Leave No Trace

Over the past couple of decades, outdoor adventure enthusiasts have developed a growing obsession with speed — fastest climber (ascent/descent), fastest cyclist, fastest downhill skier or snowboarder, fastest BASE jumper. Fastest, fastest, fastest. 

Whether you actively compete in one or more of these categories or prefer a less competitive approach to human-powered outdoor activities, you’re at risk of getting swept up in the accelerating pace of everything in the world outdoor adventure, including fashion. Specifically, fast fashion.

Yes, fast fashion and stylish outdoor gear is a thing, and it’s creeping into the world of technical outdoor apparel, threatening the values of the outdoor education and adventure programming community’s Leave No Trace (LNT) culture. It’s a trend we must resist, and dare I suggest, reverse.

What Is Fast Fashion?

Fast fashion is the mass production of inexpensive clothing, aggressively marketed and pushed out to consumers as quickly as possible to capitalize on ever-changing trends. Sometimes, a simple change in color, texture, or cut is enough to trigger a new trend. Wash, rinse, repeat.

Often, products that hit store shelves or online retailers appear well-made, with quality and longevity in mind. But when put to even the most basic tests, their flaws quickly become apparent. Since many consumers are willing to overlook poor quality in their pursuit of trendy, bargain-priced clothing, the cycle continues.

What most people don’t see are the hidden costs to the environment, to the workers making these products, and to the communities where they’re manufactured. According to the report Style That’s Sustainable: A New Fast-Fashion Formula (PDF):

• 100 billion garments are produced each year.
• Three-fifths of all clothing produced ends up in incinerators or landfills within a few years of being made.
• The average person buys 60 percent more clothing than they did just 15 years ago.

As suggested in the award-winning documentary The True Cost, the real price of cheap fast fashion is paid by factory workers. Many garment workers in the Global South earn less than minimum wage, which is nowhere near a living wage.

Skewing Needs and Desires

Around the most recent year-end holidays, my email inbox was flooded with marketing emails from nearly every major outdoor gear brand, all telling me what I need. They clearly haven’t looked inside my boxes of gear and gear closet. My jackets, pants, packs, and accessories are all patched — personally sewn and repaired to keep them functional. These companies are trying to blur the line between needs and desires.

Technical outdoor gear has long been a status symbol. How you dress in the backcountry projects an image.

• Technical wear status: Here at The National Center for Outdoor & Adventure Education (NCOAE), we choose our clothing based on survival, comfort, and protection against the elements. That’s because we prioritize the experience over appearance.
• Outdoor fashion status: People without our outdoor industry knowledge or experience want to look the part of an explorer. They buy the latest puffy jacket,  even if the one hanging on their office chair is still in perfect condition. They may even own two nearly identical puffies, just in different colors from last year’s and this year’s trends.

Wanting quality, affordable gear that looks good isn’t a crime. We need outdoor gear for safety and enjoyment, and we want it to be reasonably priced. And yes, we like when it looks good and doesn’t feel outdated.

But, like many of you, I’m not the target customer for new and shiny. I’d rather spend less on clothing and more on actual adventures.

Fighting Fast Fashion

So, what can you do to stop fast fashion from creeping into our LNT culture? Here are seven steps to help reverse the trend:

1. Take stock of what you already own.

You likely have everything you need for your next trip. If you’re trying a new activity, see what gear you can repurpose, borrow, or rent before making any purchases. 

If you’re traveling with us here at NCOAE, we offer packing lists and guidance for our wilderness trips and expeditions, and even make some of our own equipment available for rent when participating in one of our backcountry courses. 

2. Buy secondhand.

Thrift stores, consignment shops, and online marketplaces offer quality used gear. My wife, Christine, is famous for scoring $200 technical clothing for just $10 or $15. She wears it until it’s in tatters—her fashion scars tell stories of real adventures.

