16. 7Rs: Remove with National Cleanup Day

In episode 16 of the Outdoor Minimalist Podcast, we will be discussing another one of the 7Rs of Outdoor Minimalism: remove.

You are likely familiar with some of the Leave No Trace ethics and guidelines, and the idea of “leave it better than you found it.” Well, remove encompasses a lot of those ideas as well. We want to pack out what we pack in but we also should remove other things that don’t belong even if we were not the ones that put it there.

To help me discuss the importance of trash removal and cleaning up our natural spaces, I’m happy to introduce Steve Jewett and Bill Willoughby. We have worked together for almost a year and a half now as I helped their organization, National CleanUp Day, launch the CleanUp News.

Steve is a serial entrepreneur who has started four successful companies in business supplies. He invented two products that enjoy widespread use. He also held a leadership position in a large business. Steve grew up in flat Kansas City and moved to Colorado after catching the ski bug. One thing led to another and he started climbing fourteeners.

Steve has climbed all the fourteeners in Colorado and most in California. He has summited on Denali though it took two attempts and also Aconcagua in South America. Steve has also summited peaks all over the Western United States and in Europe, having been over 13,000 feet more than a thousand times. In addition to climbing, Steve has helped many people in the wilderness through mountain rescue. He has led rescue efforts as a mission coordinator in Eagle County, Colorado, and served as the equipment officer for many years. He has been helping out in the backcountry for many years and considers the effort to keep the trails clean his “pay it forward.”

Bill has over 30 years of experience in international business development and has senior industry experience in positions that include digital technology, telecommunications, e-cycling, industrial manufacturing, and software publishing. Bill is a third-generation native of San Francisco, California. While working in the telecommunications industry, he lived and traveled extensively throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia.

While working and living in remote parts of Alaska, he has also hiked the fabled “Silk Road” in Southern Thailand to the border of Myanmar. His love for hiking and going places started at a young age while he was living in Missoula and Helena, Montana where he would take long treks into the backcountry. Being taught at this age to conserve the wilderness for others to enjoy has led to his concern for keeping all trails free of litter.

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#nationalcleanupday #cleantrails #plogging #trashtag #152andyou

Join a CleanUp: https://www.nationalcleanupday.org/en/join-us

CLEAN TRAILS: https://www.cleantrails.org/

NATIONAL CLEANUP DAY: https://www.nationalcleanupday.org/

KAB National Litter Study: https://kab.org/litter