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Hey Guys

 

I just wanted to ask if there are other GreenCachers like me. Every sunday or other free weeday I take a ride on my bike equipped with my Smartphone and MP3-Player to find new caches in my region.

I couldn't believe my eyes when I first read, that people actually take their car just for geocaching. It was obvious for me to take the bike, train or go by foot to find caches. Apparently, I'm in the minority with my ecological way of Geocaching.

 

It's kinda sad that, in our world with tremendous problem with CO2 and other gases which cars emit, people don't think about the environment when they're actually depending on it.

Not to mention that cars destroy paths (if you're not parking it at the right spot for instance)

 

Are there other people out there thinking the same way than I do?

 

Greetings from Switzerland,

rushorsch

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I've found nearly all my caches in England and Scotland on foot or by bike - sometimes doing long stretches by train / bus / car, but always last bits without motor power. Local caches, within 10 miles of home, I've always found by bike. I'm pleased to see that my cache sites at Coton, just outside Cambridge, England, are often found by people who walk or cycle long several miles from home, instead of just driving.

 

I have found a couple of caches when I've had to drive to a series of work location, carrying such large amounts of kit that it would be difficult to take on public transport, stay overnight, leaving me a bit of spare time to fill - with caching.

 

I've only been to Switzerland twice, when my parents took a group of teenagers by ferry & train in around 1969 & 1970, and naturally took my sister (then aged about 2 and 3 years) and I (then aged about 4 and 5) and I still have the memories. Must return again, with the advantages of Channel Tunnel and GPS!

Edited by Copepod
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Hopefully this thread doesn't turn into a tired and boring debate about climate change. Not because I don't value intelligent discourse, but because people on the internet tend to just throw poorly cross referenced google snippets and talking points at eachother...

 

To address the question:

In the US things tend to be pretty spread out and public transport tends to be pretty weak partially because of it.

If you tried to cache in TX without driving, you'd never find any good caches. Our cities are kinda' poorly designed for modern public transport and rely heavily on using highways to even get to the grocery store sometimes. Our state is the size of some countries.

You couldn't, for example, take a bus from my house to a State Park and there is really no useful rail option.

 

Seattle was a little better. We didn't use a car the whole time I was there and we got everywhere we wanted to go. Still, on the last day we needed to rent a car to reach Snoqualmie.

 

I'm trying to imagine caching without a car in Missouri and I can't. For better or worse, they are built into the design of our lives and cities. Consider how young some of these cities are compared to European ones. Cars didn't take very long to become a reality in American west cities. That is something hard to fight when you have other bills.

I'm thinking that most cities in the American east are more likely to have been designed from the ground up for pedestrians, horses and thus efficient public transport, but thats just a guess. Never been and I'm not an expert... just thinking out loud.

 

Regardless of how you feel about CO2 emmision and environmentalism, I don't think it's hard to argue that American cities could be designed better in order to break the cylce that forces one to have a car... In the meantime, a large part of the hobby is fueled by your urge to see new and interesting places. Currently, this is extremely hard to do in most American cities. It shouldn't be surprising that we hop in our cars to see such wonderful places.

 

You might cut us a little slack. Even if it's a tad unfashionable to do so :P

 

EDIT: We don't drive on the trails here... Not normally at least.

Edited by d+n.s
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If I tried to geocache without motorized transport, I'd only have about 10 caches within range. Obviously I could finish in about a day. My ATV (I barely ever use a car, no license), can take me up two separate canyons behind my house. I get to the nearest point via road, and then park and hike.

Unless you are in a major city in the U.S. public transport is either weak or nonexistent. And in an extremely mountainous region like Utah, biking is hardly an option for any but the most fit (especially if you live in the foothills like me). I walk when I can, but most the time caches are too few and far between.

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"Green" is such a tough subject. Usually, when I hear "We're going green" it means "We're going cheap". As in: We're not sending you mail anymore. Go on the Internet. "Green" is such a great word to replace "'Cheap".

GreenCaching? Hmm? Thanks. I drive everywhere. If I didn't drive, I'd have found 30 caches, rather than 3000 caches. Ya can't get there from here. Thanks, but I don't ride a bike. Took a nice three mile hike today and found ten caches. No way to get from here to there without a car. And I'm far too old to ride a bike there. And that would have taken a couple of hours.

Or: I geocache in New York City a fair bit (or did until recently). To my caching partner's abode, by public transport is two hours, and $15. Driving is one hour, and $4 worth of gas. From there we drive into the city, and either walk, or take the subway. Realistically, which way would you go?

