Letter to the editor about CITO

[POLE POSITION]

I am going to be writing a letter to the editor of my local paper about geocaching benefiting the community, and I would like to include a special section about CITO and its benefits (our area could realy use a CITO event or two, or 3, or 4, or more! ). So, I would like your opinion as to would should or should not be included in this part of the letter. If you have an idea in general for this letter, please reply to the post in general geocaching discussion titled "Letter to the editor about geocaching".

[knowschad]

I am going to be writing a letter to the editor of my local paper about geocaching benefiting the community, and I would like to include a special section about CITO and its benefits (our area could realy use a CITO event or two, or 3, or 4, or more! ). So, I would like your opinion as to would should or should not be included in this part of the letter. If you have an idea in general for this letter, please reply to the post in general geocaching discussion titled "Letter to the editor about geocaching".

 

Better yet, create a CITO event in your town and invite the paper to send a reporter. I've worked for a newspaper... they are always looking for new ideas.

[+Flybob]

As this hobby grows in popularity and exposure, it like everything else is bound to draw the attention of someone or some group that wants to limit or control it. The best defense to those who don't understand is to show a perceived value to the community. To that end, is is possible to add the capability for members to log the amount of trash ( ie 2 lbs) collected either by month or by cache. If so then you could total the amount for all members and post in the banner of the home page ( ie 3400 lbs of trash Picked up year to date). This would be great press and could be used to promote the hobby as a value to the community.

 

[+BirchSnooper]

Pole Position, I hope you post a copy of your letter as I think FlyBob is right -- getting ahead of public perception by promoting the positive aspects of geocaching/CITO is a good thing.

 

In fact, I think knowschad's suggestion of hosting a CITO event would be a good complement to the letter. This is something I'm considering in my community but I don't feel I know enough yet to ensure I'd have a successful event (e.g Would anyone show up?)

 

What I'm doing in the meantime, is creating little CITO packets using a ziplock sandwich bag, a disposable glove, a trashbag and a CITO sticker. I plan to leave these in both caches I find and caches I hide. Hopefully, it will encourage more trash cleanup.

 

Not only has geocaching got me out of my little hiking box but it has encouraged me to pack out more trash.

 

Good luck!