How can we be more eco-conscious with our camping adventures?

Car pooling? Parkbus? Move closer to where we camp? 
What about all of the plastic packaging for our food?

Share your ideas with us!

Transcript

00:00 - 00:01
Hello, and good day, eh?

00:01 - 00:04
Welcome to the Super Good Camping podcast. My name is Pamela.

00:04 - 00:04
I'm Tim.

00:04 - 00:06
And we are from SuperGoodCamping.com.

00:06 - 00:11
We're here because we are on a mission to inspire other people to get outside and enjoy camping

00:11 - 00:12
adventures such as we have as a family.

00:13 - 00:18
Today, because we are the tree harbors that we are, we wanted to just talk a little bit about

00:18 - 00:23
trying to be maybe a little more eco conscious when we're traveling to and or from camping.

00:24 - 00:29
Yeah. There's, well, there's a few things that that we as a as a community, do that I think

00:29 - 00:35
are counter to our values maybe. And I get it.

00:35 - 00:41
So maybe maybe more than anything, I I will offer up a a few things that we could lessen our carbon footprint.

00:42 - 00:48
But but probably more than anything, I'm this is an invitation to educate me, offer suggestions

00:48 - 00:51
on, like, we're destination specific.

00:52 - 00:53
So that's a bit of an issue.

00:54 - 01:01
In order to go far away from other people, it it involves jumping in a car as as often as not

01:01 - 01:02
burning a bunch of gas.

01:02 - 01:08
Although, you know, hopefully, at some point, we're starting to see more electric cars out there or trucks or whatnot.

01:08 - 01:14
You know, we that's how you get to the places that that we like to to hike and camp and canoe

01:14 - 01:16
and and do all the all the things.

01:17 - 01:22
I have seen that, you know, people buddy up, which is great instead of each of us driving a

01:22 - 01:25
a car, you know, 2 people, 1 car, away you go.

01:25 - 01:32
There are things like park bus, which is a service here in Ontario, and I think they're in BC

01:32 - 01:36
as well, where it's, they they go, okay.

01:36 - 01:41
We're going to go to these 3 places on on this day. We drop people off.

01:41 - 01:43
Some of them are day hikes, you know, what have you.

01:43 - 01:45
Some of them are we'll drop you off.

01:45 - 01:46
We'll pick you up in 3 days.

01:46 - 01:50
We're we're gonna come back through in 3 days, and you can jump back in.

01:50 - 01:57
I'm sure that things like getting your canoe in the overhead luggage bin isn't gonna happen,

01:57 - 02:01
but but but I'm also sure that they're they're pretty they're pretty smart cookies.

02:01 - 02:05
I've been watching them since since they started back I don't even know now.

02:05 - 02:07
I'd hazard 5, 6 years, something like that.

02:07 - 02:13
And I'm sure that they have setups with, like, an outfitter, you know, Algonquin Outfitters

02:13 - 02:16
or or whoever whatever wherever they're dropping you.

02:16 - 02:20
So you could you could, you know, take your take your tent and your sleep bag and and a bunch

02:20 - 02:26
of food and then and rent the canoe, and a PFD or or what have you from from the the outfitter.

02:27 - 02:32
You know, there are there are train rides that you can take, but just general, you have to drive

02:32 - 02:37
to the very remote place to get on the train and then take the train from there.

02:37 - 02:41
But that would be a, you know, a less a less carbon footprint sort of thing.

02:42 - 02:46
There's fly fly in, but that's very not a good

02:47 - 02:50
It gets you to very cool places, but yeah. Yeah. Again, burning fuel.

02:50 - 02:55
And it's that's the one I keep I keep you know, it's like we're we're trying to not burn the planet down.

02:55 - 02:59
We're trying to save nature and stuff like that, and yet here we are.

02:59 - 03:02
This is it's we're we're huge.

03:04 - 03:08
We we commit a lot of atrocities with with vehicles.

03:08 - 03:11
I just I don't yeah. I don't know. Educate me.

03:11 - 03:13
Let me let me know what your thoughts are.

03:13 - 03:16
We'd love any input if anybody can come up with any other ideas.