I'll applaud your concern for the environment, but it just does not work. Maybe fifty yers ago, that's the way the world worked. But, now, I'd be stuck at home. (Like I was fifty years ago.)

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We don't have a lot of cache density here. And many caches are on back rural roads. Or at least the ones that interest me (the bike trail caches just don't do it for me).

 

It would be dangerous for me to be riding bike on narrow roads with little or no shoulder through the woods. As such I drive to my caching location and figure it out from there.

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While I admire those who can geocache with a low carbon footprint, some of us are unable to. In a rural area with bus service every 2 hours at best, and not being as young or as fit as I would like, it isn't an option. We do the best we can, and aim to be as green as possible the rest of the time.

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While I admire those who can geocache with a low carbon footprint, some of us are unable to. In a rural area with bus service every 2 hours at best, and not being as young or as fit as I would like, it isn't an option. We do the best we can, and aim to be as green as possible the rest of the time.

 

You get bus service? Shoot we don't even get that for the most part here.

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There's some kind of bus service where I live, but my town is so small it doesn't take long to ride a bike. I think it's mostly for disabled folks.

 

I can (and have) go caching by bike. That generally gets me no more than 5mi from my house, though. The country roads and highways in Texas have high speed limits (70mph on a two-lane road with no shoulders? HA! I'm not riding my bike on that) and you can ride for a VERY long time (how about doing that when it's 100F or more outside?) without seeing anything but cattle or (in my part of the state) pine trees.

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Where I live, the deserts of So. California, there is no public transportation, no bike trails, no hiking trials, no safe shoulders to ride a bike on or walk on and the average summer tempeture is 107. :shocked: There is one cache less then 1 mile away but it mine. :yikes: So yes I drive while caching and don't feel bad at all, in fact tomorrow I have to drive to the top of a mountain for work and will cache on my way back. :D

Edited by captnemo
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I just wanted to ask if there are other GreenCachers like me. Every sunday or other free weeday I take a ride on my bike equipped with my Smartphone and MP3-Player to find new caches in my region.

I couldn't believe my eyes when I first read, that people actually take their car just for geocaching. It was obvious for me to take the bike, train or go by foot to find caches. Apparently, I'm in the minority with my ecological way of Geocaching.

In my experience you're very much in the minority.

 

It's kinda sad that, in our world with tremendous problem with CO2 and other gases which cars emit, people don't think about the environment when they're actually depending on it.

Not everybody agrees with you on the severity of the problem. Having said that, most cachers I've met take steps to minimize their impact when caching.

 

Not to mention that cars destroy paths (if you're not parking it at the right spot for instance)

Not something I've seen happen.

 

Are there other people out there thinking the same way than I do?

 

I'm sure there are a few, but I'm guessing that geocaching is not a popular activity for that crowd.

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It's kinda sad that, in our world with tremendous problem with CO2 and other gases which cars emit, people don't think about the environment when they're actually depending on it.

 

...

 

Are there other people out there thinking the same way than I do?

 

Nope. I love the environment. But I am not into useless gestures that only serve to help me feel holier-than-thou.

 

Greetings from Switzerland,

 

Ah. That explains a great deal.

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I have never lived in a town / city with decent public transit, so often I do drive. However, I have been known to walk 8-10 miles just to grab 3-4 caches--and I often do this in protest of gas prices (and say so in my logs).

 

To be honest with you, I would find every cache on my bike if I could. I LOVE LOVE LOVE bike caching. It's good exercise, great for the environment, and I just find it very fulfilling. But with that said, Indiana winters last 4+ months and Texas summers last 4+ months. Since I spend winter in Indiana and summer in Texas (I'm a graduate student), you won't find me on a bike in those conditions. So a car is my only option. To be fair, I generally only cache by convenience; in other words, if caches are on the way to my destination, I will cache--otherwise, I won't. I'm currently making an exception because I'm in a new area for only 2-3 months, so I have plenty of caching to do in a short period of time.

 

All that to say--I try my hardest to be a greencacher--I really do--but generally, it's just not feasible. :(

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In the USA bikes and walking can sometimes be reasonable ways to cache when in highly urbanized areas, but not outside of them. As has been mentioned, the distances are far greater in the USA than in Western Europe. Washington State alone is about 4.5 times as big as Switzerland and Washington is only the 18th largest state. I drive to trailheads for walks and hikes.

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Hey Guys

 

I just wanted to ask if there are other GreenCachers like me. Every sunday or other free weeday I take a ride on my bike equipped with my Smartphone and MP3-Player to find new caches in my region.

