Eco awareness
Last Saturday, I had an off-day, certainly when you see it on an environmental way. I spent the whole afternoon in driving 90 km. On top, it was all for nothing.
It all started with the raisin dispenser of our bread machine that was broke. Instead of buying a whole device, I try to fix things with spare parts. Thing is that the nearest shop where one can buy those things is approx. 45 km from home. So I call this shop to order this part. The whole dispenser costs nearly 60€, but the specific bit that was broke would ‘only’ cost 25€. This is still rather expensive for a piece of plastic (size: 1 cm) that holds the lid till the raisins needs to be dropped in order to get raisin loaf.
So I headed to the shop yesterday afternoon, which takes me 45 – 60 minutes one way. Once arrived in the town, it’s hell to get a decent parking place where you don’t get ripped parking fee wise. When I arrive in the shop (1h30 after departure), the shop owner and I come to the conclusion that the part ordered is the wrong one. Although the part description fitted the action it needed to do, the manufacturer had something else in his mind. So I needed to order the whole 60€ dispenser, drive home empty handed and do the same trip again. Not very eco friendly indeed. Next time I’ll take the train and do a multi cache when I’m there.
Speaking of, I managed to do some caches on my way home anyway:
- De Treinspotterscache GCH0JW
- Heyst-op-den-Berg : “t’Goor” GC1FTPN
- Heyst-op-den-Berg : “Onbevlekte Ontvangenis” GC1FTQ8
- IR-Project : Lier GC1P2XC
- ZICHT OP SPOORWEGLIJN LIER – AARSCHOT 2 GC1AMCJ
Looking back on things, once can ask oneself/doubt whether geocaching is a environmental friendly sport/hobby or not. Let’s face it, not every cache is reachable by public transport and if I do only the caches nearby, reachable by foot/bike, I wouldn’t have found/find that much caches.
A perfect example of a very nice cache nearby is Vissenaken – Sint-Pieters GC1N2RM I discovered today. It’s a very nice multi that proves that one doesn’t need to go far to have beautiful scenery. Although I have to admit that I went by car, since the 5 year old daughter wasn’t very happy to join and was grumpy even before we started the 6 km tour.
I guess that we have to find the right balance to practice this hobby/sport without too much burden one the environment.
