Leave No Trace

Do your little bit of good where you are; it�s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.
~Archbishop Desmond Tutu~

I was invited to join a group of longtime friends on one of their semiannual camping forays. The guy who invited me left me with the impression that the trips were somewhat civilized; however, I�d heard tales of drunken men traipsing around the woods, games played with fire, and even the occasional sport-shooting event. It sounded out of control, but I needed the getaway.

On Sunday morning, after a hearty breakfast, we left for Sugar Creek Canoes. They would drop us with our canoes a few miles upstream, so we could spend the day paddling back down to the pickup point.

The river was wide, and there was plenty of room for our four canoes to spread out. Soon, a friendly competition began to see who could be in front of the pack. And, of course, there was the occasional ramming of an �enemy� canoe.

But Steve was a more serious canoeist. He was a quiet, reflective guy who rarely got into the adolescent antics of his fellow paddling buddies, often falling well behind the rest of the group. I watched as he wove his way along the river, at times steering his canoe into the bank. I wasn�t sure what he was up to, but then I saw it. He�d spotted a discarded plastic milk jug in the weeds along the bank, picked it up, deposited it in his canoe, and proceeded to catch up with the rest of us.

From our conversations around the campfire, I learned that Steve was an avid hunter and fisherman. But he was also a camper and hiker, and appreciated the beauty of the outdoors.

During the rest of our trip down the river, I cannot count how many times I saw Steve and his canoeing partner stop along the bank, on a sandbar, or in the shallows to retrieve some object that shouldn�t be there.

As Steve repeatedly fell behind and caught up again, he was the butt of good-natured joking for his obsessive behavior. But inside, we all admired him. Still, we had to laugh at the sheer volume-and weight-of the trash that he�d collected that day. And at some of the items we could see in his canoe. It was immersed nearly to the gunwales.

Eventually, we reached the pickup point, where we had to haul our canoes out of the water and up a steep hill to a shady area at the end of a country road. It took all of us to haul Steve�s canoe up the hill, even after we had removed some of the garbage. In addition to multiple milk jugs, old tires, and rusty soft drink cans-there was a T-shirt, a hubcap, a toilet, and a half-inch-thick, 2-foot-square plate of steel.

We still joke about that day thirteen years ago, but it also told us a lot about the dedicated protector of the environment that Steve was and continues to be. He�s not one for Greenpeace, or lobbying, or attending protests on environmental issues. Rather, Steve is a warrior on the ground, making a difference everyday, wherever he finds himself in nature. Every year he participates in the Ohio River cleanup. He always takes a plastic grocery sack or Ziplock bag on any hike, because he knows he�s going to be carrying back trash. And he�s inspired the rest of us to do it, too. Because of him we all try to leave every natural place better than we found it.

Paraphrasing the outdoorsman motto of �Leave No Trace,� one might say that Steve�s motto is �Leave No Trash.� But even that would be an understatement. His true mantra is �Leave No One�s Trash.�

D. D. Cumming

Doing Good

Everyday Acts to Better the Environment

  • Plant a tree.
  • Help conserve water. Fix leaky taps and install water-saving devices in your home. Find alternative landscaping that requires less water.
  • Learn more about composting, and try it.
  • Turn off all lights, computers, heaters, and fans when not in use.
  • Focus on recycling within your household and workplace. Use the curbside pickup program if your community has one, or take your items to the local drop-off or buy-back center.
  • Cut back on the amount of food products that result in non-recyclables. Have a �litterless� lunch.
  • Use your car more efficiently. Do as many things as possible in one trip. Don�t leave your car running, and keep it properly tuned. Carpool or, even better, leave your car at home and walk, ride your bike, or take the bus.
  • Shop for products in containers that can be recycled and items that can be repaired or reused.
  • Support recycling markets by buying and using products made from recycled materials.
  • Learn more about recycling:
    National Recycling Coalition: www.nrc-recycle.org
    Time to Recycle: www.timetorecycle.org

    Excerpted from Doing Good for Goodness� Sake: Heartwarming Stories and Inspiring Ideas to Help You Help Others by Steve Zikman (Inner Ocean Publishing). No portion of this material may be used, copied, transmitted, distributed or sent electronically, or by any other means, either in whole or in part, without the express written permission of the author. All rights reserved, Steve Zikman, 2004.

    Born and raised in Canada, Steve Zikman has ventured through more than fifty countries on six continents. Combining writing with his passion for the road, Steve is the co-author of the best-selling series titles Chicken Soup for the Traveler's Soul and Chicken Soup for the Nature Lover's Soul, and the author of The Power of Travel: A Passport to Adventure, Discovery and Growth and Doing Good for Goodness' Sake. For more information, please head to www.GOscape.com.