Sleeping Bags and the Environment
Concern for our troubled planet has made many people
think that, after centuries of neglect, at last reached the point where we
now seriously consider the impact we have on the environment.
Most of us now know the damage our
lifestyles of excess have done to our surroundings.
This has brought about a push in the
public and private sectors to make more eco-friendly products, none more so
than in the mountaineering industry. People
that go backpacking and camping in the wild are some of the most environment
friendly people you will meet. Companies
that make outdoor equipment have recognized this and started to make their
own clean and green products available in the market. The sleeping bag is
one essential piece of camping equipment that has benefited from
environmentally conscious upgrades.
Despite the push of many backpackers, hikers, and
campers to promote more sustainable development, outdoor products haven’t
been as conscious in the past. The
chemicals and materials used on sleeping bags for example have left more of
an ecological imprint than we can imagine. Certain
damaging substances have also been found in our bodies due to hi-tech
chemical treatments on material like Gore-Tex and Teflon.
Even natural materials like cotton
are not environment friendly due to the pesticides, dyes and fixers used on
them. Harvesting all the material
needed for these products is also taking its toll.
There are solutions to this however,
and outdoor companies are starting to use them.
One way is using material that has been recycled in
making parts of the sleeping bag. Used
polyester and plastic are currently being used as filling, shells, and
liners to make for “greener” bags. Some
sleeping bags are even 99% made of recycled stuff.
People are still working on that last
one percent, as zippers currently cannot be made from recycled material.
Cotton was mentioned as being un-ecological, but you
can actually choose sleeping bags made from organic cotton.
This helps because pesticides aren’t
used on these crops. To preserve more
plants and trees though, the use of hemp saves the environment because two
to three times more fiber is derived from the cannabis plant than most other
flora. It is a very durable material
that provides good insulation, making it perfect for sleeping bags.
It may have come under fire for its
association with marijuana, but hemp doesn’t contain enough psychoactive
substances to get you high.
Goose down is still being used as filling in some of
these green bags, as the collection of these feathers poses no threat to the
ozone. However, the slaughter or
torture of animals may also be seen as being adverse to the delicate balance
of nature. Some companies, realizing
this, have researched possible alternative methods of obtaining the down,
and discovered that molted down collected from mature geese provides much
better insulation, than down plucked from a poor young animal.
You don’t have to be a genius to see
this is a much better natural alternative.
Eventually, more manufacturers will discover that
sleeping bags can be mass-produced to be effective and reasonably priced
without destroying the environment.
Our responsibility is to actively support their efforts, and preserve
the only planet that we’ve got.
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