Dozens of movies ranging from Wall-E to Blade Runner have depicted a population that has ruined all ecosystems and filled the world with trash – among other things. The levels of garbage that we produce has humans is overwhelming. A World Bank report projects that the amount of solid waste we generate on earth will double by the year 2025. If current trends continue, we are likely to go from 3.5 million tons to 6 million tons per day by that point. If that’s not bad enough, the figures predict that trash production will only keep growing for the foreseeable future.
Plastic, it turns out, is a much worse and more immediate problem for ocean life than climate change. It’s clogging waterways, leading to flooding in underdeveloped nations. It’s killing birds and fish who consume it, and much much more. Our abundance of trash isn’t just impacting oceans, but the Wasatch Mountains as well.
This past year during our Wilderness Stewardship Project we picked up three (42 gallon) bags of trash within Lone Peak Wilderness Designation Area and 21 (42 gallon) bags of trash during five highway clean-ups — averaging over 300 pounds of trash within the Wasatch Mountains that we removed! We are not the only ones within the community concerned about the levels of trash entering into the Wasatch. On average during the summer we are tagged in over 30 Instagram posts highlighting trash in our watershed, and over 67 posts encouraging people to practice the 7 Leave No Trace Principles.
Between water bottles, coffee cups, and beer cans explorers of the Wasatch are setup to create garbage unless they have the correct tools. Lucky for you, we have created a partnership with Liberty Works to produce custom Save Our Canyons 20oz, 32oz, and 64oz bottles to help reduce waste in the Wasatch and beyond! Eliminating single use products is our best defense against the problem of trash in the canyons. We have also integrated the 7 Leave No Trace Principles within our Wilderness Stewardship Project and SOCKids programs.
When purchasing one of the Save Our Canyons Liberty Karma bottles 10% will be donated back to Save Our Canyons to help protect your backcountry lines, crags, trails, and water quality.
Buy Yourself Something Nice Today
Next time you stop to get coffee before climbing up Little Cottonwood Canyon use our SOC coffee thermos. Or before you head out into Lone Peak Wilderness fill up our 32oz water bottle that not only helps to reduce waste, but also helps to show your support for #KeepingGrizzlyGulchWild. Then stop by your favorite hydration station to fill up our 64oz growler with your favorite brew.
We would like to give a big thank you to Liberty Works for contacting us about the partnership and for creating these amazing items. Let’s end 2019 by taking a strong stance against trash in the Wasatch Mountains.
