EDITOR’S COLUMN: THE FEW RUINING IT FOR THE MANY

By Unsealed 4X4 5 Min Read

It seems there’s a disturbing trend among four-wheel drivers. Dumping rubbish.

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I know for a fact that 99% of us are passionate about the bush and leaving it in better shape when we leave than it was when we came in. Nobody I know would ever think of littering or leaving rubbish around a campsite once we’ve packed up and are ready to move on, and everyone I’ve spoken to seems to feel the same way.

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Unfortunately there are some grubs among our ranks who think it’s fine to dump trailer-loads of trash into our bush. Just a couple of weeks ago there was a big uprising over someone leaving a pile of garbage bags at Wheeny Creek, just west of Sydney. For those who haven’t been there, it’s one of the best spots for four-wheel driving within an hour of the CBD and is a highly valued place among us low-range enthusiasts, so you can understand why so many people got salty over it. These geniuses actually left their personal information in the form of bills within their crap, and there were calls for blood all over social media.

 

While I’m not convinced that execution is necessarily the answer, I’m all for making examples of these selfish idiots. I mean, who thinks that desecrating the bush with their filth is ok? I just can’t fathom how you’d arrive at the conclusion that doing that is not completely unconscionable? What’s worse, is that it gives those who would rather us real environmentalists get locked out of the bush more ammunition. These people are ruining it for those of us who do the right thing and have a healthy respect for the bush.

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It’s time for four-wheel drivers to start acting like we give a damn and take some responsibility for our lifestyle. We need to stop tearing up tracks unnecessarily, stop leaving even one piece of rubbish behind and if we come across dumped trash, roll up our sleeves and clean it up. We won’t get any thanks for doing so but it beats being unfairly blamed for putting it there in the first place, and gives us our own ammo to fight back against those who would rather shut us out.

 

“Four-wheel drivers ruin the land with their dumping of rubbish!”

“Really? Over the last twelve months I’ve carried out over a tonne of rubbish left there by people in station wagons, what have you done for our land lately?”

 

And that’s the kicker. More often than not you’ll find the worst rubbish dumping happens just off the road along dirt tracks accessible by any 2WD. The deeper you head into real 4X4 territory the less you’ll see it. I’m not saying we’re all saints, but we get tarred with the wrong brush all too regularly. And it won’t stop until we take responsibility for it, even though the huge majority of us do the right thing. If you come across dumped rubbish, I strongly urge you to see if there isn’t something among it that can identify these knuckle-draggers, and report them to National Parks.

 

Dex.

 

Also, just on a positive note, we just had our biggest issue ever in terms of readership (how does 10 million page views sound!) so I just wanted to say a quick thank you to everyone who takes the time to read Unsealed 4X4. We’ve got so much coming up this year I’m like a kid at a Wiggles concert. We love hearing from you guys too so don’t be shy, drop us an email and say G’day.


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