Minimizing Our Impacts

With Earth Day just over two weeks away, we want to highlight the importance of protecting the outdoors that we love so much. Spending time outdoors is great for both your mental and physical health, and it's a lot of fun. But even with all that nature offers us, it's important to recognize our own impact on the environment and spaces we enjoy when heading outdoors – and to do our best to minimize it. We integrate Leave No Trace principles into every facet of our programming, and we encourage everyone to practice these principles as a way to protect and preserve the environment. Since 1999, AMC has been a provider of the Leave No Trace education programs, designed by the Leave No Trace Center for Center for Outdoor Ethics as a way to limit the human impact of outdoor recreation on natural spaces. Through its seven principles, the Leave No Trace program targets everything from proper waste management, to campfires, to safety planning, as a way to help walk a little bit more lightly when we're enjoying the outdoors. And you can test your knowledge of how long it takes for discarded items to break down by taking our interactive quiz. It's longer than you think.