I can echo your frustration about seeing careless photographers unnecessary trampling on the vegetation and eroding the landscape just for the sake of a photo.
Unfortunately, being into landscape photography doesn’t necessarily come along with caring about the environment, let alone about being a nature conservationist.
In fact, nature photography is inherently not very eco-friendly as it gets people to move to more or less distant and remote locations, usually using motorized vehicles that generate pollution and green-house gas (GHG) emissions. Besides, the industry of digital photography — just like any electronics industries — is very polluting. Rare-earth elements required for batteries and circuit boards, and all the nasty chemicals used for their extraction, have a disastrous environmental impact. And I’m not even talking about all the GHG emitted during the manufacturing process of cameras and lenses. There's also all the extra gear that often accompany any outdoor enthusiast like PFC-impregnated garments which release hazardous compounds into nature, and the list goes on…
That being said, I have to agree with GregWCIL here. Crossing the barrier to trample on the vegetation is definitely wrong and I obviously do not encourage it. However, it’s a lesser concern compared to the harm caused by all the pollution and GHG produced when travelling around the world. As opposed to a localized trampling, GHG emissions and climate change directly threaten entire ecosystems and species at a global scale, even in regions with no human presence.
And despite your apparent good will to limit your impact on the environment, buying yourself a clean conscience by being involved into carbon-neutral programs doesn’t stop your GHG emissions. Carbon neutrality shouldn’t be used as an excuse for polluting or getting out of changing your lifestyle.
thrice wrote: when I can afford to I will buy an electric vehicle.
I encourage you to inform yourself on the reality behind electric cars before doing anything. They’re not as clean as most people think, and can even have a more deleterious effect on the environment than conventional cars in some cases. I invite you to have a look at this publication for more information on the subject.
Dec 16, 2018 at 06:42 AM
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