Why I Walk Softly

Growing up in the coastal state of California, I spent a lot of time enjoying the outdoors with my family through camping, hiking, whale watching and enjoying many of our countries national parks, forests, water areas and other beautiful natural places. “Walk Softly” is one of the first fundamental statements a park ranger or naturalists would tell us on guided hikes or talks about the local wildlife. This phrase is the basis of many outdoorsy conservation “rules of the road” when enjoying and exploring the natural order of things in the wild. The premise, in a nut shell, is to pack out what you packed in. Go into the forests, lakes, oceans and rivers in a way that does not disrupt the ecology and harmony of your surroundings. I remember many hikes where we would collect trash and various personal items other people before us left behind.

This philosophy is not always convenient and it is sometimes hard to enlist others (like my husband) to take things home to recycle instead of throwing them away at a restaurant. But other times people have taken notice of my efforts and began to walk softly in their own ways. While studying at college in Chicago, I took a plant and water ecology course where we went on a canoe trip down the North Branch River and made several stops along the way for samples of the water for analysis. During this daytrip, I was compelled to enlist other classmates to pick up trash along the way. Our trip took a little longer because we tried to pick up large items that we saw along the way too. Of course we were not able to salvage all the shopping carts that we passed by into our 4-6 canoes, but I did end up with three outdoor chairs that were in fairly good condition. After a good scrub I ended up using them for years.

“Walk Softly” is labeled on a pink long-sleeved organic cotton shirt with a little grey elephant my daughter wore at around 6 months. We got this for her on a trip to our local Wal-Mart store 25 minutes away that we dread and hardly ever go to. We were surprised that they were now selling organic clothes and other products that you can find out about on their environment section of their website that is oh so appealing and interesting.

Around the time of buying this shirt though, my husband and I were really starting to look at the way we live and the choices we make daily that impact our family and the world and decided that we want to dig deeper into how we can bring up our child and grow a family in a way that will leave less footprints behind. Basically, we’re trying to learn how to walk softly.