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TIP: The online Bushwalk Inventory System can help bushwalkers with a variety of bushwalk planning tasks, including: Manage which items they take bushwalking so that they do not forget anything they might need, plan meals for their walks, and automatically compile food/fuel shopping lists (lists of consumables) required to make and cook the meals for each walk. It is particularly useful for planning for groups who share food or other items, but is also useful for individual walkers.The Ethics of Outdoor Gear
Mon 26 Sep, 2011 7:29 pm
I came across this very interesting and thought provoking article about the The Ethics of Outdoor Gear by Chris Townsend.
Chris is outdoor writer and photographer with a passion for wilderness and mountains, Chris has written 17 books, the article was written for TGO magazine in 2008.
Tony
Chris is outdoor writer and photographer with a passion for wilderness and mountains, Chris has written 17 books, the article was written for TGO magazine in 2008.
Tony
Re: The Ethics of Outdoor Gear
Mon 26 Sep, 2011 9:08 pm
We use Ethical Down Sleeping Bags from Warmth Unlimited does that count??
corvus
corvus
Re: The Ethics of Outdoor Gear
Tue 27 Sep, 2011 12:07 pm
There are ethical considerations in everything we buy really, particularly in this age of disposability.
The thing that really troubles me is that, effectively, in developed countries we are utilising legions of workers that are little more than our slaves. But they're out of sight/out of mind, because they work for us in huge factories in developing nations... toiling away for 2/10ths of s*&^%$#a, so we can enjoy cheap and plentiful consumer goods. We may not directly employ them, but we benefit from their low standards of living.
There's a price we pay for being able to go to Rivers and get a pair of shoes for $8. And that price is our morality. Do we REALLY need $8 shoes? Do we need stuff so cheap that we buy it on a whim, and throw it out when we're sick of it? No we don't.
I feel pretty good about buying something from Hilleberg, or Feathered Friends or Western Mountaineering... anything that I know has been manufactured by people in decent conditions earning a decent wage, and that's been built to last me 10, 20 years so I'm not constantly consuming.
But I must admit to feeling pretty uneasy about buying, well, most of the stuff that doesn't come from cottage-type industries. I do, of course. Like most of us. Pretty hard to opt out of the consumer economy, unless you seriously opt-out and drop off the grid.
The thing that really troubles me is that, effectively, in developed countries we are utilising legions of workers that are little more than our slaves. But they're out of sight/out of mind, because they work for us in huge factories in developing nations... toiling away for 2/10ths of s*&^%$#a, so we can enjoy cheap and plentiful consumer goods. We may not directly employ them, but we benefit from their low standards of living.
There's a price we pay for being able to go to Rivers and get a pair of shoes for $8. And that price is our morality. Do we REALLY need $8 shoes? Do we need stuff so cheap that we buy it on a whim, and throw it out when we're sick of it? No we don't.
I feel pretty good about buying something from Hilleberg, or Feathered Friends or Western Mountaineering... anything that I know has been manufactured by people in decent conditions earning a decent wage, and that's been built to last me 10, 20 years so I'm not constantly consuming.
But I must admit to feeling pretty uneasy about buying, well, most of the stuff that doesn't come from cottage-type industries. I do, of course. Like most of us. Pretty hard to opt out of the consumer economy, unless you seriously opt-out and drop off the grid.
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