Camping: A Sustainable Holiday or Just Good Fun?

We went camping this past weekend for four nights at a great spot about three hours southeast of Perth called Fonty’s Pool (www.fontyspool.com.au). And we had a fantastic time.

On the face of it, camping would seem to get the big thumbs-up as a sustainable holiday – back to nature and all that stuff. But given how most people (including us) camp these days, it’s not so straightforward.

I think our group did pretty well in the sustainability stakes, in part because we chose unpowered campsites. But we all drove big, fairly petrol-hungry cars on the 600km return trip to the campsite. (In our defense, families of four and five can’t really take the bus camping). But we were doing quite well when compared to the massive caravans at the park, which plugged into power to run their satellite dishes, DVD players, microwaves and fridges.

Camping is also not so great from a rubbish perspective. We packed for convenience, especially when it came to food. So we had lots of individual packets of things – biscuits, cereal, snacks, juice, etc. And things like baby wipes, plastic bags, and kitchen towels are pulled out when they wouldn’t be at home. But huge credit to everyone in our group – not a single disposable cup, plate or piece of cutlery to be seen!

And last in the category of sustainability question marks is the vast quantities of stuff that camping seems to require. Obviously the tent, sleeping bags, air mattresses, stoves, eskies and so on, which are the price to play but are made from non-renewable resources.

And there’s also all the assorted paraphernalia that is so tempting at the camping superstore. I think the key is to buy quality, and use it until the end of its life, or give it to someone else when the allure of camping holidays has passed.

But at the end of the day, I have to come down on the side of camping as a good, reasonably sustainable, holiday. Why? Well, we didn’t fly there. We did camp in tents on unpowered sites. And we were in a fairly remote, stunning bit of nature.

And most importantly, the kids had an absolute ball, without any entertainment other than each other and the great outdoors. My hope is that the memories they have from these trips will teach them an enduring love of our natural environment, along with a desire to preserve it.