Fast Fashion Meets Marie Kondo and Swedish Death Cleansing: If you’re wondering whether there are truly good deals in the secondhand market, look no further than the growing popularity of decluttering. Chances are, you know someone who has tried the KonMari Method™ or engaged in döstädning (Swedish death cleaning). These movements have fueled the resurgence of thrift stores. According to Capital One, nearly 20 percent of Americans now shop at brick-and-mortar thrift and consignment stores, while 93 percent shop online for secondhand items.

3. Choose natural fabrics.

Fast fashion thrives on synthetics, which release plastic microfibers when washed and degrade over time. Natural fibers last longer and often provide better insulation. Look for materials like:

• Bamboo
• Cotton
• Hemp
• Linen (flax)
• Wool
• Silk

4. Stop shopping as entertainment.

Before heading to the store, shop in your own home. Check your gear, your closet, and maybe even your friends’ gear stashes. Buy only what you truly need.

5. Be wary of advertising and greenwashing.

Technical outdoor brands like the ones who exhibit at Sea Otter Classic, the GoPro Mountain Games, Outdoor Retailer, Surf Expo, and The Big Gear Show, spend millions crafting aspirational marketing campaigns. They sell you an image, not just a jacket.

Take The North Face’s recent Skims collaboration, for example. They promise “full head-to-toe all-day looks that go from the mountains to après-ski and beyond.” But does a reality TV-inspired fashion collab align with human-powered outdoor adventure? You be the judge of that!

Many brands greenwash — using misleading claims about sustainability. Do your research. Buy from companies that genuinely align with your values.

6. Borrow, rent, and repair your own clothing and gear.

Swap gear with friends. Rent from local outfitters. And when your stuff breaks, fix it yourself or bring it to someone who can. Learning to sew could save your gear and keep it out of a landfill. Gear Aid is among the many companies that sell sewing and repair kits for technical outdoor clothing and gear. My own stitches are ugly, but they work. 

If DYI isn’t your thing, check out these options for repairing your well-used technical outdoor clothing and gear: 

• REI Repair Services
• Rainy Pass Repair
• Rugged Thread
• Mountain Soles & Outdoor Threads
• Boulder Mountain Repair 

7. Wear your stories of adventure with pride.

When I walk into a room full of outdoor people, I look for the ones wearing patched, weathered clothing that smells faintly of campfire. Those are my people. The ones in pristine, this-season’s colors? They’re often more interested in the idea of adventure than in actual dirt, sweat, and survival. Harsh? Maybe. True? Absolutely.

LNT: Beyond the Backcountry

LNT isn’t just about staying on trails, properly disposing of waste, and keeping fires small. It extends to every aspect of life, including what we buy, how we travel, where we live, and what we give.

I encourage you to be mindful of your consumption. Find ways to use less, repair more, and leave a smaller footprint in everything you do.

We are fortunate to live on a beautiful planet filled with diverse and incredible creatures. Let’s keep it that way, no matter how much fast fashion we’re subjected to.

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About the Author: Stephen Mullaney is the Director of School Partnerships and Staff Development at The National Center for Outdoor & Adventure Education (NCOAE).

What is Leave No Trace?

The idea behind Leave No Trace is to embrace specific wilderness stewardship values in order to protect our backcountry areas for generations to come. Back in the early 1940s, Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the world Scouting movement, said, “Try and leave the world a little better than you found it.” Over time, this morphed into, “Always leave your campground cleaner than you found it.”

Fifty years later, in the early 1990s, that Leave No Trace concept was immortalized through an educational curriculum developed by the United States Forest Services in partnership with NOLS (the National Outdoor Leadership School). The outcome was an agreed framework for instilling awareness on the part of wilderness travelers to interact with nature in a manner that reduces human impact.

What is The Importance of Leave No Trace?

The idea behind Leave No Trace is to embrace specific wilderness stewardship values in order to protect our backcountry areas for generations to come. Today, that program — run by the Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics in Boulder, Colorado — impacts more than 15 million people in the United States and dozens of other countries with conservation initiatives, education, training, and research.

