Shells is trash!

[Cpt.Caveman]

Chuck with that mean face and all I recommend you use this http://toy.thespark.com/burn

[Kyle]

I was climbing at Skaha last year & reached up for a bucket, only to grab onto a freshly-gnawed and greasy chicken bone that someone had flung off the top. Yuk! Chicken bones is trash too!

[specialed]

That's funny though. I can just imagine some fat ass climber slobbering through a bucket o'deep fried chicken parts and tossin em off the rock.

Thats not a bad idea, greasing up the thank-god buckets on climbs with chicken grease and hiding in the bushes for a laugh.

[DPS]

That climber must visit the ocean too, because I went to the beach and there were shells everywhere. Disgraceful.

[willstrickland]

Hmmm,

at Rocky Butte last week it was raining pistachio shells and PBR tallboy cans. No chicken bones though, musta been vegetarians...

[erik]

i always p.b.r. was made from cow piss ....you sure they were veggies!

[Kyle]

Yeah, I guess chicken bones are what you might expect to find at a sport area. Index climbers would eat the bones & leave no trace

[chucK]

So you've all heard the rants that "cigarette butts are trash, why don't smokers pick up after themselves" before,...but here's my new slant.

Last week I was climbing Silent Running (3 O'clock Rock) and from the base all the way to the top of the 5th pitch we got to follow a continuous trail of sunflower-seed shells. I don't know why it bugged me so much, but after sitting with them at every belay and following their slimy path on every pitch, it began to grate on me. Don't people know these are trash? They probably think seed shells are biodegradable and so it's OK to leave them. Well TP is biodegradable too, and TP biodegrades a lot faster than those stripey little shells.

To the dork who spewed his trash over five pitches of Silent Running, you're probably too stupid to figure out the above argument so let me just state that I'm NOT saying that it's OK to leave your used toilet paper about. I'm saying, stop spewing your f****n' shells all over the place. Have some class and suck on something else (or swallow) when you're out in the woods.

Thankyouverymuch,

Chuck

[nolanr]

Some damn varmint left little shit pellets all over the top of Del Campo.

And me very own climbing partner likes to huck banana peels into the brush or up into trees. "They're biodegradable" he sezs. Geez, it's embarrassing to be around him at moments like that.

[Uncle_Tricky]

"Nature demands a return for every gift received."

I don't litter indiscriminately, and I never leave non-biodegradeables or stuff that should be recycled by people such as metal, plastic, glass, etc. out in the woods. But when it comes to organic matter, I don't believe the best place for all of our organic waste is in a toxic landfill or an incinerator. I think there's a time and a place for leaving organic matter out there in the broader environment where it can be efficiently recycled into beneficial organic matter.

 

Are we really better served in the big picture by having those sun flower seeds trucked dozens or hundreds of miles to a distant landfill, where the energy, biomass and nutrients embodied in the apple are then mixed with the most toxic concentrations of our society's waste? When we take from the earth, whether it be in the form of trees or fish or apples or sunflower seeds, we are removing a living store of nutrients, biomass and energy from a certain locality. Over time, this impoverishes the soil. We need to do a better job or returning energy, organic matter and nutrients to where they came, instead of flushing them into the ocean or polluting our organic waste with the more toxic products of our society. This is part of the reason modern agriculture needs ever-increasing amounts of fertilizer--to make up for what we've taken and not returned to the soil. This ain't filosofi kids, its simple observable biological reality.

That said, I still think there are important aesthetic considerations to where and how we dispose of our organic waste in the world. I also would be pissed to see someone spitting sunflower seeds all over a favorite climb or leaving apple cores around a wilderness campsite--not because it bad biologically or ecologically, but because aesthetically its rude and offensive. It intrudes on the reason many of us are out there in the first place: to expeience wildness and nature and feel removed from the the constant reminders of (un)civilization.

To me, the whole question of where we put our stuff is a balance between what is ecologically ok for and area, and aesthetically appropriate for an area.

~Uncle Tricky

PS. A hearty "F*#k You!" to whoever left Powerbar wrappers on the fifth belay of Total Soul last week!

