BY LYNN CAPUANO
I recently spent five days hiking a section of the Appalachian Trail in Virginia and West Virginia. One day we had a competition as to who could remove the most trash from the trail. The prize was getting the only queen size bed at the hostel that night. The rest of us would be in bunk beds. Although the competition was fierce (not really), what impressed me was how little trash we could collect on the trail.
A couple of days later a group of us hiked to Maryland Heights on a trail that is not part of the Appalachian Trail. The trail starts in Harper’s Ferry, W.Va. It is a very popular, well-used trail that ends at the top of the 300-foot vertical cliff overlooking Harpers Ferry.
Maryland Heights was the site of the first battle between Union and Confederate troops in Maryland. It changed hands over the course of the war with the Union ceding it to the Confederacy in September 1862 only to regain it four days later after the Battle of Antietam. It offers a spectacular view of the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers, Harpers Ferry and the land to the west.
Unlike my experience on the Appalachian Trail, my initial steps on the Maryland Heights Trail were marred by ubiquitous trash. It was a striking and upsetting contrast to what I had experienced hiking in the woods on the Appalachian Trail for the four days prior.
It’s not, I don’t believe, that the Appalachian Trail is maintained any more or any better than the Maryland Heights Trail. If anything, likely the opposite is true.
If my experience is any indication, many more people use the Maryland Heights Trail, but why does that necessarily translate to more trash on the trail? Is there some basic difference of attitude toward litter between people who choose to hike the Appalachian Trail and people who hike the Maryland Heights Trail? Why would that be? If littering is wrong on a city street, it is just as wrong on a historic trail as on a wooded trail.
It’s not just that trash on a trail ruins the view. Most trash doesn’t decompose and more than likely will be carried by wind and rain to the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers below.
From the river it could then travel to the Chesapeake Bay and on to the Atlantic Ocean doing damage to the plant and aquatic life it passes, slowly breaking into smaller particles and adding to the ever-growing amount of microplastics and trash islands already contaminating our waters. And, it looks ugly, ruining an otherwise beautiful waterscape, all because individuals were careless and thoughtless and left their trash on the trail.
The point, obviously, is don’t litter regardless of where you are and don’t litter regardless of how you’re traveling. Don’t drop your wrapper as you have a snack on the trail and don’t throw your wrapper out the window of the car. It’s such a small thing to ask of ourselves. The payback is tremendous though. A healthier, more beautiful environment we can all enjoy whether on the trail, on the water, or walking down the street.
If I may be so bold, I’d like to take the point farther. The title of this column is Earth Matters and that seems self-evident. What should also be self-evident is that individual choices also matter. Your choice to put your trash where it belongs, matters. Lots of choices made by individuals every day matter. They matter to you, to the people around you, and they matter to the earth.
For example, did you know that if a family of four skipped eating one steak meal a week, it is the equivalent of taking a car off the road for nearly three months? That is a pretty incredible statistic that underlines the impact of individual choices.
At this time of year, it’s important to remember the impact an individual vote can have. Regardless of your party or the community you live in, your vote does matter. Please exercise your right and vote.
Sometimes it’s hard to know what choice to make, especially to know what is the “environmental” choice. With the internet though, the answer is very often just a click away (or maybe in next week’s column).
One choice we all know to make is to clean up after ourselves and to leave a place at least as clean as we found it. So, enjoy your next walk. Whether on a sidewalk or a dirt path, I hope it is trash free.