I couldn't believe my eyes when I first read, that people actually take their car just for geocaching. It was obvious for me to take the bike, train or go by foot to find caches. Apparently, I'm in the minority with my ecological way of Geocaching.

 

It's kinda sad that, in our world with tremendous problem with CO2 and other gases which cars emit, people don't think about the environment when they're actually depending on it.

Not to mention that cars destroy paths (if you're not parking it at the right spot for instance)

 

Are there other people out there thinking the same way than I do?

 

Greetings from Switzerland,

rushorsch

I cache green because i don't have a car

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I would like to know who defines "Green"? Doesn't that usually refer to the plants (you know, green due to chlorophyll)? Well most of us know what gas is required for plants to use their chlorophyll...

 

Anyway, I believe I am a green cacher. I pick up trash when I can. I do my best not to pollute the air, water, or ground. And I quite regularly supply the plants with their much needed gas that is currently only available in trace quantities (around 300ppm).

 

Edit: just checked, 300 is kind of low, 390ppm more accuriate, that is 0.039%

Edited by Andronicus
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Hey Guys

 

I just wanted to ask if there are other GreenCachers like me. Every sunday or other free weeday I take a ride on my bike equipped with my Smartphone and MP3-Player to find new caches in my region.

 

If you want to be green, ditch the smartphone and MP3-Player. Those things are made of petrochemicals, and the batteries contain highly toxic chemicals that will eventually end up contaminating a landfill. Those toxic batteries have to be recharged by burning fossil fuels or creating more nuclear waste.

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Is this thread supposed to make me feel bad about having bad knees and poor public transit?
No, it's supposed to make others feel good about being greener than thou.

 

I've been holding my breath for 2 minutes now and have turned quite green already. Do I win?

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I couldn't believe my eyes when I first read, that people actually take their car just for geocaching. It was obvious for me to take the bike, train or go by foot to find caches. Apparently, I'm in the minority with my ecological way of Geocaching.

 

 

i would say you are in the minority but we do leave in different worlds and have different options

 

lets see province of Ontario, Canada Total Area 1,076,395 km2 vs Switzerland Total Area 41,285 km2

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The US cannot be compared to Europe. European cities were built around foot and horse traffic so they are easy to travel 'green' in. Europe also has much better public transportation due in part to how much more concentrated the population is. For example I live in South Carolina 40th largest state. We are twice the size of Switzerland with about half as many people. A majority of our people live in very rural areas where the nearest store is miles away with nothing but a dirt road or highway to it. Trust me you do not want to be biking on a highway.

 

It looks like GeoGeeBee also already made my other point. But to be truly green one would have to live without any technology in a mud home with all their relatives and only eat what they grow.

 

I do believe in being as green as possible, but you should hopefully learn to accept that that is different for every person in every community.

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I'm green!

 

Actually, when I started out I was in Chicago and had a blast riding my bike all over the city for caches. As the nearby caches became non-existant, I ended up doing 20 - 25 miles on days I went out caching. I found it amazing how far I could get and not even realize it. And, I was always amazed at how much more you see on a bike, as opposed to driving by in a car.

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I've only just started in this game but I think I can claim to be pretty green......

 

Petrol in my home town in New Zealand is around $2.20 a litre (4 litres in a gallon). If I happen to be in an area where there is a cache, then I'll have a look....... I can't really afford to drive around the countryside looking for tupperware.

 

Okay, maybe Harry Dolphin is right...... I'm just cheap, not green :anitongue:

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Usually you have to drive to a location and then bike or hike. Some areas don't have pub. transportation.

 

This. I'm in SE Florida where it's frequently sunny and warm and lots of water is a must; public transportation is sparse or non-existent. If I biked or hiked from home to get to most caches, I would be too tired to cache once I got there.

 

That said, I try to be frugal and conserve gas and emissions on cache trips:

1) Biking from home to get caches within a few miles of where I live.

2) Biking to get a cache series/group/clump in a neighborhood or along long sidewalks rather than making a dozen P&G stops. This especially applies to caches in urban areas where parking is hard to find.

3) I try to save P&Gs for when I happen to already be stopping there or at least passing by

4) If I cache outside my local area, maximize the trip. Don't drive to the next county for one cache but instead spend most of the day caching there.

5) If I go to an event, cache my way there and back to cut down on future trips.

6) I cache primarily in parks and trails so I will drive to get there then spend as much time as possible on a given day hiking/biking there to maximize that car trip. If the park is small enough I will try to get every cache in the park in a single trip.

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