Don't Drop Litters and Foods While Traveling! Small Snacks Can Also Harm the Ecological Environment | CBCGDF OceanWetlands Reports

With the rise of hiking tourism, more and more tourists choose to go deep into the mountains, get close to nature, and explore the beauty of nature. Green plants and beautiful scenery are refreshing and unforgettable. However, while intoxicated by the beautiful scenery, most tourists ignore a problem: the snacks they carry with them may become the murderer of destroying the local ecology. Inadvertently discarded garbage or food may lead to catastrophic consequences

A bag of potato chips caused a cave crisis

In September this year, managers of Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico, USA, posted a post reporting a bag of potato chips that fell inside the cave. Although it looks like just a bag of insignificant potato chips, the chain reaction caused by the decomposition of the potato chips will trigger a series of ecological damage.

Carlsbad Caverns National Park contains 119 limestone caves. These caves are closed, fragile environments, and non-renewable resources. Therefore, any external interference will cause serious damage to the original cave environment and it will be difficult to recover.

The administrator's post pointed out that the processed corn was softened by the humidity of the cave, forming a perfect environment for the reproduction of microorganisms and fungi. Cave crickets, mites, spiders and flies quickly organized into a temporary food web, dispersing the nutrients of snacks into the surrounding caves and strata by eating. Subsequently, mold will spread to higher positions in the cave with the dispersed nutrients until the entire cave is contaminated. And until the post was posted, this material cycle continued.

Fortunately, within four or five hours of discovering the snacks, the ranger entered the cave and took out the potato chips. In the following twenty minutes, the ranger urgently cleaned up the mold and snack crumbs that had grown in the cave. However, according to the ranger's speculation, some cave crickets have eaten the potato chips, and the potato chips may still bring subsequent mold contamination.

The harm of snack residues

In addition to the snacks themselves, the environmental harm of food waste should not be underestimated. Plastic and metal packaging food may take hundreds or thousands of years to decompose. If eaten by wild animals, these garbage cannot be digested. Clara-Jane Blye, assistant professor of sustainable tourism at the University of Utah, pointed out that birds and fish easily mistake plastic for food, which will eventually fill their stomachs and make them unable to eat anymore, and eventually starve to death.

Although fruit cores and peels can be decomposed naturally, the decomposition speed varies greatly in different ecological environments. For example, Blye pointed out that "it takes longer for apple cores and banana peels to decompose in the desert than in wetlands or forests."

Don't let animals eat snacks

For hikers, delicious snacks are a source of energy during the journey. Some hikers can't help but feed cute animals in the wild when they see them. However, human snacks are not healthy for wild animals in the area. The National Park Service further explained "Why not feed wild animals":

First, human food does not conform to the natural diet of animals. Animals that eat snacks cannot obtain the nutrients they need to survive, and may even get sick. Secondly, whether it is intentional feeding of wild animals or leaving food in the wild, it changes the hunting habits of wild animals themselves. Wild animals may stop hunting and become dependent on humans. They may even approach humans intentionally and behave aggressively in order to obtain food.

Considering the hazards of snacks, it may destroy fragile ecosystems, be difficult to decompose naturally, and endanger the health of wild animals. Therefore, as a hiker who loves nature, the best practice is not to leave any food and garbage in the wild, not to feed wild animals, and if you accidentally drop food and other items in a place that is difficult to pick up, you can report it to the managers of the area in time so that it can be cleaned up as soon as possible.

As managers of various national parks, it is necessary to popularize such knowledge to the public through social media or billboards; in addition, volunteers can also be recruited to help clean up garbage and supervise tourists. In this way, we can not only enjoy the beauty of nature, but also protect the ecological environment to the greatest extent.

About the author: Ms. MENG Yixuan, a postgraduate student at the University of Manchester and a member of the Champions Group of Sustainable Development at the University of Manchester. Main research areas: the occurrence and governance of natural disasters, the research direction focuses on the implementation and impact of ecological disaster reduction methods (eco-DRR).

Original article:https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/eT49ZwpziIrRvhCObMU_sQ

Translator: Daisy

Reviewed by Sara

Editor: Daisy

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