July Green Tips – Green Camping!

Building on last month’s theme of summer vacations, the ACI Green Team encourages you to get out to the great outdoors to literally celebrate the environment by being in it. How about going on a camping trip? Don’t have any camping gear? We’ve got you covered! Not sure where to go? We’ve got some ideas! Learn more about this and other ways to make sure you are camping the sustainable way in this month’s Green Tips!

Renting gear instead of buying it!

Both Sports Basement and REI have great rental programs for outdoor gear, which means you don’t have to pay for it and store it year-round. They’ve got bikes, tents, sleeping bags (washed, of course), bear canisters, golf gear, ski gear, and more. While you’re falling in love with the idea of camping, you can start by taking a test run with rented gear, which is cheaper and better for the environment, as you’re not buying things you might not use again. Additionally, did you know that with a library card, you can check out equipment instead of purchasing it? From a guitar amp, to a tent, to a small reusable party kit, to a mini-cooktop or bird watching kit, the library has you covered! The best news is that it’s FREE, just requiring a library card. Visit your library website for more info.

Tips on finding good camping spots!

Have you ever wanted to go camping but just don’t know where to go? As technology advances and our connectedness grows over the internet, there are plenty of tools out there to help you find the right spot. The various apps that are out there allow you to set filters like distance, cost per night, group size, accommodation, campground, or dispersed (i.e., no official camp sites or services), and more. For the beginner camper, ACI Green Team member Manny Beltran reports that THE DYRT app is a great one. Think of it like Airbnb, where you can filter for the type of on-site amenities you’re looking for. There is a subscription available for those who want to access additional features, including saving money on campsite fees, planning your itinerary, utilizing offline maps when you’re out of service areas, and a filter for designated free campsites. The app is user-friendly and provides input from other users in the community, so you can know what you’re getting into prior to arriving.

For those who are more adventurous and those wanting to experience more wilderness and fewer crowds, Manny recommends dispersed camping! Dispersed camping is defined as camping on public land where there are no designated sites or reservations. You can set up camp anywhere if you follow a few rules set by the entity that owns the land. Examples of that would be the US National Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and designated Wilderness land. Always be sure to check those rules on their designated website before making your way there! onX Offroad is an amazing app to use to help you find dispersed camping spots. It is a map-based app like Google or Apple Maps, but it has filters to identify land ownership, and it highlights off-road trails. onX Offroad will help you see the trail less-traveled and find unique and memorable spots to build your own adventure!

Gear up more sustainably!

Camping gear has evolved rapidly over the last decade, and newer, advanced gear helps provide campers with safer and more efficient methods to make the experience simpler. Coffee, tea, or any warm drink in the morning is a staple for a great start to a morning out in nature. Electric kettles are gaining popularity, and camping-specific models are emerging on the market. These differ from household electric kettles in that they draw less power. Drawing less power does mean that your water won’t boil as fast, but these electric kettles will still boil water in 5 minutes or less! These kettles are simple and easier to use, as well as safer than using propane or butane camp stoves to boil your water. On top of that, there are no worries of having to properly dispose of propane or butane canisters if you normally use them to boil your water. Manny’s personal favorite is the Stoke Volatics electric kettle. It is super lightweight, simple to use, and easy to clean! This kettle is best powered by a power station, but your car can support it as long as you have a normal household outlet equipped in the car that can withstand at least 500 watts of drawn power. There are some kettles out on the market that can connect to the cigarette lighter in your car as well.

If you already have a traditional Coleman grill powered by propane, consider making the switch to refillable propane canisters instead. Again, at Sports Basement and REI, you can subscribe to the “Refuel My Fun” program, which allows you to get lifetime refills on propane canisters after a one-time subscription fee of just $30. Simply bring in your empty refillable propane canister and get it swapped out with a full one for FREE, as long as your phone number is registered with the program. Propane canisters are under compression and therefore not safe to put in your garbage or recycling carts, as they are likely to explode when in a compacting truck or in a baler. Hundreds of vehicle and facility fires are caused annually due to gas canisters such as this. Make the switch to reusables, save money, and make all our jobs safer by ensuring these canisters are not disposed of irresponsibly.

Pack it in and pack it out!

Lastly, it’s important to remember to leave the space better when you found it when packing up. This involves picking up all trash, making sure that the area is clean and undisturbed, not leaving behind any items, and overall treating the campground with respect. We want to make sure that not only are we packing in and packing out completely, but that we’re leaving the area better than we found it for ourselves, the next set of campers, and for the natural environment as a whole!