Cito-cache In Trash Out

[+clearpath]

I take the CITO seriously when caching. I am usually very motivated by guilt, so CITO, to me, is a way of life in this sport. However, how much is too much or how little is not enough? Normally, I try and pick-up pieces of litter on the way back to my Jeep after I've found the cache. Usually, I try to carry as much trash as I can get into one hand. For example, one beer can and a couple of candy bar wrappers. In some cases there is more trash than there is time to dedicate to the clean-up and other times I have to really look hard to find any trash at all. What are some ways that other geocachers live by our motto of CITO? Do you try to CITO 'everytime' you cache? Do you pick-up one piece of litter or do you fill up a trash sack?

 

PS-remember the TV commercials in the 60's and 70's of the Indian Chief looking over a trash dump and a tear rolls down his cheek?

[+Doc-Dean]

Do you mean Iron Eyes Cody?

 

Native American actor Iron Eyes Cody (1904-1999). When he died in 1999, the obituaries referred to him as "the Crying Indian." And perhaps most people do remember him most from that 1971 series of "Keep America Beautiful" anti-littering TV commercials where he played the Indian chief shedding a tear over a polluted American landscape.

 

 

Yes I do practice CITO whenever I can.

Edited January 13, 2004 by Doc-Dean

[+JMBella]

I don't do it nearly enough. However, I am putting together CITO kits to put into all me caches. It's a small container with a garbage bag and rubber gloves. Hopefully this will get me and others to trash out more.

[+clearpath]

Do you mean Iron Eyes Cody?

Yep, thats him. Thanks for the hyper link.

[+radioscout]

For those who don't know how to fold a CITO bag: GC38E3

[+Johnnie Stalkers]

Long before I started caching I camped. Along the way I got a hold of the "Leave it cleaner than you found it" philosophy. For me it comes from seeing litter in a beautiful setting and getting mad enough to do something about it. But there is a point where it seems futile. Some areas just catch what the wind blows. Some areas tend to be secret beer drinking spots for teenagers. Sometimes there just aren't enough people around who care. Within reason I will do my best.

 

One of the most frustrating recent issues was an FTF. The area was trashed. No way we could have cleaned it up in a day. Did the cache owner think this was camo? It changed my philosophy a bit. In extreme litter locations I pick up what I can while I look for the cache. It usually doesn't take long to 'bag my limit'.

 

Thats my problem. I get frustrated with a mountain of litter. Could I spend a day out there cleaning? Of course I could, but I don't. Then I feel guilty. Then I get mad, but because the litter leavers aren't around for me to flog shamelessly into cleaning up the area. It comes down to responsibility for the trash. I do my best not to contribute to the mess, and will go out of my way to help out. But I won't make a career out of it. See, now I feel guilty again.

[+Doc-Dean]

For those who don't know how to fold a CITO bag: GC38E3

GC38E3 - Fold Bags to help Trash Out

 

Cool cache page.

 

BTW - Is that a locationless disguised as a mystery cache??

[+The Leprechauns]

Things I do for CITO:

 

-- NEVER leave any litter of my own (99% of the time; 1% accidents I didn't know about)

-- Pick up the occasional stray beer can or piece of plastic at the cache site or along the trail (50% of the time, depends on pace, weather, mood, etc.)

-- See a manageable pile of trash that I can pack out in a plastic bag (10% of the time, depends on weather, distance between trash and trailhead, whether I remembered a bag, etc.)

-- See a huge mess, a place that has turned into a dumping ground, and clean up "just my share" (rarely if ever - I feel I'm not making a dent - maybe this area is better for a CITO event cache).

 

I also organized a very successful Cache-in, Trash-out Event for Earth Day last April, and attended one in June that was organized by someone else. This took many long hours of work and "sort of" makes up for not doing more each time I'm out on the trail. I will try to boost some of my percentages for "normal" CITO activities.

[+joefrog]

Our local group Alacache.com is in the process of putting together a CITO event in Birmingham. We're going to start picking an area a month (or two months, depending) and cleaning it up. We're hoping to not only make a dent in the garbage, but also to generate some positive press for geocaching and let land owners/managers we're not devils in disguise!

[+Melrose Plant]

I try to pick up at least one piece of trash on the way out. Believe it or not, sometimes there isn't any trash that I can see. I need to start carrying a plastic grocery bag in my back pocket. That would help.

[+CompassCollector]

Hi Balboagirl;

 

Make yourself some CITO-bag containers and stick them in your swag bag (the bag, or backpack, or pocket, that you keep trade items in). That way you can leave them at a cache, or use them yourself, or both!

[+MissJenn]

Do you mean Iron Eyes Cody?

Holy moly. I had never seen this before tonight, but this must have been one powerful video back in its time:

I watched this video and TaranWanderer could hear it from across the room. He did not have a view of the computer screen. Furthermore, he only heard some (not all) of the sound.

He calls over to me and says:

Hey - that's a really old commercial you're watching! Isn't that the one with the Indian?

[+welch]

Do you try to CITO 'everytime' you cache? Do you pick-up one piece of litter or do you fill up a trash sack?

Yes I try to trash out every time, even if its only one wrapper or pop bottle.

I collect till I get full hands (or pockets with my winter coat), if I don't have any bags with me. If I do, and I try to keep some in my pockets and car trunk, then its till the bag gets full/heavy (whichever point its going to rip at first).

