RE: [Philmont]: Trash Compaction

Some would argue that by encouraging trash compaction that Scouts are being
environmentally unfriendly as it takes longer for ultra compacted trash to
decompose in a landfill.

I think that more importantly, the 3rd point of the Scout law applies. A
scout is helpful. By briging up 2 days of trash in a club cracker box
instead of a trash pillow, a scout his helping the staff by not filling up
their trash storage. Have you ever had to eat and cook in a kitchen with
bags of trash piled in it? Not fun or healthy.

Compacting trash is fun. Have the crew turn it into a game of some kind. I
remember when crews of 12 would compact their entire breakfast in a cereal
box. A good test to see if the trash is well compacted is to drop it on the
ground if it bounces then it is compacted. Otherwise it just floats to the
ground and lays there. It became such a normal way of life for me that when
I got home, I would continue to compact trash (and do one piece trash) while
at home. You get strange looks from your friends when at lunch you are
stuffing everyone's trash into a french fry or drink container :)

Someone asked how it could be considered hazing. Some staff have been
stupid and haze the scouts about trash not being compacted enough when it is
clear that they have already spent time compacting it. My favorite is when
an advisor comes up on the porch early in the morning to leave the trash
from breakfast. "We are in a hurry to get out of camp so we didn't have time
to compact it" as they hand you a trash pillow. Of course they get angry
when you say it is not compacted well enough. Too bad. It is these advisors
that let little incidents like this ruin their trip and write a manafesto on
their final Philmont evaluation as to how their experience was ruined by one
little incident. Philmont tends to oil every wheel that squeaks, not just
the one that squeaks the loudest.

I was very happy to see how Mark Waggoner saw the whole picture of his
crew's experience and that he had a great time. You got to keep the whole
experience in perspective, not one little incident.

In closing, you can let your crew strive for mediocracy by turning in trash
pillows or you can encourage them to be better scouts helping the staff by
compacting the trash from the crew. Even if you don't turn it into
ultradense matter that creates its own gravity field, atleast put some
effort into it.

Jason
><>
Retired Ranger

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As you gather around this virtual campfire with fellow
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Received on Wed Jul 9 09:38:32 2003