Are you gearing up for summer camping trips?  Then think about simple ways you can green your camping this summer.

Roy Scribner of CampingBlogger.net offers these 5 Green Camping Tips:

1. Take used camping gear.  “The number one thing that people who are getting into camping can do is to not run out and buy a bunch of new stuff. There is a ton of used camping gear out there – maybe a friend has some, or your parents, or Craigslist and no matter how “green” a new piece of gear claims to be, it can’t compete with something that has been previously manufactured.”
2. Camp close to home.  “Camping local is a great way to learn how to camp, because if you forget something, get cold, or get wet, it’s easy to pack-it-in and head home. Camping local is also a great way to camp more often, because you can escape on a Friday after work and still hopefully make the campsite before dark.”
3. Prepare your own food. “I don’t know what it is about camping, but many of our friends who normally have very healthy diets, suddenly turn into processed food junkies when we go camping! Processed food is garbage at home and it’s garbage in the backcountry – not to mention all the packaging garbage that usually comes with it. It’s easy to prepare great meals ahead of time and freeze them for camping.”
4. Do not feed the animals. “Feeding wild animals teaches them to rely on people instead of their natural instincts. This disturbs the natural order of things and the outcome is never good for the animal, so no matter how cute it is – just remember that you might be killing it by feeding it.”
5. Leave your campsite and surrounding area cleaner.  “This is something that I always impress upon my kids and the first thing we do when we arrive at our campsite is pickup all the old bottle caps and trash that’s lying about. We will do the same thing at the end of our trip, when all of our gear is loaded back into our car, to ensure the next campers will enjoy a clean site.”

Image courtesy of CampingBlogger.net