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https://theconversation.com/backcountry-visitors-are-leaving-poo-piles-in-the-australian-alps-and-its-a-problem-190667>
"Spring has arrived in Australia’s Snowy Mountains. The snow is starting to
melt. Wildflowers are emerging in a variety of colours: blues, yellows, whites
… hang on. Those aren’t white flowers. They’re scrunched up bits of toilet
paper left behind by skiers, boarders and snow-shoers.
When you think of backcountry snow adventures, you think of pristine
wilderness. But unfortunately, there’s a problem: what to do with your poo.
Many backcountry adventurers just squat, drop and don’t stop. The result, as we
saw ourselves on an overnight ski trip, is a surprisingly large amount of poo
and toilet paper. It’s become a bigger problem in recent years, as backcountry
trips have boomed in places like the Main Range section of the Snowy Mountains.
Our new research explores this issue to find out how to better protect these
wild areas. We surveyed backcountry visitors to Kosciuszko National Park in New
South Wales and found a minority of visitors were carrying out their waste from
overnight trips, as recommended. To combat the alpine poo scourge, we recommend
building more toilets in strategic locations, making their location readily
known, and giving out poo transport bags at entry points and gear shops.
If you’re sceptical, take heart – it wasn’t so long ago many people believed
dog owners would never agree to scoop up their pet’s poo and bin it. But for
the most part, they did."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
