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Geoclashing
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grufty jim
grufty jim
1978 posts

Re: ever circulating library?
Jan 24, 2003, 14:38
>
> I see your point, but disagree with it. Mainly
> because I have found the things and know that
> if I wasn't looking for them I would never have
> known they were there.
>
Unfortunately, lobsterboy, you are NOT the only one looking. I quote from a geocaching site:
>
> Found the cache without too much difficulty,
> it apppears that some local lifeform has taken
> to the plastic bag. it was well chewed.
>
Now, although this web community is focussed around sacred sites, it also acts as a gathering place of sorts for political and eco-activists (as well as a motley assortment of tree-huggers and pagans, of the type often disparaged on the geocaching forum i've noticed).

So once i read that bit about the cache being chewed by a local animal, i decided not to post any more to the geocaching threads; cos frankly i'd run the risk of repeating FourWinds' original sentiments. But i just couldn't contain myself when you added your little athropocentric view of the planet there.

I've been incensed from the start of this geo-clash palaver at the thought of a bunch of folks wandering the countryside leaving little bits of plastic in hard-to-get-at places. This is "our land" fer crying out loud (and i mean that in the most inclusive way possible), so please treat it with some respect! We've already spent the best part of a century scattering non-biodegradable crap all over the planet, do we really need to make it *a hobby*?

Would you honestly seek out areas of natural beauty carrying an oil can, and pour a big dollop in some secluded place? Cos that's what you're doing - any of those plastic geocaches that don't get picked up when y'all get bored with your game... they're just moulded oil, a contaminent! It's as though i decided to make a hobby out of secretly take a shit in dark corners of cathedrals or mosques, seriously.

And i know what you say about litter. And i know that animals chew - and are harmed by - crisp packets and the discarded detritus of our whole disposable culture. And i have no doubt that the chap who planted his little plastic bag carried half his body weight in sweet wrappers away from the site. But that really isn't the point. It's a question (for me; i ain't a spokesman for anyone else) of intent and of respect.

I wish there wasn't a single plastic bottle or wrapper littering the beautiful areas of our land (or the ugly ones for that matter). I wish i didn't find so many poisoned birds and animals when i go on beach clean-ups in West Cork. But i can at least tell myself that these animals were probably harmed by ignorance. If the little kid who dropped that plastic bag knew it would choke a gull they probably wouldn't have done it, right? You geocachers on the other hand - by your own admission - have made a hobby out of deliberately doing it!

Let me also add, that in the general area of the "chewed cache" there are numerous rare species including dormice, yellow-necked mice, otters and polecats (there are also nightjars and adders in the area that probably wouldn't "chew" on plastic, but could be negatively impacted by it).

I have a lot more to say, but it's turning into a rant and who needs that? Yes, the amount of plastic you lot deposit is tiny on the global level. But it's the intent, folks, the intent! Think about what you're doing to the environment! Think about what plastic *is*. Think about how alien it is to the places you're putting it. Even if you don't get as quasi-mystical about the land as i do; think - at least - about the animals that will chew on a plastic bag or a lunchbox and get poisoned by it.
In reply to:
Re: ever circulating library? (lobsterboy)		 Replies:
Re: ever circulating library? (FourWinds)
Re: ever circulating library? (Holy McGrail)
Re: ever circulating library? (Squid Tempest)
Re: ever circulating library? (shep)
Re: ever circulating library? (FourWinds)
Re: ever circulating library? (moey)
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