Baden-Powell’s simple sentiment more-or-less condenses the seven principles behind today’s Leave No Trace (LNT) program. The well-known LNT’s principles are: (more…)

You’ve just finished packing up your gear and made sure that your favorite secret camping spot is in better shape than when you arrived. You’ve disposed of your waste properly and minimized your impact.

Suddenly, someone stumbles out of the tree line with a couple of sidekicks, tosses down a backpack and pulls a smartphone out of their cargo pants.

Two dozen photos and a short video later, all three cram their cell phone back in their shorts and excitedly speak how pristine the spot is. “This is great! And there’s hardly anybody here,” one of them says to another. “I can’t wait to post this stuff on Instagram and show everybody where we camped this weekend!”

With the advent of texting, tweets, drones with really good cameras, and phones that can take and post 12-megapixel photos and 4K video — along with their coordinates — it’s obviously past time to consider a nondisclosure agreement for Mother Nature’s treasured and off the beaten path locations.

The simple fact is wilderness (and the backcountry in particular) is taking a beating. And we all know what happens when Mother Nature isn’t happy.

Scientists Battle Location Giveaways on Social Media

Here’s a real-life example of why nature needs a nondisclosure agreement. I was guiding a research scientist on a trip to find an ancient bald cypress tree for his research. We spent hours paddling around to find the old tree, and when we did, the scientist wrote down the coordinates. He didn’t even share those coordinates with me in fear I might geotag a photo and post it online.

When I asked him to explain his clandestine actions, he told me that an enormous amount of damage has been done to ancient trees because coordinates have been posted along with pictures. He now refuses to geotag any of his posts.

And he has an excellent point. Close your eyes for a moment and picture that favorite spot that you found in your local woods, secret climbing crag, or untapped surf location. Now imagine dozens of billboards advertising those treasured spots, each boasting a million views and offering exact directions to each.

I can hear your screams from here. Can you hear mine? You would be angry on a volcanic level. (more…)

Strange and interesting things are afoot in the human-powered outdoor recreation community, and if you’ve been paying attention to issues surrounding the use of wilderness areas lately, what follows here might not come as a surprise.

What has emerged is a growing division among outdoor enthusiasts as to whether or not mountain bikes should be allowed in designated wilderness areas. The question, which has turned controversial as of late, fosters fears that mountain bike organizations are beginning to align themselves with companies, organizations and politicians insisting on making their way into wilderness areas for resource exploration.

But first, a brief description of how the U.S government defines wilderness:

“The Wilderness Act, signed into law in 1964, created the National Wilderness Preservation System and recognized wilderness as “an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.” The Act further defined wilderness as “an area of undeveloped federal land retaining its primeval character and influence without permanent improvements or human habitation, which is protected and managed so as to preserve its natural conditions.“

That description also specifies that (more…)

We’re sure the good folks over at the Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics know this, but tt was Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, the father of Boy Scouting, who coined the phrase, “Try and leave this world a little better than you found it.”

This retired British Army officer and founder of the scouting movement was adamant about improving the environment back in 1910 — especially on the trail — and his rule was later revised to, “Always leave the campground cleaner than you found it.”

We here at The National Center for Outdoor Adventure & Education (NCOAE) are big fans of this “First Chief Scout,” who among many other wilderness rules, principles and musings, once said, “A week of camp life is worth six months of theoretical teaching in the meeting room.”

Figuratively speaking, that’s a page right out of our own curriculum.

Experiencing the outdoors outside far surpasses any classroom study or indoor book reading on the topic of (more…)

Here at The National Center for Outdoor Education & Adventure Education (NCOAE), we recently welcomed three new field instructors, a climbing instructor and a program coordinator to our outstanding team of staff members.

Earlier this year, these five candidates — two women and three men — successfully completed our Winter 2017 Instructor Candidate Training Program, becoming part of a staff treasure trove that annually attracts some of the best outdoor and experientially-based wilderness educators in the country.

Much of the success of our Instructor Candidate education goes to our training program, where NCOAE instructors work directly with candidates who — on their own steam — are highly qualified outdoor educators.

