We finished our Leave No Trace/Subaru contract on Oct. 15 and returned the car to the Leave No Trace office in Boulder. The decorations for our last day were provided by Mother Nature!
We absolutely loved working for Leave No Trace & Subaru. Leave No Trace is small, but mighty. There are 12 (maybe 13?) full-time staff in the office and 4 traveling trainer teams on the road year round; we were the 5th traveling team this summer for the special Zero Landfill Initiative. We’ve always been Leave No Trace advocates, but to actually be a part of the organization brought our personal education and passion to a new level.
So we were elated when Leave No Trace asked us to continue on another contract!!! As I said, there are always 4 Traveling Trainer teams on the road, and one team had to end their contract mid-year. Since our Zero Landfill contract ended Oct. 15, it was perfect timing for us to fill in! So starting Jan. 23, we will be the 4th Traveling Trainer Team. That contract will end in April.
We did a 4-way video conference call with the teams recently. We’re all over the map–Utah, Virginia, Louisiana and us in Colorado!
That’s our new Ascent. Since our contract doesn’t start until January, we don’t get the keys until January!
We’ll mostly be traveling mostly around the Southwest–Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and northern Arizona. We’ll facilitate various events and education centered around the 7 Principles of Leave No Trace, wherein our summer strategy was focused on one single principle (Dispose of Waste Properly) and the Zero Landfill Initiative (although we’ll continue to preach the message of #dontfeedthelandfills always!). We are excited for new challenges and the continued opportunity to teach environmental ethics!
And now, I’d like to share the full statistics centered around our Zero Landfill Initiative Summer Tour! I will be wrapping up some other thoughts and lessons we learned about recycling and zero waste products in our newsletter (did you know we put out an occasional newsletter?? If you’re not signed up, do so here on the main page of our website! There’s always a giveaway in the newsletter!).
12,742 Miles Driven
112 Days
2 Countries
10 States
3 Provinces
6 National Parks
42 Nights Slept in a Tent
70 Nights Slept Indoors
1559 Photos & Videos Taken
33,765 Number of People (Total Outreach)
44 Times We Got Gas
Most expensive gas price overall: $6.08 per gallon in British Columbia
Most expensive gas price in the US: $4.45 per gallon (in El Portal, CA, outside of Yosemite)
2 Oil Changes
2 Broken Windshields
0 Flat Tires
0 Speeding Tickets
26.3 lbs of Personal Trash Created
24.5 lbs of Recycling Created
31.2 lbs of Food Waste For Compost Created
36 Showers
10 Laundry Loads
8 Car Washes
13 Times Car Unloaded
156 Miles Hiked
31 Beers Consumed
12 Margaritas
5 Ciders
6 Bloody Marys
19 Plastic Straws Diverted
5 Chick-Fil-A Visits
4 In-n-Out Visits
32 Postcards Sent
4 Audiobooks
$0.94 Found
25 Netflix Movies
3 Red Box Rentals
125 Games of Monopoly Deal
That’s a wrap!
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I didn’t get a postcard…
Showers every three or four days? In close quarters? Good thing yours is a marriage that practices for better or worse every day.
So exciting that you guys will be continuing with the LNt team! We loved meeting you, learning from you and can’t wait to cross paths again soon. (We may be planning a gathering in the moab area in aprilish?)
Oooh … Moab in April?
Keep us posted!! Hoping our paths do cross very soon …
It’s a good thing you guys like being on the road! Having been an LNT master, and promoting it over the past several decades, I almost feel that LNT makes people’s eyes glaze over or else they hear the term and feel they know what it means already when they may not. Also there used to be, and sometimes still is, stuff promoted as LNT that I’m not so sure about anymore..eg the earth tone colors. While it’s nice not to have jarring tent and clothes colors, it’s been shown in many SARs lately that it is impossible to find lost people unless something they have stands out. Would be interested to know if the org has been working on updates to make the message fresh and relevant. I mean, uses have changed so much since the original concept.
LNT is definitely ever-evolving! We have these 7 principles, but it goes so much deeper. When we are teaching them, we like to adapt to the place, time, etc. I’m not sure the whole color thing comes up as a lesson very often anymore, but it’s definitely a good discussion to have about SAR. Lately, there’s been a big focus on social media guidelines. Not that we are coming out with an 8th principle, but the agency is giving more thought to helping others enjoy the outdoors responsibly online too.
We also like to make LNT fun when we are teaching & watch out for those eyes glazing over 😉