It's a new camping season, and there are trails to be mapped out, campsites to be reserved, and a shopping trip, soon, to upgrade your gear. If you are one of the millions who will be making new purchases for a major piece of camping gear, or adding new accessories, be sure to investigate the greener product when there is such an option.
Doing so may require some research, since products that incorporate recycled materials, or are produced by earth-friendly processes, are not always displayed prominently. Finding the well-made recycled sleeping pad, for example, can become a more difficult quest than finding the perfect campsite. So, let the products featured here, introduce you to some green possibilities in the camp equipment aisle.
Two Greener Tent Options Win Awards
Tents represent the "final frontier for recycled materials," Kelly Bastone wrote in the Daily Dirt blog for Backpacker magazine, in 2008, noting that while there is increasing recycled content in packs, shoes and clothing, tent makers were the last producers of outdoor gear to incorporate recycled fabrics. Bastone had just discovered that two companies – Big Agnes in Colorado and Nemo in New Hampshire – were each introducing a prototype for such a tent at the Outdoor Retailers show that summer.
When these two green tents hit the market a year ago they were greeted with a warm welcome in Backpacker which awarded the Salt Creek 2 model (produced by Big Agnes) with its Editor's Choice Green award. The editors praised the tent for the 100% recycled content of its fabrics, plastic pole clips, and guylines. Just as important, they said, it proved durable and weatherproof on one stormy trip after another.
Nemo's product, the Nano Oz, got a brief, but mostly-glowing review as one of 31 tents that "rose to the top" throughout Backpacker's rigorous on-the-road testing used to discover the best new products. Both lightweight tents arrived with a hefty price tag - $350 for the Salt Creek 2, and $450 for the Nano Oz. Tents like this, according to a review at Planet Green are ideal "for the committed outdoorsman."
Eco-friendly Sleep Pads
If a light-weight, two-person, backpacking tent is not what you need, or costs more than you are willing to spend right now, perhaps a comfy, eco-friendly sleep pad is something to consider. Priced at $100 and more, sleep pads still represent a significant equipment investment, yet an essential one for a good night's sleep.
The Pacific Equipment Company in Bozeman MT, received Backpacker's Editor's Choice Green Award in 2007 for its Eco Thermo 6 Sleeping Pad (link, with picture below), made of bamboo fabric, incorporating bamboo in a raw form as insulation. The editors were lavish in their praise of the product's environmentally friendly materials and the process used to make it. They added more praise for "the light and very cushy" 2.5-inch-thick pad, and its ability to cushion you from such obstacles as gravel and tree roots on the hard cold ground.
The same Colorado company that makes the Salt Creek tent, Big Agnes, also offers a sleep pad made of all recycled matereial. The Diversion Insulated Air Core Recycled pad has a 100% recycled polyester rip-stop fabric over a filling of 100% recycled synthetic insulation. That filling, Climashield HL Green, consists of thousands of continuous strands of polyester that form an interlocking insulation; no chemical treatment is needed, to hold it together.
Light Up the Night With Renewable Energy
An easy way to add a green component to your camping experience is to include some small, solar-powered products. Real Goods, the largest and oldest catalog firm devoted to renewable energy products, is a great place to find a solar oven, flashlight, or radio.
Baking fresh bread or steaming vegetables and roasting meat while camping is not for everyone. But for those who must have home cooking at their campsites, the Sport Solar Oven, for $199, is something to consider. Described as "lightweight" at 10 lbs., it is said to require only minimal sun in order to cook most foods in 2 - 4 hours.
For the much smaller investment of $39 you can have the solar version of a campsite essential - the flashlight. Real Goods' 8-inch Solar Flashlight provides 8 hours of light when fully charged; 4 - 6 hours of direct sunlight on the built-in battery will charge it.
Last, but certainly not least, a Solar Radio from Real Goods offers charging versatility - a built-in solar panel, a hand crank (for people-powered energy), and an AC adapter give you options. Fully charged the $50 radio will give you 25 hours of AM-FM listening.
Find More Products at Real Goods and Izzit Green
Each of the items described here can be found at the online retailers, Real Goods and Izzit Green. Both are good sources for more green products to enhance your camping trips. They are good sources, as well, for the kind of everyday supplies needed for camping trips and beyond; some are described at Eco Camp Gear Can Include Compostable Bags, Recycled Plastic.
Kathlin F. Sickel - Reading and writing in print and online. So much to uncover and report. Join me; let's see what we can discover.
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