People Are Stacking Too Many Stones
newyorker.com
People Are Stacking Too Many Stones
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Re: People Are Stacking Too Many Stones
#2[deleted]
Re: People Are Stacking Too Many Stones
#3My "rule" for these kinds of activities is to ask myself, if every visitor to the area did this would it cause a problem? If so, for the most part, I refrain from doing whatever the thing is. I think this applies well to the rock stacking.
Unless you are marking an off trail route or a faint trail please don't stack rocks, its confusing or just vandalism.
Re: People Are Stacking Too Many Stones
#4 can cause erosion and damage ecosystems
If anything, it's an argument for the sake of arguing. It's almost perfectly illustrative of the perils of trying to get humans to cooperate and agree at all.
First of all, you have brick buildings. Second of all, you have open pit mining. Third, you have mountaintop removal. Fourth, highways. All of which are literally millions, if not billions or perhaps even trillions of times worse.
For reference:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-pit_mining
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountaintop_removal_mining
I mean, hey, maybe we shouldn't throw pennies in wishing wells, or Old Faithful for that matter, but seriously, if you're worried about this, I have another anxiety: shoes. The durable rubber soles of shoes actually leave imprints in sand, when people wear them while walking. Don't believe me? Try it yourself!
And what's worse? Astronauts used these appliances on the surface of the moon itself, forever contaminating the lunar landscape, previously pristine, and unfettered by human influence. A tragedy of the commons.
Re: People Are Stacking Too Many Stones
#5The article states:
"The calamity of the stone stack, in our anxious times, seems admittedly minor. But it’s a prominent example of how social media can generate scale, transforming an activity that would be mostly harmless in isolation into something with planetary impact."
Does this mean, if I do not see any other rock stacks in a national park, I can create my own, since there is no real harm unless it is done at scale? Or would that also be wrong, since even if I am doing only one, it might contribute to the next visitor also making one, and so on?
Re: People Are Stacking Too Many Stones
#6This is somewhat of a problem on mountain routes, where stack stones are sometimes used as navigational markers (cairns). The ethics of Leave No Trace say not to leave these cairns. Many times, people will put these up to aid others, but their route deviates from what could be a better/safe alternative. Or at least a different opinion on what one is. Then, you have two sets of cairns, each going off in its own way.
Until you get three sets.
This goes on, until no one can realistically understand what the cairns are trying to communicate.
Re: People Are Stacking Too Many Stones
#7can cause erosion and damage ecosystems Oh please. This is so far from an actual concern that I struggle to summon the energy to even shrug about it. If anything, it's an argument for the sake of arguing. It's almost perfectly illustrative of the perils of trying to get humans to cooperate and agree at all. First of all, you have brick buildings. Second of all, you have open pit mining. Third, you have mountaintop re…
> Oh please. This is so far from an actual concern that I struggle to summon the energy to even shrug about it.
I guess it should say, "locally". I don't disagree there's far worse things damaging the ecosystems of the world, but if there's a trail, and people keep hiking off trail to make rock stacks, that area will get damaged, locally.
It's like if someone built a path through your backyard. Great, there's a path you don't want, used by people you don't want in your back yard. But everyone likes it, as it provides a nice shortcut. Are the local authorities to shrug and say, "well, there's worse things", and cite its popularity, then point to your car? Or, should something be done?
Re: People Are Stacking Too Many Stones
#8It's surely unconscionable to write about stone stacking with nary a mention of Andy Goldsworthy!
Re: People Are Stacking Too Many Stones
#9The article states: "The calamity of the stone stack, in our anxious times, seems admittedly minor. But it’s a prominent example of how social media can generate scale, transforming an activity that would be mostly harmless in isolation into something with planetary impact." Does this mean, if I do not see any other rock stacks in a national park, I can create my own, since there is no real harm unless it is done at…
The latter, according to park personnel. Just because you don't see one doesn't mean someone hasn't already dismantled them all.
If you compulsively must make stack, then tear back it down and put the stones back before you leave.
Re: People Are Stacking Too Many Stones
#10can cause erosion and damage ecosystems Oh please. This is so far from an actual concern that I struggle to summon the energy to even shrug about it. If anything, it's an argument for the sake of arguing. It's almost perfectly illustrative of the perils of trying to get humans to cooperate and agree at all. First of all, you have brick buildings. Second of all, you have open pit mining. Third, you have mountaintop re…
>>can cause erosion and damage ecosystems
>Oh please. This is so far from an actual concern that I struggle to summon the energy to even shrug about it.
It is causing noticeable impact though. I recently went to Iceland which has had rapid tourism growth since about 2008. There is a place along Ring Road (the road around the whole island) where long ago, a rock was placed on a stack for good luck in their travels. [1] There's essentially one place where it's "tolerated" on the island for a reason that goes back hundreds of years. Even driving 20+ miles beyond the location, there were stacks of rocks off ~100 feet off the road. It really ruined the natural look.
Iceland has moss covering large chunks of the island. It takes something like 30 years for the moss to grow back. Simply stepping on moss can kill it, justifying the MANY messages about staying on the paths. Someone walked over 100+ feet of mossy rocks to stack rocks.
The rocks slow down the water flow rate and prevent the dirt from getting scooped up.
I don't know how else to say it, but it is a big deal.