What does conservation mean to you?  What are YOU doing to help our Mother Earth?

Do you pick-up stray trash in parking lots?  Use the recycle bin religiously?  Compost food waste?  Avoid single-use plastics when possible?  Take reusable bags to the store?

Conservation.  A word that we as a society don't use or practice enough.  A while back, I penned a blog called "There is No Planet "B".  It spoke to natural resources and my ire at watching Notre Dame burn thinking of the thousands of trees used to construct it.  It spoke about mechanized drones in National Forests (a completely illegal activity).  It spoke to the loss of many species of animals over the last century caused directly by humankind.

Growing up I spent time in Boy Scouting (earning my Eagle at age 14) and became very aware of our duty as humans to protect natural resources.  My troop heard from Scoutmasters time and time again at the end of a camping trip that we were to "Leave No Trace" and police our camping ground so that we left it in a better space than when we arrived.  It is a practice I continue to this day.  I have taught both my daughters the importance of leaving our wild spaces free of human impact.  And yes, this means fire pits too (when out in the backcountry in wilderness zones).  For this very reason, I carry a separate trash bag each hiking and backpacking trip and whenever I see refuse and rubbish on the trail, it immediately goes into the bag to be packed out and disposed of properly.  I feel a strong sense of duty to ensure that whenever I am on a trail, in a forest or atop a mountain, I must be aware of human related blight and do whatever I can to ensure that blight is mitigated.

I can't even begin to hazard a guess at how much trash I have packed out of spaces, but I know it is quite a bit.  I have met other hikers who do the same and if you are reading this and you are one of them, continue to do the work and thank you for your assistance in the preservation and conservation of our backcountry spaces.  

I have also blogged about becoming SCUBA certified in 2021 and the journey I took to get there (Fear), but few know about the journey taken since those initial first breaths under water.  Since May of 2021, I have logged 240 dives (mostly local ones in our rivers and lakes, but also in the Monterey Bay as well) and dedicated a good portion of my diving time to clean up our sacred waters.  In that time since May of 2021, I've gotten my Advanced SCUBA certification, my Rescue Diver certification and most recently, moved to the professional diver ranks of my Dive Master certification (I am also enrolled in the Instructor program and working towards that even though my first love is always that of the trail and mountains).  Now, more than ever, I feel that I must be a steward of the waterways and do all within my power to protect and defend these waters as I do for trails, forests and mountains.  

Shortly after getting my Open Water SCUBA certification, I happened upon a local diver's YouTube Channel; Merman Mike.  He is a local diver in the Sacramento area and he dives the same rivers and lakes I do cleaning up trash and finding "treasure".  I was amazed by the things he found and the sheer amount of trash which came out of our sacred waters, so I decided that my dive buddy and I were going to aid in the effort and do it as well.  His motto of "If you are going to take the treasure, you must also take the trash".  It resonated with me deeply.  I have had the chance to dive with Mike several times and he is one of the good souls of this conservation family.

I purchased a luggage scale and large SCUBA mesh dive bags for us to carry on our dive adventures to clean up trash similar to what we do in the mountains and on trails.  The first year we collected just over 300 pounds of trash and treasure (2021).  This past year (2022) we pulled out well over 700 pounds.  I keep each dive logged in excel (a practice I have also extended to my hikes and backpacking) to tally up what we remove each year.  Each dive we weigh and log trash removed and separate recyclables and rubbish when able to.  I have a room dedicated to "treasure" (some may call it "Trashure") and display the finds taken from our waters.  Everything from hundred's of pairs of glasses, watches, hair ties, golf balls, toys, rings, phones, wallets, guns, brass knuckles, paddles, etc.  Phones, GoPro's, wallets and others that I am able to return to their rightful owners are done with speed.  Everything else becomes a story and a memory.  

I am proud of the 1,000 pounds we have removed in just under two years.  I have set a goal this year to collect 1,000 pounds of trash between trails and waters and know that it will take work, but this Earth is worth it.  I am proud that there are other organizations out there who value and dedicate time to conservation like we do.  Yosemite Conservancy, the Sierra Club Lake Tahoe's Clean Up the Lake Program and Jeremy Casebeer's partnership with Waste Management (he is a Pro Beach Volleyball player and has a wilderness heart like my own).  These organizations are what conservancy is all about.  The Lake Tahoe Clean up the Lake program is very similar to our mission in the fact it is run by SCUBA divers who value conservation and the sacred waters of the Ancient Washoe Indigenous who consider the lake to be the center of their world.  Thousands of pounds of trash is removed from Lake Tahoe each year by this group in an effort to keep its waters clean.

What are YOU doing for our Earth, dear reader?  Are you willing to help by picking up a stray piece of trash which didn't make it into a trash can?  Will you consider opting out of a plastic drinking straw the next time you go to a restaurant?  What about buying more whole foods at the grocery store not in plastic packaging?  What about the next time you venture out for a day at the beach, lake or hike, you too, bring an extra trash bag and do some clean-up yourself?  Don't want to touch other peoples gross stuff?  Grab a cheap pair of garden gloves and toss them into your bag or pack.  What's the harm in giving Gaia some love by cleaning up after the irreverent and and ignorant?

We have this earthly home now.  This gorgeous place of land, sea and sky.  We all belong to it and it belongs to us.  We are tasked with a duty and purpose to ensure the health of the planet for future generations.  To keep our waters sacred, the wilderness free of human impact and the air in the sky breathable and life giving.  Each and every one of us can have an impact.  Each of us can make conservation a part of our daily life.  It doesn't require SCUBA gear, hiking boots or thousands of followers.  It requires doing the simple things that help our planet stay healthy.  Recycle bottles and cans, eliminate plastics as much as possible, purchase "true" green products, stay away from chemicals on your lawn, pick up trash when you see it and dispose of garbage properly.  Make each and every day, an Earth day. 

This planet needs our help and it is our duty to give it the help it needs.  Please, do your part.  Together, we can have an impact.

Om Mani Padme Hum.  I send blessings to you all.  May Lung-ta, the Wind Horse, carry them, swiftly, to you and to all sentient beings throughout this earth.  May you take a moment to touch trees and truly know them, place your hands in our sacred waters, touch that water to your face and ask those waters to heal you, feel the wind in your hair and be thankful for the breath it gives and place your toes into the soil and give thanks for the plants it produces which nourish and ground us.

"Leave nothing but footprints, take nothing but pictures, kill nothing but time."

Namaste, friends.