If Im going on a long walk or to an area I've never been to before I might kick litter up to the edge of the trail and leave it to pick up on the way back. If i've been to the area or am visiting one of my own caches I probaly have a better idea of the trails and terrain and can work with that. Like go in on one spur and 'cache' the junk at a convergence and pick it up on the way back and head out another way (but thats rare). Usually I go back the way I came, picking up as I go, then bag everything up (if not already done so) and put it in the trunk.

 

This has me wondering something else about people that CITO often, but I'll start another thread for that.

[+Gazza&Girls]

We almost always have grocery bags in our pack. We pick up what we see on the way out. If we are going a different route out, and know it ahead of time, we pick up on the way in. The pack I carry has a "dirty pocket". So even if we don't have bags with us, the pocket gets stuffed.

See, the problem we created was doing CITO from the start. When you impress upon two young children the way to do something, it bocomes THE WAY to do something. Sure, sometimes they get excited about the hunt or distracted by friends who came along, but they will pick up stuff before we get to the car even, if my wife and I forget.

It is also a great way to get them focussed on something besides picking on each other. Although sometimes it turns into a fight all by itself. "Mom, she took my piece of trash! I had it first!"

[+ironman114]

Yes I rember those comercials! They made me as sad then as I am now when I see the amount of trash stewn along the roads and trails of this country. I have practiced cito even befor I started geocaching. I do a lot of hiking while hunting and always pack out my candybar wrappers. Once while camping in the s.w. corner of the Olympic National Park I packed out for two hours #20 of trash collected around a small lake. My pack was heavier than I went in.

 

Recently I was to grab a quick cache on my way home from work. I locked my keys in my car and had over an hour to kill. I rembered a baggie with a cito bag placed in the cache so I went back to it and retrieved the bag. I filled a large kitchen trash bag ,and two shopping bags I found in wet paper bags,full of of trash plus more before my wife came with the extra keys.

 

This bag sat for 1 yr and 9 months in the cache before I used it. I will stop and replace it with another and try to leave more as I get too many shopping bags at home and need to recycle them instead of just dumping them in the garbage empty.

 

Sometimes I feel overwhelmed by the amount of litter I see in some places. I have even removed deer and parts of elk carcasses from near some caches that other irresponsible hunters have dumped along the road.

[+Doc-Dean]

Do you mean Iron Eyes Cody?

Holy moly. I had never seen this before tonight, but this must have been one powerful video back in its time:

I watched this video and TaranWanderer could hear it from across the room. He did not have a view of the computer screen. Furthermore, he only heard some (not all) of the sound.

He calls over to me and says:

Hey - that's a really old commercial you're watching! Isn't that the one with the Indian?

Isn't that wild how well you can remember something so minor from so long ago...

[+rusty_tlc]

I have a dog so I always have plastic bags. We pick up everything we find, usually not much around here I'm proud to say.

 

Edit: Overall I think things are better than when the commercial aired. Less pollution and trash.

Edited January 28, 2004 by rusty_tlc

[+WearyTraveler]

I keep a bunch of bags in my fanny pack. I fill one one the way out. Too often there is too much for a single bag. I also leave a CITO kit (35M can with a bag) in the caches. Hopefully the next cacher(s) will take the initiative and grab trash on the way out.

 

Cache on!

[+Freaky Tiki Five]

I always take a one gallon bag with me (keep a box in my pack). I never have trouble filling mine, and my son fills his as well. I have yet to find a cache that isn't in some way surrounded by other's filth. The way I see it, the more needles and other paraphenilia I can pick up, the less chance there is for a local kiddo to get hurt.

[+Fritz_Monroe]

I'm fairly new to caching, but camped for many years. I also believe in the "leave it cleaner than you found it" philosophy. I seldom remember to bring bags with me, but I always pick up some trash on the way out. Many times it is only a small handful, but the way I see it, at lease that trash isn't still out there. Every little bit helps.

 

F_M

[+JMBella]

Yep. I have been doing it on pretty much every cache trip now. Just thought I'd bump this topic as well.

Todays CITO:

 

I was also thinking about a CITO cache. I would hide a cache that contained small garbage bags and in order to claim your find you would have to take a picture of a bag filled with garbage at the cache site.

[+MissJenn]

I was also thinking about a CITO cache. I would hide a cache that contained small garbage bags and in order to claim your find you would have to take a picture of a bag filled with garbage at the cache site.

i just wanted to repeat what you said, but louder.

[+GEO*Trailblazer 1]

Got several planted and the Paper work done for the adopt a highway in this area today will post the event soon.CITO

[+Brenin Tegeingl]

I have a bonus cache with my multi. No online listing, just the co-ords in a keyholder in the final cache. The bonus cache just contains CITO bag containers (A idea I got from the forums), and a log book, the 3 finders of the multi have all visited the CITO cache and taken a container and signed the log. In the future I intend to use the log book to promote the CITO ethos of Geocaching. The cache page has a picture called SOCI (Sock Out Cache In), as when placing the cache I trashed out, and came across a pair of socks.!

Dave

[~Jay~]

I take some plastic grocery bags with me. I pick up what I see. If it's more than fits in the bag (or often bagS) that I have, then I either leave it, or decide to come back later. I hate to see trash. And I actually thoroughly enjoy picking up the garbage I see.

[+WindChill]

I was also thinking about a CITO cache. I would hide a cache that contained small garbage bags and in order to claim your find you would have to take a picture of a bag filled with garbage at the cache site.

 

There are two of those around here, this cache and this cache

 

The first on is well received, the second has been archived till the snow melts (since it has been raining for two days, I imagine it will be back online "real soon now") but expect it will be popular also.