less

Buy Less

It’s is trendy to be green these days.

More and more companies are offering so-called green products, that are biodegradable, organically farmed, or are natural. They all promise that they not only will make your life better, but are also easy on the planet. But the truth is most of them are pretty bad for our environment.

The truth it’s always better to buy nothing at all and minimize consumption then buy green products. Any time you purchase something it is a product that has been produced and made out of products from our environment. Most products contain a variety of non-renewable resources, that will never be replaced once you consume them.

Do you really need that new television or computer? How about that sofa bed or other piece of furniture?

Our biggest source of solid waste is from the consumption and disposal of the big objects in our lives: our furniture, our housing. Indeed, if you could learn to live with older furniture and older equipment you could do much to reduce your impact on the earth. While we can often buy new at low prices, we should think twice and consider our impact on the planet.

Instead, we should focus on investing more and buying less. If you save money, and buy only things you need that will have a lasting benefit on your life, but a relatively minor environmental impact. Reduce expenditures on things that depreciate quickly in value, and invest in things that either depreciate slowly or gain value.

Barn Trash Cans

Why I Don’t Own Any Propane Camping Appliances

I spent a little extra when I bought my Coleman lantern and Coleman stove, and went for the dual fuel models over the propane models. Dual fuel appliances can burn either automobile gasoline or Coleman fuel.

Stove

I like using liquid fuels, primarily gasoline, for a couple of reasons…

First off it’s cheap.Second, there are no containers to discard or recycle. Propane containers are often difficult to recycle. Gasoline, in contrast, you purchase and put in a reusable gasoline container. You buy gasoline at any gas station, put it in a portable gasoline container, and you can reuse the gasoline container for a long period of time.

Third, having extra gasoline is handy in an emergency. You never know when you run your tank a little low, and the extra gallon or two of gasoline can get you to the gas station.

There is a slight inconvience of having to pump liquid fuel stoves and lanterns, but compared to all of the benefits of using automobile gasoline, nothing beats them.

Bulldozing Sand Dunes in Albany Pine Bush is Vulgur

Tearing Down a Sand Dune

Like Fuck.
Like Fuck You Guilderland.
Like Fuck You Wealthy Folk.

We’ve all probably uttered that word, sometimes more then we’d be proud of it. Yet, sometimes somethings are just truly vulgur like tearing down sand dunes to build McMansions.

New Mini-McMansions in Pine Bush

The first part of any housing development in the Albany Pine Bush appears to be the leveling of the land, and the carting off the sand to fill in other areas. To make the landscape flat and boring, so a suburban street grid, driveways, and foundations can be laid.

It involves tearing down tall beautiful pitch pines, removing habitat that might be restored if fire were to touch it once again, to sterlize the landscape for generations to come.

Welcome! To the Flattened Pine Bush.

People need places to live, places to farm, places to use. But do they really need to tear down magnificent sand dunes? If they had to build, couldn’t they have left more of the trees standing, and built on the dunes, and preserved the terrian?

Untitled

It might be easy and cheap to bulldoze sand. There is no rocks to blast away at. But making it all flat, just to stick tacky, plastic and plywood houses for the wealthy just seems so vulgur and awful.

The Pros and Cons of Getting a Camping Permit

New York State requires you to get a camping permit if you stay in a spot or a campsite for more then 3 nights. I have never bothered to get a permit, unless the rare times I see a forest ranger, and he asks me to fill out a camping permit. I generally do not get camping permits, because I don’t stay more then 3 nights in any one spot – if I was a hunter, setting up a base camp in big game season – it might be different.

Pros.

  • It shows that you are using the land, providing justification for the DEC to spend more funding on that piece of land versus another piece of land.
  • It’s nice to stay at one site for an extend period, if you plan to stay in that general area, so you don’t have to pick up and remake camp every couple of night.
  • You don’t have to necessarily camp at a designated spot or farther then 150 feet from road or water if you get the permit for another place.
  • In case you are reported lost or injured, the forest ranger knows where to look.
  • There is no charge, and all you have to do give forest ranger a call with your license plate and other basic information.

Tent

Cons.

  • You have to plan where you are going a couple of weeks in advance to give the forest ranger a change to mail you the perm
  • Staying in one place leads to more wear on the campsite.
  • It can be be boring to camp in one site for an extended period.
  • Do you really want to tell the government where your camping, so it can track you?

Camping Down By Otter Brook

… in many ways the cons are longer then the pros.

Why the Negative Sign?

Camping Prohibited

One question I have for the Department of Environmental Conservation, is why is almost all signs that they post phrased in the negative? Why emphasize what is prohibited, rather then what is allowed?

Couldn’t the DEC just have said:

HELP PRESERVE OUR FOREST!

Please camp more then 150 ft from trails, streams, roadways, except at designated locations. It’s the law!

That message is so much more friendly.

Federal Government vs State Government Signs.

And compare these two signs with the same message — one federal (Allegany National Forest) and one state (Black Dome Wilderness):

Foot Trail Only

Enough Snow to Ski

…Same message, only one is sounds nicer.