take public transportation, train ideally.
Hitchhike rather than shuttle
Get your calories from plants, not animals
Cook on wood stove
Reduce the goods that need to be purchased new. Use craig's list or similar to buy secondhand

[Smooth & Wasabi]

If you choose not to cook with wood go with alcohol. It is at least a renewable resource.

[mkmangold]

And choose items that multi-task. Logistically, it's less of an impact to assemble, Manufacture, and ship 1 item than 2, 3, or even 4. And I would think a natural fiber hammock beats a synthtic pad.

[JAK]

Some good stuff here. Good idea to do some reasearch or think about the total life cycle cost of things. Alot of so called eco things are not, like those eco stoves. Alot of solar devices and such use way too much power to produce and package and distribute compared to alternatives. Quite often what is cheaper, is also more eco-friendly. If something cost more to be "green" it is worth doing some research to make sure it isn't just trendy.

Sustainable footwear is something worth looking into. Alot of great hiking clothing can come from thrift stores, and you can certainly wear the heck out of it before buying more. Alot of gear can be made yourself from recycled material. Footwear might take some work, but could be very rewarding if you learned how to recycle leather into hand sewn trail shoes. You would also be more independant. If you can make it on the trail, you can maintain it on the trail, and if you can maintain it on the trail you can probably make it lighter also.

One of the biggest benefits of hiking sustainably is what you learn from it, and the feeling you get from it. The biggest gains are probably made at home, but what you learn on the trail, and how you change the way you think and live, is something you can bring home with you.

[Wuff]

I don't think hiking is necessarily "low impact", it actually has a large "footprint" associated with it. Just look at all the rocks scratched up from tipless trekking poles.

[Pedaling Fool]

I don't think hiking is necessarily "low impact", it actually has a large "footprint" associated with it. Just look at all the rocks scratched up from tipless trekking poles.

Scratched rocks, hmmm....no I don't think that counts as high impact, I would'nt even count that as any form of negative impact.

Personally I don't really see any measure, other than one, as being worth consideration with respect to hiker's impact on the environment. That one exception would be slackpacking, i.e. having someone drop you off in the beginning of the day then pick you up at the end of the day (end of your hike), then they gotta drive you back out there the next morning to get on the trail where you stopped the day before. I've seen quite a few people get addicted to this type of hiking, all so they can walk without a backpack. That adds up.


"Unless you live in an eco-village commune environment normally, hiking is about as low impact as you can get."

Also I got questions about just how "sustainable" these so-called commune-type sustainable ecovillages, but I'll save that for later...

[Kookork]

There's a short article about this in the final edition of "the Complete Walker." Instead of a Zip Stove, I'd probably opt for this: http://biolitestove.com/CampStove.html , and use the charger to charge a light instead of relying on a solar charger.Go for natural products like wool, silk, and cotton in your clothing choices but avoid jeans. Obviously the less processed the food the better. Avoid Snicker bars. Cheeses and jerkies are exceptions. You can sprout seeds. Filtered water vs. Boiled vs. Chemical treatment? I question which wins overall.Just a few thoughts.

Thank you for the link

I liked the product. It seems they have worked out some nice way to reduce the smoke. 2 pounds is not too heavy to carry since we can delete the solar power apparatus and cooking stove ( an therefore the fuel )weight from our backpack so it is about carrying just about one pound extra. I might consider it for my camping ( and even hiking) trips but to be honest not because of being sustainable but because it seems that it is really a good invention for Campers/hikers.

[hikerboy57]

how are you getting to the trail?

[Tinker]

how are you getting to the trail?

Cotton sheeting hang glider towed into air by 100 freed Chinese slave laborers on a manila rope.

[hikerboy57]

Cotton sheeting hang glider towed into air by 100 freed Chinese slave laborers on a manila rope.

pls sub hemp for cotton sheeting(dont like the slavery connotation)smiley face?

[hikerboy57]

I don't think hiking is necessarily "low impact", it actually has a large "footprint" associated with it. Just look at all the rocks scratched up from tipless trekking poles.

only true if you never go off trail. theres a whole lotta world out there.

[Tinker]

pls sub hemp for cotton sheeting(dont like the slavery connotation)smiley face?

Smiley face = : plus ) No spacing.

What happened to the "canned" smileys??

[Tuckahoe]

pls sub hemp for cotton sheeting(dont like the slavery connotation)smiley face?

And hemp growers didnt use slave labor?

[hikerboy57]

And hemp growers didnt use slave labor?

only male hemp growers.