Many of these candidates have worked for top-drawer wilderness organizations, and our training serves as a means of taking their experience and fine-tuning it to fit NCOAE’s extremely comprehensive curriculum.

Our candidates tell us that despite their prior instructor training and experience, an intensive week of training at our North Carolina headquarters only serves to ratchet up that experience, giving them something more meaningful when guiding and instructing in the field with NCOAE’s students and participants.

But enough about us. Let’s meet these five new NCOAE staff members: (more…)

As 2016 comes to an end, we’re honored to take a moment out from our end-of-year activities to say thank everyone for their continued support and encouragement of The National Center for Outdoor & Adventure Education (NCOAE).

When our founders Zac & Celine Adair started this organization in 2009, their mission then for NCOAE was as clear as it is today — improve people’s self-confidence and interpersonal relationships through the teaching of a core curriculum emphasizing teamwork, environmental stewardship and the acquisition of technical outdoor skills. We’ve come a long way since 2009, and guided by that same mission, 2016 has been another year of phenomenal growth.

A few key highlights: (more…)

More and more individuals, families and outdoor organizations are going to great lengths to enjoy wilderness experiences in our national forests, but with this exploding trend, how are we addressing the impact on natural resources? What does the future hold for outdoor recreation areas and natural setting outdoor classrooms?

As professional members of the outdoor industry, we are constantly trying to increase the numbers of programs and the number of students who participate in outdoor recreation and adventure programming endeavors. We look for course areas that are pristine — mostly because no one else is visiting those areas — yet. But the reality is this: If we are researching an untouched course area for our organization, you can bet there are a hundred others doing the same thing.

As educators and outdoor education administrators, we know that in order to appreciate and protect a natural space, have to engage with it. To be shaped by the beauty of the outdoors, you must be given the opportunity to live in it. How can you appreciate and protect something you’ve never engaged with or seen?

The outdoor industry has been working with the (more…)

What are your plans for Thanksgiving? Here at The National Center for Outdoor & Adventure Education, we’re expanding our outdoor educator-training program on a global scale and announcing a month-long training expedition that culminates in a Thanksgiving celebration in Patagonia — a remote region at the southernmost end of South America that is shared by Argentina and Chile.

That’s a large leap from our outdoor educator training programs in North Carolina on the Eastern seaboard and Oregon and California out West. But we’re excited to be spreading our wings, and we’re even going a step further by planning a second overseas training expedition next spring — this time to Kenya for a 33-Day Outdoor Educator Instructor Training – East Africa.

But first, back to our Patagonia training. The 31-Day Outdoor Educator Instructor Training – Patagonia is co-ed and targets college students, classroom teachers and novice outdoor educators who are 18 years and older. Tuition is just $6,600. We fly from Houston, Tex., and land in Santiago, Chile, where our local team has already worked out an invigorating itinerary.

Chile is a land of extremes, from the snow-capped volcanoes of Patagonia and dizzying heights of the Andes, to the driest desert on earth and the extensive southern glacial fields. We’ll be exploring some of the most beautiful mountains and rivers in the world, and we’ll see it with fellow explorers who have the same enthusiasm and zeal for the outdoors and education that you do.

And when it comes to gaining the experience and knowledge to become an outdoor educator, there are few better “classrooms” than Patagonia and the (more…)

If you’re really interested in making the wilderness your home office, there are few programs that can get you started that are as basic and important as our Leave No Trace Trainer Course.

Even if you have experience as a wilderness guide or outdoor educator, this two-day training gets you to a point where you can enthusiastically acquire, endorse and practice the seven principles that make up the successful Leave No Trace (LNT) philosophy.

Best news yet: We’ve still got space available for our Sept. 4 and 5 LTN Trainer course, which takes place in Wilmington, N.C. We’ve worked with LNT to ensure this course is ideal for educators, guides, agency employees and other outdoor education professionals. Successful graduates gain skills to teach Leave No Trace techniques and ethics to their co-workers, clients, friends and family.

Ours is a short and simple course — unlike the more advanced Master Educator LNT Training. And that’s not a bad thing, because as a result, it’s (more…)