The location of garbage recorded by the camera during the river patrol. Photo provided by the interviewee

The village where Song Zhe (pseudonym) lives has a clear stream with pleasant greenery on the banks. This stream is one of the main tributaries of the local main drinking water source reservoir, and part of the river basin belongs to the secondary water source protection area. The stream has beautiful scenery and often attracts many tourists during holidays, but some tourists lack environmental awareness and play in the water, barbecue in the open air, and leave garbage on the ground after leaving. Plastic bags, watermelon peels, and beverage bottles are scattered by the stream and even float on the water, which poses a great challenge to local ecological protection work.

Camping chaos

Song Zhe is a river and lake guard. He told reporters that more and more people come to camp by the stream, and more garbage is left after the excitement. "Many tourists with high civilized qualities will take the garbage away, but some tourists leave the garbage there. When the wind blows, the garbage will float into the river." Liang Yong, who has been engaged in the environmental protection inspection of the upstream water source of a local reservoir in an eastern province for a long time, told the China Youth Daily and China Youth Network reporter that if it rains heavily, the garbage left behind will be washed into the drinking water reservoir if it is not cleaned up in time, causing water quality hazards. In addition, Song Zhe mentioned that some tourists will go to the beautiful places in the village to camp, and some tourists have taken corn and sweet potatoes planted by nearby villagers.

Sun Siyuan, a camping enthusiast born in the 1990s, also preferred to camp in the wild with good scenery when she first "entered the pit", but the uncivilized camping behavior of some tourists "persuaded her to quit". Sun Siyuan used to go camping in a wild place, but once when she went there, she found that the ground was full of garbage and there were traces of urination and defecation. Sun Siyuan said: "There are no sanitation workers to clean up in such remote places, and the garbage will be abandoned for a long time."

These so-called "wild lands" are not truly ownerless, they usually belong to a nearby village collective. Sun Siyuan was persuaded to leave by villagers when she was camping, "The villagers said that camping and fire are not allowed here." Once, the villagers called the police for this. Although the police were very friendly and only advised them not to come again, this embarrassing situation also greatly reduced her camping experience.

Sun Siyuan said: "I can actually understand these villagers. They are not sure whether the tourists who come here have civilized qualities. If tourists leave garbage unattended or cause fire accidents due to outdoor fires, the local residents will bear the responsibility in the end. It is actually for safety and to avoid trouble to persuade us to leave."

Article 66 of the "Water Pollution Prevention and Control Law of the People's Republic of China" stipulates that it is prohibited to build, renovate or expand construction projects that emit pollutants in the second-level protection zone of drinking water sources...Those who engage in cage farming, tourism and other activities in the second-level protection zone of drinking water sources shall take measures in accordance with regulations to prevent pollution of drinking water bodies.

Liang Yong introduced that the first-level protection zone of reservoir drinking water sources should be fully enclosed according to regulations, but there is a lack of clear implementation specifications for uncivilized behaviors such as barbecue, playing in the water, and littering in the river channel of the second-level protection zone. The local water source office chose to invest special funds for ecological compensation for water source protection and management in the protection zone. The Municipal Water Office has also formulated a special inspection and assessment method for water source protection for the reservoir, which mainly assesses the tourism behavior, village appearance, river cleaning, river management, etc. within the jurisdiction of the relevant townships (towns). The assessment results are linked to the issuance of special funds for ecological compensation. "When the reservoir management department finds garbage during the river patrol, it will notify the relevant townships to rectify it immediately. These photos are regularly located, and the problem can generally be solved within two hours." In Liang Yong's view, camping and barbecue may destroy the natural landscape and pollute the water body on the one hand; on the other hand, it is also very easy to cause forest fires. "Forests are very important in conserving water sources. If forests are burned, it will also cause soil erosion and affect the ecological environment of water source protection areas." They called on young employees to form a "Learn from Lei Feng Volunteer Service Team" and patrol together with the volunteer persuasion team formed by local enthusiastic villagers on holidays to persuade tourists to behave uncivilized. The village volunteer persuasion team that Song Zhe participated in was formed to deal with tourists camping and barbecue by the stream. Since the team was established in 2015, they have been erecting slogans and picking up garbage by the stream, using practical actions to protect the local ecological environment.

After the "Class B Management" of the COVID-19 pandemic, camping has become a trend, and the number of people coming to the stream for barbecue has also increased. Song Zhe said that the government cannot ban camping by decree, but many people bring barbecue equipment when camping. As the number of campers increases, the management cost is even greater.

Now, for tourists who barbecue by the stream and use open flames, the volunteer persuasion team will persuade them by hanging banners, distributing leaflets, and playing persuasive voices by drones, and will increase manpower input during the peak season. After more than ten years of long-term publicity and protection, Liang Yong said that compared with the past, many young people have significantly improved their legal awareness and environmental awareness, and they cooperate with their work very well, which also reduces the difficulty of their work and can achieve effective persuasion.

Uncivilized behavior harms others and oneself

Civilized camping is related to ecological environmental awareness, such as not littering, not picking flowers and plants at will, not destroying green lawns, not eating wild fruits, not feeding wild animals, and not using natural water sources; it is also related to safety awareness, such as choosing a safe camping site, paying attention to fire prevention and the use of electrical appliances.

