[pct-l] LNT and permethrin

[Marvin and Shirley Barg]

After being bombarded with LNT, permethrin and what not for the past weeks,
Grampa Kilt has welled up with enough emotion to add his 2 cents to the
debate. 

 

It seems to me that the overall tone of most LNT posts is that they are
written from a moral high ground perspective. The trouble with LNT is that
if taken to its logical conclusion, it means none of us can exist. I defy
anyone to leave no trace. Ask any dog to follow your 10s of thousands of
skin cells falling off your body on the trail, not to mention all the
chemicals, some not very nice, found soaking into the ground during pee
stops. And the very tread one walks upon, think of the carbon foot print it
took to make and currently maintain the trail. And the gear, the clothes.The
truth is that LNT is a continuum and not an absolute. My point is that the
LNT people with a moral superiority complex need to be called out on their
hypocrisy and on the other end of the spectrum, those that leave far too
much trace, need to be called to account for their boorish behavior. The
rest of us, should strive to leave as little trace as is reasonably
possible. Perhaps LNT should really stand for Leave Negligible Trace.

 

Now over to permethrin.  Are there no chemists among us to point out the
permethrin is synthetically made pyrethrum, an insect neurotoxin produced by
chrysanthemums?  The WHO lists permethrin as one of the essential
medications for basic public health. As far as chemicals mankind has gleaned
from plants, on the continuum of risk, it falls way south of willow bark or
pregnant mare's urine in our dihydrogen monoxide. End of rant.  Grampa Kilt