See how extending your daily run or walk by just about 10 minutes a day to pick up trash along the way can make a huge difference over time in transforming the environment. In just 2 and a half years I cleared over 2000 pounds of trash off of a 6-mile 50-yard-wide swath of an abandoned 27 hole golf course. This amounted to the contents of a cube 50 X 50 X 50 yards of trash over that period of time.
I’m watching this desert area slowly transform to its natural environmental state. Various animal species are returning – it’s been abandoned for about 7 years now. And it’s taken no more than an additional 10 minutes each day added to my daily run.
You simply can’t out-give the environment. The environment will always give back more than you contributed. Running or walking off road has tremendous physical, mental, emotional and spiritual benefits which I describe in the video.
While you may not be able to mount a huge global environmental preservation project, everyone can find an area close to home and quietly transform that piece of the environment, while at the same time transforming yourself. Imagine the results if just one person in every square 1/4th mile of any city in the United States took just 10 minutes each day to clean up an area of the environment close to home. Our cities would literally sparkle!
Given the population density of a city like Los Angeles (7,544 people per square mile) it would only take 4 people out of each 7,544 people 10 minutes each day to make that entire major population center sparkle. This means that about 1/20th of one percent of the people living in a city could transform the entire city!
“Environmental consciousness” and “Las Vegas” are two terms that don’t commonly go together. Las Vegas is one of the most rapidly growing cities in the United States and a world center for tourism. As vast tracts of formerly pristine desert land are taken over for residential and business construction, we’re at a turning point. How will we preserve the environment, and will natural areas remain for coming generations?
David Smith has devoted the better part of one day each week over the past 20 years to experiencing a mountain trail running adventure. He began in the Pacific Northwest with the Columbia Gorge and Cascade Mountains; then moved to Southern California and experienced the Angeles Crest mountains; then the Northeast where he experienced the Hudson River Valley and Minnewaska; finally in 2016 to Las Vegas where he is experiencing and documenting Red Rock Canyon, the Spring Mountains (Mt. Charleston area), Death Valley and beyond!
Return often to experience one new adventure each week! From the home page scroll to “Most Recent Adventures“. More about David Smith…
The trail adventures on this website require proper conditioning, preparation and safety precautions. There are many factors beyond our control including weather conditions, unstable ground, loose rocks, insects and snakes, people you may encounter, your own level of physical conditioning, the potential of getting lost just to mention a few. While this site offers guidance, helpful tips, direction and training, the reader assumes full responsibility for whatever may occur during their trail adventure. Have fun and be safe!