Uncivilized behavior in camping not only harms the environment, but also brings dangers to campers themselves. On March 12, 2024, someone in Yulin, Guangxi used a gas stove to barbecue while camping in a park, which caused an explosion and injured 4 people at the scene to varying degrees. On April 9, 2022, in Jiedong, Guangdong, someone lit charcoal barbecue in the mountains and forests, causing a forest fire. On December 11, 2021, a family of three in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, burned charcoal in a tent to keep warm while camping in a wild park at night, causing carbon monoxide poisoning and killing a man. Tragedies happen again and again.

When camping in the wild, how to use water, fire, and toilets correctly to avoid uncivilized behavior? Sun Siyuan introduced to reporters the methods used by professional campers.

Regarding water use, campers generally bring their own water instead of using natural water sources. If washing is required, considering that the residual chemicals in common detergents and hand sanitizers will pollute the environment, campers will use pure natural detergent powders such as tea dregs powder, or simply wipe with wet wipes first, and take the resulting garbage home for disposal, rather than directly washing it with detergent near the water source near the camp.

People have three urgent needs, and the treatment of excrement in camping is also a science. It is not advisable to directly abandon it, especially in places near water sources. If there are people living within walking distance, you can consider discussing with nearby residents and paying a little money to borrow their toilets. If you are in a wild place far away from human habitation, you can set up a small tent as a camping tent toilet, dig a dry toilet in the tent, and bury the excrement after defecation. It should be noted that this dry toilet must be far away from the water source to avoid water pollution. Sun Siyuan mentioned that there is now a foldable portable toilet. Put a plastic bag on it and pour in a curing agent to make urine crystallize into a jelly-like shape, and then take it away for disposal.

The second is the use of fire. Many campers lack the knowledge of standardized use of fire. Cassette stoves and cassette gas cylinders are commonly used picnic equipment, but many people do not know the hidden safety hazards behind them. Sun Siyuan said: "The price range of this equipment is very large. Many amateurs will choose cheaper products if they only want to play once or twice, but this kind of low-priced equipment may not be of good quality."

How to use picnic equipment in a standardized manner is also a blind spot for many novices. In addition to the common sense that cassette stoves should be used away from heat sources and unused gas cylinders should not be discarded at will, many people do not know that cassette stoves cannot use large pots. If the pot cover is too large and covers the entire gas tank compartment, the temperature of the pot is transmitted to the gas tank, which may cause an explosion; using too large pots may also lead to the concentration of heat sources, causing the air pressure to rise, increasing the risk of explosion. Sun Siyuan mentioned that she had also seen campers who directly lit open flames in the wild firebreaks, while professional camping enthusiasts would be equipped with equipment such as fire extinguishers.

Civilized camping has a long way to go

As camping becomes more and more popular, Sun Siyuan and her friends are very happy to see that their niche hobbies have attracted public attention. "Camping not only allows me to get close to nature and relieve stress, but also satisfies my social needs. I am willing to "recommend" camping to people around me." However, there are also problems such as the price increase of equipment and the damage to the image of the camping group by uncivilized behavior.

People have fallen in love with camping in the wild to escape the hustle and bustle and get close to nature, and more and more people want to go deeper into the mountains and forests. Song Zhe said that in the river sections downstream of the stream that do not belong to the water source protection area, projects such as stream swings and bamboo rafts have become "hot" on short video platforms, and more people have come to camp in the water source protection area. There are many such unexpectedly "popular" camping sites. The "huge wealth" brought by short videos caught some places off guard. Tourists "left after the event", but local governments and villagers had to face the bitter consequences of uncivilized chaos. The absence of a regulatory mechanism and the lag in response are inevitable; at the same time, the volatility of traffic heat also makes it difficult to calculate the costs and benefits of management investment. "As a water source protection area, we have relevant protection policies and financial support to protect the ecological environment. Other places may not have the ability to carry these flows. Moreover, such places are often in mountainous areas, and the village collective economic capacity and management capacity are relatively weak." Song Zhe said. Liang Yong mentioned that according to the requirements of laws and regulations, all industrial enterprises in the drinking water source protection area have been closed and relocated. After the rectification, the town-level fiscal revenue of the area involved has been greatly reduced, and the village-level income, which originally relied on land leasing and property leasing income as the source of village-level economy, has shrunk significantly. In recent years, the promotion of livelihood projects such as beautiful rural construction, comprehensive environmental improvement of small towns, and upgrading and transformation of rural domestic sewage projects has increased local fiscal expenditures. Townships often face the dual pressure of finance and environmental protection on such issues.

Commercial camps with relatively mature operation models and relatively complete management services are also troubled by guests' uncivilized camping behavior. An operator of a commercial camp mentioned that some guests feel that they have no obligation to pick up the garbage after spending money. Although there are trash cans in the camp, guests still leave the ground in a mess when they leave. This operator planted new grass in the camp this year and erected a "Do Not Trample" sign, but some people still took a shortcut to trample on the lawn, and some even drove across the lawn for convenience; some guests did not use fire blankets to light a fire directly on the campfire table in order to take good photos, and the grass under the campfire table would definitely not survive. However, in order to satisfy the guests, the merchants should not make too many demands.

As a camping enthusiast, Sun Siyuan hopes that everyone can learn more about professional camping skills while getting close to nature, and camp in a civilized manner with awe of nature and life.

Song Zhe said that their hope for foreign campers is to try not to barbecue by the stream, take away the garbage, live in harmony with nature, and not affect the lives of local people.

Intern Liu Yuyan, China Youth Daily and China Youth Network reporter Xia Jin Source: China Youth Daily

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