03:17 - 03:24
So carpooling to camping, that would be better than single people going or even just 2 people

03:24 - 03:26
going in 2 different vehicles. What

03:26 - 03:30
It cuts the number of vehicles and the amount of emissions down in half. Right?

03:30 - 03:31
So So that would be awesome.

03:32 - 03:35
I mean, if we could all afford green vehicles, we'd love that.

03:36 - 03:37
But at the moment, it's not a

03:37 - 03:40
never They're a little pricey. Yeah. Yeah.

03:41 - 03:43
Teleportation would be awesome if somebody could figure

03:43 - 03:44
that out. That's what I need to work on.

03:44 - 03:45
Jeez. I

03:45 - 03:46
Not the cloning machine.

03:46 - 03:48
Disappointed in all my life that nobody's been doing

03:48 - 03:52
that yet. Come on. Star Trek has it figured out. Why can't we?

03:53 - 03:59
And then yeah. Otherwise, just trying to go closer to home, I suppose, but that's, you know,

03:59 - 04:02
the the the good places are the faraway ones.

04:02 - 04:09
So where where the beauty really lies is often not super close to the big cities like us.

04:10 - 04:17
Yeah. And and another another one that that I I, again, I I don't know what the answer is, single use plastics.

04:17 - 04:23
You know, for those of us that that go into the backcountry, vacuum pack meals, dehydrated vacuum pack meals.

04:23 - 04:30
So you're either you're either buying them off the shelf, you know, backpacker's pantry or something, you know, whatever.

04:30 - 04:32
There's a there's a whole bunch of different manufacturers.

04:33 - 04:39
OTG meals, it's still it's so far as I understand, it's still a single use piece of plastic,

04:39 - 04:41
and then you're bringing it out, which is great, and recycling.

04:41 - 04:49
But part of the part of the 3 r's, right, reduce, reuse, recycle. Recycle's the last thing.

04:49 - 04:52
So, you know, we've got a no.

04:52 - 04:58
I don't know what you call it, a food saver, like a vacuum a vacuum machine, with rolls of of plastic.

04:58 - 05:03
And and it makes them small, and it doesn't add a lot of weight to it and stuff like that.

05:03 - 05:07
But I am I feel I I I do better now.

05:07 - 05:08
I don't burn it like I used to.

05:09 - 05:12
I I do still pack it out, but it it comes back to recycling. I don't know.

05:12 - 05:16
I would like to like to know a better way to reduce it.

05:16 - 05:20
Is there is there a bagging system that I don't know that still isn't heavy?

05:21 - 05:27
And I can use it that for the, you know, for the next trip, like repack with whatever.

05:29 - 05:36
Well, and along those lines too, like reducing, maybe being able to rehome your camping gear.

05:37 - 05:47
Everybody likes to get new stuff, but if we can rehome the things that are well, your your Amazon history would be

05:47 - 05:50
Which would would would would, point out that I'm a liar.

05:51 - 05:56
The, but, yeah, so bringing elderly homes on your camping gear, if it's stuff that's still usable,

05:57 - 06:02
that maybe it's not the top of the line, or maybe it's not all spanking you, but, somebody else

06:02 - 06:04
could certainly get some use out of it.

06:04 - 06:11
So rather than everybody's purchasing new stuff or throw away, things, if we can buy sometimes,

06:11 - 06:16
if the budget allows better quality so that it's something that lasts longer, not something

06:16 - 06:21
that you're just gonna get a season or 2 out of, and then it's gonna end up in the garbage. And

06:22 - 06:26
Yeah. There's a lot of I mean, there's a I I I have mentioned this more than once before.

06:26 - 06:33
There's a ton of different, Facebook groups, camping related, whether it's used gear buy and sell.

06:34 - 06:37
Even if it was you know, there's backcountry ones, there's there's frontcountry ones.

06:37 - 06:43
You know, I'm pretty sure it'd be pretty easy to figure out a way to to rehome your your gear

06:43 - 06:47
if you're if you are if you're making that Upgrade. Upgrade. Yeah.

06:47 - 06:49
That's that's a perfect word for it.

06:49 - 06:55
Or you found that you you bought something that, you know, it's it's it's too narrow for you or whatever. Right?

06:55 - 06:57
Well, we certainly have had that happen. Right?

06:57 - 07:02
It was a well reviewed tent and got it, and it's like, oh, we can't sit up in this even.

