Pilgrims ruining parks

[scoutergriz]

frozentripper, it's not just the densities, every single river listed is in areas with sub-par (or poverty level) income. Even the Nile runs through places like Sudan, Ethiopia, and Zimbabwe, all countries with crushing poverty, when the only available food staples come from other countries wrapped or sealed in plastic.
It's hard to fault others who have little choice. We need for more sustainable solutions to be used at the production stage.

 

[alsg]

Unlike the old glass bottles that used to break, these plastic bottles are at least easier to clean up when you find them. Dig almost anywhere and put it through a sieve and you are likely to find broken bits of glass.

 

[Iskweo]

I once had occasion to strike back against the abuse. There was a post on MyCCR from some American paddlers who followed a group on the Grass River in northern Manitoba. They were horrified by the fecal matter, garbage and destruction in the sites and along the portages. It included chain saw carvings in live trees and fouled takeouts at the portages. They took pictures and asked who the hell these "rangers"were. They had letterhead and some of the graffiti had mentioned names.
I was able to deduce that it was a military adventure training trip compriised of a Ranger patrol group out of Thompson with some RCHA elements included. Bothwell and I both pursued this with our contacts locally, me being employed at the base in Winnipeg at the time. I sat down and sent an email with pictures off to the RSM of the unit in Shilo that had participated while Bothwell did the same with another route.
Long story short, I got a phone call from a very nervous sounding Captain who had been tasked with getting more information as he had to brief the Brigade Commander and Brigade RSM in Edmonton later that day. There was some follow up asking for more pictures which I was able to get from the group of trippers. I would hazard a guess that this particular bunch of pigs paid for thier transgressions.

 

[frozentripper]

Scoutergriz, I agree that the poor in those developing nations don't have much choice but the problem is made worse by there being no clean-up being done by governments... I don't travel there but others that have, described the situation away from tourist spots (they do clean those up because there's money to be made in tourist resorts) as being littered everywhere, nobody makes the effort to clean away any of the litter.

Economists say that in order for there to be enough money in the system to be spent on cleanup, the developing nations' consumption patterns will need to be boosted which means more plastic packaging around the goods that will need to be bought and sold. My guess is that their plastic litter problems are going to get worse along with ocean plastic pollution, until the economies improve. Here in North America, we can afford the cleanup costs if there's the will to get that done.

 

[goonstroke]

We need the old ad campaigns, We need to educate people.

For the record, some of my best friends are pilgrims, but according to the local blurb they (as a group) really did set the woods on fire:
Bangor Daily News: Maine has seen more than 1,000 wildfires this year, driven by drought and pandemic

This article caught my eye because it has some actual numbers:

The number of wildfires caused this year by campfires — 171 ...
The average over those four years [2016-2019] of wildfires caused by campfires was roughly 73 per year.

So circa 2.3x the recent average. Yeah it was a dry year, but so was 2017. Folks need to be reminded of how to use a bucket. The pilgrims are a mix of diehard douchbags and reasonable people who just don't understand the risk. It doesn't help that there's less formal outdoor education.