New Countryside Code

[Woody girl]

Totaly agree there. I confront bad behaviour when I can. I'm 5'6" , 62 yrs old and female. I get abuse sometimes but I never let it put me off! Sadly it's usualy its men who are brave enough to abuse me, invariably verbal. So far nothing physical.
Keeping calm, and telling them that they are a bad example to their kids if they have some with them, or asking ladyfriends/wife's if they enjoy being with a bully, or if they would speak to their mother like that usualy has them running away with their tail between their legs!
Perhaps not the best way to go, but they have been initially approached politely in a friendly manner, so they deserve any verbal put downs they get!
if I get that reaction, I know, that they know , that they are behaving badly in the first instance and are upset at being shown up in front of others .
Tough!
I admit its not often, but it has happened.
Once there were a bunch of local teens all mouthy and I knew confronting them was pointless, so I followed behind, picking up their chip shop litter, when they went into their house I just posted it all through the letter box!

 

[Silverclaws2]

Hmm...that's a difficult one.
You don't teach your children by letting them create a mess and just humbly cleaning up after them. They learn nothing and just carry on - and YOU end up shouldering the burden.
At the same time, as someone above said, you can't educate those who don't want to be educated.
And neither should we start bandying around words such as 'ban' (again, as someone else observed - we are a group who like to use axes and knives and have conniptions whenever there's talk of limiting the use of such tools).

So what to do?
I really don't know.
Looking aside the flippancy of my previous comment earlier in the thread, I do wonder if we should stop promoting the countryside as a leisure venue.
As I sit here typing, an advert for Go Outdoors has just come on. Looking at all the images in that ad, and all the activities being demonstrated, I notice one thing - the 'outdoors' is treated as just a back drop, a venue, a product to be used.
Therein lies the problem to me.
The countryside is merely a place where I can go for a run, or a ride on my bike, or a picnic with gaudy coloured plastic. It's something to be consumed and used. There's no sense of responsibility to that location, any more than there is if you go to McDonalds - it's just a place I can go to feel good about myself. It's about me, not anything bigger.
It's not about engaging with that living, breathing, organism.
That, it seems to me, is the fundamental flaw.
So, with both flippancy and urgency, my Countryside Code remains, 'Please don't go there.'
The responsible ones will ignore that, and well they should.
But if it's not promoted to the irresponsible then they'll just go and pollute somewhere else.

The problem with the countryside is that it has always been a commercial environment for farming to have created much of the landscape we love so much and farmers, well not all farmers are tidy as they would like city dwellers to be, for what is the difference between dropped litter and black plastic shrouding wire fences and trees and that's just the stuff the landscape catches or the discarded white plastic feed bag or occasional broken bucket, before we even get to the more permanent patches of decaying machinery and oft the oil and water puddles surrounding them. But given the countryside has always been a commercial venue it comes of no surprise other businesses wish to profit from that environment to encourage folk through ways and means to get out into the countryside to potentially take city standards with them.

Where will this 'conflict ' go I wonder, to I suspect go nowhere for the conflict to remain to service those that profit from conflict, for sure one does have to be careful with the messaging for it's potential to damage commerce.

We are a small country with a large population now being told to get some fresh air and exercise , oh and whilst we're at it, spend money.

 

[C_Claycomb]

Alison just posted a thread with a photo taken from our local and now very heavily used area of National Trust woodland. I think someone might be trying to get the towns folk to stay in town!

Wolves released in Ashridge?

Pretty cool news, it looks like they are trying wild wolves in Ashridge. https://photos.app.goo.gl/9eAT5KnxXn1B1NAi7

bushcraftuk.com

 

[nigelp]

I agree; but even the professional bushcraft courses teach exploitation of the resources. All countryside leisure activities should start with training in conservation, ecosystems and the environment - if people can't grasp that they shouldn't progress onto the cycling, canoeing, walking, camping, fishing ....

The truth is, for many people, the countryside is a living. Farming is no more than a factory spread out over the land. It produces noise, pollution, and waste. People travelling from towns see that, and see no need to be any more caring. We need the professional user of the countryside to be more responsible and liable - and I don't just mean farmers.

On this weekends Silver National Navigation Awards scheme that I ran participants had to alter route choices and make changes because of the ground nesting birds. Rights and responsibilities when using public rights of way and open access land feature heavily in the NNSS courses now and certainly on my courses. I promote a leave no trace approach including instructing folk to bring a bag to take all inorganic and organic waste away including toilet paper etc.
I think that in time all aspects of outdoor activity and also bushcraft as a personal and professional activity may need to change. Particularly with regard to ‘exploitation’ of resources, the ‘need’ to have a fire or cut and forage to one of more observing and enjoying.

 

[Broch]

On this weekends Silver National Navigation Awards scheme that I ran participants had to alter route choices and make changes because of the ground nesting birds. Rights and responsibilities when using public rights of way and open access land feature heavily in the NNSS courses now and certainly on my courses. I promote a leave no trace approach including instructing folk to bring a bag to take all inorganic and organic waste away including toilet paper etc.
I think that in time all aspects of outdoor activity and also bushcraft as a personal and professional activity may need to change. Particularly with regard to ‘exploitation’ of resources, the ‘need’ to have a fire or cut and forage to one of more observing and enjoying.

Sorry, I certainly didn't mean to imply that all professional courses have the wrong balance.

 

[nigelp]

Sorry, I certainly didn't mean to imply that all professional courses have the wrong balance.

No, no. I agree with what you have said. I see many ‘outdoor professionals’ across all aspects of the outdoors who regard the outdoors as a free for all place to play and give nothing back to it or actually promote sustainability or respect of it.