07:03 - 07:06
Yep. And I'm I'm too old to not be able to do that. Yeah.

07:06 - 07:13
And and and, you know, there are Instagram groups, but but threads. What's the new one? Blue Sky.

07:13 - 07:19
You know, I'm sure that that sort of stuff is going to those communities are going to happen in in those areas.

07:19 - 07:22
On the offline community, there's always thrift shops.

07:22 - 07:26
So if it's something you don't need to recoup any of the money out of

07:26 - 07:26
Right.

07:26 - 07:29
Donating it to a thrift shop, Value Village.

07:30 - 07:37
Yeah. Or or even I mean, there are programs we we do, we help out a bit with food insecurity

07:39 - 07:42
group sort of deal through through a a local organization.

07:43 - 07:49
I'm pretty sure through them, we could if I had gear to to unload, to housing insecure folks,

07:50 - 07:52
they could they could probably help us out with that.

07:52 - 07:54
So Yeah. Sleeping bag that still has some life in it. Or

07:55 - 07:59
Yep. Or a tent that but although I tend to I tend to ride those things right to the end.

07:59 - 08:02
I just have a bunch of them. That's how I get

08:03 - 08:03
them all too.

08:03 - 08:07
That's how I get more life out of my tents by just rotating through them. Right?

08:08 - 08:13
It's the plastic one bugs me bugs me a lot because I haven't been able to figure that one out at all.

08:13 - 08:19
Like, I can, you know, we can we can pack 4 people in 2 canoes, whatever, and and make the make

08:19 - 08:22
the car ride be less less bad, but I can't.

08:23 - 08:26
I don't I don't know how to do the I don't know how to do the plastic thing.

08:26 - 08:31
Well, on the the plus side with the dehydrated dehydrating your own food, sealing it in the

08:31 - 08:34
plastic, at least there's less food waste.

08:34 - 08:39
So things that might be like lunelo, not gonna get used in the next little while before it goes

08:39 - 08:43
off, then it can get dehydrated and stored for future camping.

08:43 - 08:45
Right. I I do do that.

08:45 - 08:48
If we have leftover, who knows, whatever. Yeah.

08:48 - 08:52
Or or a a mango that's like, oh, that's gonna go off in the next couple of days.

08:52 - 08:59
I'll I'll slice that puppy up and and dehydrate that, and it'll be a nice snack next July. Yeah. That's it.

08:59 - 09:02
And so so, yeah, send send us your suggestions.

09:02 - 09:08
Let's we can do we'll we'll do a a future episode with everybody's ideas and and maybe maybe

09:08 - 09:09
make the world a better place.

09:09 - 09:13
Yeah. Maybe we can collaborate on trying to figure out what's the best way to reduce our carbon

09:13 - 09:15
footprint when it comes to camping.

09:15 - 09:23
Yeah. Well, I mean, I was just thinking Riley Riley has managed to do that by going to heck with it.

09:23 - 09:23
I'm out of the city.

09:23 - 09:28
I'm gonna move closer to where I I'm gonna be doing those things, so I won't I won't drive so much.

09:28 - 09:31
And I believe that was Camber Christina's modus operandi too.

09:31 - 09:35
It was like, I'm gonna live somewhere where it's close to where I can get.

09:35 - 09:39
Just like what can get out the door quicker and yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. So but that's it.

09:39 - 09:41
That we're all just gonna move up north.

09:42 - 09:44
And and then we'll carpool from there.

09:44 - 09:45
Awesome.

09:45 - 09:45
Alright.

09:46 - 09:47
That's it, Russ, for today.

09:47 - 09:48
Thank you so much for listening.

09:49 - 09:50
Please do tune in again soon.

09:50 - 09:54
And if you would like to reach out to us, we are on all the social media, including Blue Sky,

09:55 - 09:59
and you can always email us at SuperGoodCamping.com. That's hi@superquickcamping.com.

10:01 - 10:05
And you can leave a comment on our YouTube channel if you want to have some input as to how

10:05 - 10:11
we could maybe reduce our carbon footprint and do better with reduce, reuse, recycle for camping.

10:12 - 10:14
And we will talk to you again soon. Bye.

10:14 - 10:14
Bye.