Here in South Florida, sunshine and warm days are commonplace, but as summer is approaching more and more people are going to be spending time outside. Many will be heading to the beaches, camping or hiking all over the country. While communing with nature helps connect us to the natural world, we need to understand the impact we can have on the environment. These outdoor areas are not just ours. The outdoors is home to many other organisms and wildlife and some of the things that we do when outdoors (leaving trash, feeding wildlife) can negatively affect the environment. The overuse of outdoor areas such as trails, campgrounds, and even beaches can cause damage including erosion and pollution. These impacts can lead to severe challenges within the ecosystem and can cause irreversible damage like weathering and cross-contamination. It’s important to connect with nature, but we also want to protect these beautiful areas for use by future generations. So this summer, when exploring these natural areas outside, work to only take photos and leave only footprints.
When traveling and exploring outdoor areas this summer, try to rethink the ways you interact with nature to achieve this. Everything within the ecosystem serves a purpose and taking something of value out could impact the ecosystem, so be careful when taking items in and out of a natural area. Inspecting items such as your bags, clothes, and shoes when entering or exiting natural areas for any seeds or foreign bodies, helps to stop non-native species from entering an established ecosystem as well as making sure that no necessary items are being taken out from the ecosystem. Another way to help protect these natural areas is by staying on designated trails. Staying on designated paths and within designated areas ensures the survival of these areas and ensures the safety of ourselves as well by controlling and regulating the interactions between humans and wildlife. The overuse of certain areas contributes to erosion which could lead to weathering effects. These simple things can help prevent us humans from negatively impacting the environment around us.
When traveling outdoors this summer, please be kind to the environment by being cautious of the areas you are in and keeping the area clean by taking out everything that was brought in. For more information and ways to do this, visit https://lnt.org/.