Reflection: Leave No Trace

On Tuesday April 26, my film group and I had the opportunity to interview Nastassja “Staj” Pace, the chair of the Portland chapter for the Surfrider Foundation. This foundation is an environmentalist group that strives to preserve healthy and clean oceans and beaches, free of pollution and destruction. Surfrider was started in the 1980s by a handful of surfers who were outraged and disgusted by the physical litter and pollution, mainly plastic that was washing up on their Californian shores and muddling the very waves they were riding. Staj herself is a surfer who was affected by the presence of litter she was discovering on beaches in South America. The plastic and other forms of waste weren’t coming from the native populations. Where was all of this junk coming from? It is coming from us, all the wasteful consumers in industrial, consuming societies. One thing we can do without: single use plastic bags. Surfrider is pushing the “Ban the Bag” campaign, along with other groups. They are working hard to make our beautiful oceans clean, safe, and plastic free.

When I was 16 years old, I came to the realization that my life was not heading in the right direction. I wasn’t fulfilling the greatness and outreach I wanted to achieve. I was unhappy. Parties and silly teenage activities can only go on for so long. This all changed when a man named Danny O’Brien came to my school and talked to my class about leaving everything we knew for a junior year semester away program. He had traveled all the way from the High Mountain Institute in Leadville, Colorado. He told us about backpacking expeditions, leadership, adventure, community, and personal discovery. I was sitting on the edge of my seat.  A lightning bolt had hit me.

I don’t think I really understood what backpacking meant when the day of the first expedition finally came. I had never carried a large backpack before, let alone prepared for a 2-week expedition into the Rocky Mountains. I was in for the ride of my life. There were other concepts and activities that were new as well: community, responsibility, and leadership, to name a few. I had never really understood the full scope and importance of these values before. There was another important area that I hadn’t encountered: Environmental Ethics. The most important ethic, which we were taught on this expedition, was “Leave No Trace”. Usually applied to hiking, backpacking, and camping, LNT is a mindset and group of rules that aims to leave a small impact on the environment traveled through and maintains an amazing outdoor experience for all who come to visit. This concept has stayed with me ever since. To not leave a trace…could it be applied beyond camping? Could I use this concept back home in New York, not just on the summit of a 14er? 

LNT is a guiding principle in my life today. Listening to Staj talk about how she got involved with Surfrider and previously the Leave No Trace Center inspired a real dedication and commitment in my soul to sustainability and impact reduction. Once the interview ended, I inquired into the volunteering possibilities at Surfrider. Tomorrow afternoon I will attend my first event as a Surfrider volunteer. Leaving no trace is not just a concept that applies to the mountains of Colorado. It can be applied to the shores of California, the forests of Oregon, and the marshes of Louisiana. It must be taken farther. Cities, towns, suburbs, malls. All of these centers of human interaction need to lower their impact and leave no trace. I am committed to joining and even starting social and environmental activist groups that will lower the impact we have on the planet, reduce our wasteful practices, and preserve the happiness, health, and security of all creatures on this Earth.

How I will change the world starts with three little words: leave no trace.