Columnists
Goodbye. Hello.
It’s Labour Day Weekend, as I sit and write this column. Looks like the end of the 2020 summer madness festival might be close to hand. Like a lot of you, I’ve been watching from the sidelines as this year’s batch of tourists has literally ripped through the County. Oh, the stories we’ve all heard about the garbage left behind, the property trespassed upon, and blatant disregard for health and safety in local retail shops and eateries. Of course, of course, there have been a lot of good people traipsing around in their flip-flops and bikini tops, but we’ve had an upswing in tourist nightmares, it seems to me and to a lot of my friends, neighbours and family. Just as we saw a flattening of the COVID-19 curve, the tourist-terror curve rose. At one time, I thought maybe we were all just being a bit touchy about the Pandemic and were raining our angst down upon the “Terrourists”. And then?
Well, and then Parks Ontario began to post photographic evidence of the veritable mountains of garbage left behind on beaches and in campsites. And then? Well, and then I got angry. I love our provincial parks system. My family and I have been a users of provincial parks since the late 1950s. My parents were firm believers in “if you can carry it in, you can carry it out”, garbage-wise. And so we did. In the early days, it was expected of a camper or day-use visitor. While we brought very little that could be considered disposable into our campsites, we most definitely toted all of our garbage out. We either brought it home for disposal or took it to a waste transfer site— the dump. Over the years, provincial parks in Ontario had become pristine showcases. They were the standard for the rest of the world. Serious campers were, for the most part, respectful of nature. In all of those years of tenting around the province, I can’t think of a time when we had to clean up a campsite after the previous campers had vacated. I think the worst we ever saw was bird droppings on the picnic tables and maybe a bit of aluminum foil in the fire pit. When LOML and I went on our first ever camping trip as a couple, we played by the same old rules. We left nothing behind but our footprints. To this day, we continue to be conscientious campers, well over fifty years later. On our last hiking visit to a nearby provincial park, we walked and talked. Mostly we talked about how this year had brought out the worst in a lot of people. We talked about how the provincial parks might, efficiently and effectively, deal with campers and day users who really didn’t give a rat’s nipple about their behaviour, their garbage and others. How could you turn disrespectful park-users (and likely those messy campers are people who’ve never camped before) into a people who respected the out-of-doors, nature and public space? We had seven kilometres to come up with a lot of good, and a few flawed, ideas. And then?
Well, and then I had an epiphany. It was like a bolt of lightning—or in my case—like a bolt of brain radiation. So here it goes, Parks Ontario. A letter, if you will.
Dear Parks Ontario:
To every vehicle that arrives at a Parks Ontario site, pays their day fee or site fee, an additional surcharge could be applied. Let’s say, an extra ten dollars. But they would also be given a regular-sized garbage bag. The Park user would get their ten bucks back when they leave from their day visit or their camping visit if they hand in the garbage bag with their garbage in it.
What’s that you say, Parks Ontario? What if they don’t create any garbage while they’re visiting the park. While I’d like to believe it’s possible to visit the park and not create a bit of garbage, generally speaking, garbage is what humans do best. But if it is a possibility, I’m inclined to believe a person would want their ten bucks back. If I were a no-garbage-producingvisitor, I’d want to be refunded and I might be inclined to pick up some garbage while hiking or picnicking or camping. It might not be my garbage, but I’d pick up a bit of debris for ten bucks. Goodness knows the beaches and trails always have a piece of something that blew in from somewhere. On our last visit we didn’t have any problem finding garbage, here and there. Ribbons and balloons were abundant on the beach. Flimsy plastic bags, take-away containers, face masks and wet-wipes are pretty popular items, these days.
What I’m saying, Parks Ontario, is, “Here’s my idea”. No charge. Have some fun with it. I’m not in the marketing business, but this could work if someone were creative.
Yours truly!
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