#Make geotag how toShare important information about how to treat the place with respect. Share ethically taken photos that SHOW responsible actions. If you want to geotag, that’s your choice, but I implore you to do it with purpose. It's not that people shouldn't enjoy beautiful natural places. Everyone should! But geotagging & sending people to these locations uninformed is having an enormous negative impact, as noted in the swimming hole example above and the recent superbloom fiasco in California. The campers at who left a smoldering campfire in the back-country probably didn’t realize that it often takes five gallons of water to put out a campfire, not just one Nalgene worth, but those embers still had a high probably of starting a wildfire. I’m sure whoever broke that bottle in hot spring didn’t do it on purpose, but it still cut my foot open. I’m sure that “AW + RS” didn’t intend to kill that pine tree by expressing their mutual love in its bark, but they did. Although these people may not break the rules and damage our natural wonders with malicious intent, the damage is done all the same. Many of these people haven’t acquired the corresponding outdoor ethics that will allow them to be responsible users of our public lands. They see a beautiful picture of a swimming hole say “that looks amazing, lets go!”, click on the geotag, find the location, maybe buy some basic gear on Amazon, get a basic trail map on an app, and off they go after doing minimal, if any, research. Nowadays, everyone has access to all of these amazing places with just a few clicks on the computer or swipes on their phone. This gradual learning process allowed people who were new to the outdoors to build up their responsible stewardship skills and ensured that the basic rules of the outdoors were learned and followed by the vast majority of people. In addition to the tent, the sales person at the store made sure JJ had all the proper gear (some of which they didn’t know they needed) including a camp stove (no fires in the alpine zone) and trowel for cat holes (bury all human waste 6” deep and 250’ from waterways). JJ then visited a local outdoor store where they bought a tent so they could do a longer backpacking trip. The next summer, while completing that more difficult hike in the mountains, JJ learned that campfires aren’t allowed in the alpine zone, and that to avoid the crowds, you can backpack in and camp overnight. JJ’s visit to the hot spring that winter taught them that it’s important to check weather conditions at higher elevations, glass isn’t acceptable at hot springs, and then another hot springer told them about a rad hike in the local mountains. When JJ tried that new hike, they learned that flip flops aren’t acceptable footwear for longer hikes, orange peels and apple cores should be packed out, and a fellow hiker shared some details about a cool hot spring up in the mountains. However, sharing pictures of these places on social media, specifically geotagging, isn't in the best interest of anyone.īefore the advent of social media, people (lets call them Jim and Jenny, or “JJ”) may have started walking in their local forest preserve, where they learned to stay on the marked paths, off trails when they were muddy, and perhaps they learned about another cool local hike. It's not that people shouldn't enjoy beautiful natural places. Going barefoot is a bad idea due to all the broken glass. Neighbors are ticked off because people are parking on their property and blocking the road. The swimming hole literally has 100's of people showing up every day. Everyone wants to go and get the same epic shots. Then it got included in a "Top 10 Swimming Holes Everyone Must Visit Before They Die" click-bait article. Everyone has seen the photos, especially the ones that some very popular influencers have posted on social media. There are literally 1,000's of highly filtered pictures of this place geotagged on Instagram. Maybe a few different groups would show up if the weather was perfect, but with 20 or 30 people there, it never felt busy.įast forward three years. It was a cool place to just hang out with a few friends on the weekend in an undeniably beautiful setting. People respected this place because it was in their backyard. There wasn't much of a path, it was more of bushwack from the road down to the river. This swimming hole was relatively unknown, except to locals and those in the know who were trusted with its knowledge. What's the problem with geotagging specific locations? Let's use an example of a small local swimming hole.
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