[haireball]

whatever happened to "leave only footprints"? the only time I climbed The Nose, my Canadian partner was initially upset that I insisted we bag our shit and carry it off with us. After a few belays on stances that were essentially "the outhouse basement", he came around to my position. Nothing on earth like reaching for that ledge and coming up with a handful of paper-bagged "brown". Today I found myself attempting to explain to my thirteen-year-old son and his buddy why I wanted to remove the alien some dodo had managed to fix on the traverse to Saber Ledge on Castle Rock. It's litter... garbage... trash but I was unable to retrieve it with the resources at hand. Anybody who beats me to it is welcome to it, but don't wait too long...

[nolanr]

Interesting concept Uncle Tricky. But as for apple cores, I eat it all, including the seeds, I've even gnawed the stem once or twice. Mmm, yummy.

[slaphappy]

It's bad enough to listen to people bitch about a line of bolts, but now someone climbing a line of bolts is bitchin about a line of seeds!?! Come on!!!

[Zenolith]

Hey Unc,

Argue for composting if you think we're depriving the soil. As far as I know most climbing areas and mountains don't produce food for humans so leaving apple cores and other biodegradeables does nothing but disturb a balance that works fine without your trash.

[Dru]

1) Apple seds contain enough cyanide that if you ate lots of them (like the seeds from 5 apples every day for a year) you might kill yourself

2) nut shells and orange peels do not break down quickly on their own (like in the backcountry). they need the release of complex organic acids and warm, moiust conditions of acompost heap (or your armpit) to decay.

3) whats wrong with increasing the biomass of the backcountry, zeno? just because it doesn't benefit humans? how about if it benefits animals or plants, that already get enough negative impacts from humans (like Capt caveman and his bear-hunting chainsaw). maybe they deserve some positive impacts too?

The above is all

[nolanr]

I've been eating apple seeds for years now, albeit not five of 'em per day, and I'm apparently still alive and kicking. I've heard the arsenic thing before. I figure it's in minute trace amounts. Or else I've built up a tolerance to it. Sorry to report, no hallucinogenic effects from apple seeds, either.

[nolanr]

Oops, you said it was cyanide. I heard it was arsenic. Pick your poison (pun fully intended, snicker, snicker).

[Pencil_Pusher]

Along the aesthetic lines (I was almost feeling guilty on the sunflower seed bit), is it more proper to chew my Levi Garrett or sunflower seeds? Yeah... I don't swallow.

I'd think folks would rather see my shells than globs of spit chew on the ground or on route. Biodegradeable (chew) versus aesthetic (shells).

[chucK]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Cpt.Caveman:

Chuck with that mean face and all I recommend you use this

http://toy.thespark.com/burn

---

Cap'n yore the best! http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/ubb/icons/icon14.gif Check out the results!

So god-damn you've all heard the fucking rants that "cigarette butts are trash, why don't smokers pick up after themselves" before,...but here's my juicy piece of shit new slant. I am the butt master. Last week I was climbing Silent Running (3 O'clock Rock) and from the fucking base all the fucking way to the fucking top of the fucking 5th pitch we got to fuckin' follow a continuous trail of sunflower-fuckin'-seed shells. I don't know why that bastard bugged my stupid ass so god-damn much, but after sitting with them piece of shits at every piece of shit belay and following their slimy path on every stinky pitch, that bastard began to grate on my stupid ass. Don't people know these are trash? Know this, you are a bitch. Them assmonkeys probably think seed shells are biodegradable and so god-damn that piece of shit's fucked-up to leave them piece of shits. Well TP is biodegradable too bitch-slapping, and TP biodegrades a whole shitload faster than those stripey little shells. I should break your anus.

To the fucking dork who spewed that bastard's trash over five pitches of Silent Running, you're probably too ass-grabbing really fucking brilliant to figure out the fucking above argument so god-damn let my stupid ass just state that I'm NOT saying that that piece of shit's fucked-up to fuckin' leave your sorry used toilet paper about. I should cram your neck. I'm saying, stop spewing your sorry f****n' shells all over the fucking place. Have some class and rule on something else (or swallow) when you and your hand-job're out in the fucking woods.

Thankyouverymuch,Chuck

-------------------------------- Burned by the Burnmaker!* http://toy.thespark.com/burn *--------------------------------

[Cpt.Caveman]

Werd Chuck. Fuck everyone

[epb]

[Dan_Larson]

Your all stoned

[allthumbs]

I want it

I need it

Gimme it

[Cpt.Caveman]

I am stoned immaculated

[epb]

I think Dan Larson is stoned as well.