What is your acceptable ‘damage’ to the environment to get a shot?

CyberDyneSystems wrote in post #17501071
I felt like the attitude that this thread is about "whether you can walk on the moss, or break a twig" was going a little hyperbolic and off base... The concern and the realities being just a bit bigger than a twig.


Then I recalled this;

IMAGE LINK: http://jakehegnauer.ze​nfolio.com/p245759215/​e577f9ebe

IMAGE LINK: http://jakehegnauer.ze​nfolio.com/p245759215/​e577f9ed2

IMAGE LINK: http://jakehegnauer.ze​nfolio.com/p245759215/​e577f9f06

IMAGE LINK: http://jakehegnauer.ze​nfolio.com/p245759215/​e577f9ec6

http://jakehegnauer.ze​nfolio.com/p245759215/​e577f9eb4

Notice that boardwalk, look at it's scale , and in particular look at the last two pictures above.

If you know something about the galapagos Islands, you may already know where I am going.
In a nutshell, the eastern most islands are the oldest, they passed over the magma fields that formed the islands first, always drifting on the continental mass eastwards. The western most islands passed over this active magma field more recently, they are MUCH younger.
The eastern most islands are full of vegetation and diverse life that has adapted and evolved to be there for many more centuries than the younger islands.

http://jakehegnauer.ze​nfolio.com/p245759215/​e577f9f28

This is Bartolome Island, one of the very young islands.

In the Galapagos there are islands with forests and cities, and then there are islands like Bartolome, where life has only just begun to take hold in the crevices of the barren lava. (and yes there are islands younger and harsher than Bartolome as well)

In all cases you are asked to stay on the paths as to not disturb the wildlife, but here on Bartolome, they don't want you to set foot off of the boardwalk for very good reasons.
What you see in this image is the sum total of life as adapted to this harsh environment.

http://jakehegnauer.ze​nfolio.com/p245759215/​e577f9eac

We should not walk on this that is struggling so hard to survive.
We do not want to introduce anything from our shoes,
we do not want to disturb the process that is taking centuries to complete.
We are blessed to have the opportunity to witness this youth of an island, is it like NOTHING we see elsewhere,

it is unique.

DO NOT DISTURB.

I know, now we'll read the posts re: how we are already there and we already f'ed it up, ..

Well that can apply anywhere you chose to apply it. If so lets just not ever do anything to protect the environment and go back to choosing our under arm spray over the Ozone.

Frankly I think every positive effort any of us put into life is of value.
And we have to try harder.

As a wildlife photographer one of my goals is to try to educate and generate interest in these things that I hold so valuable to myself, in the hopes that some of that influence my translate into some tiny tipping of the scales towards a planet more hospitable towards the very wildlife I photograph.

If I'm trashing it while doing so, then what's the point?

Thank you.

Something that few people consider is that the lichen on the rocks in this photo I took 40 years ago is ancient, and is also very fragile. A careless step can kill decades of growth. Just because you are the only one around still doesn't always make it right.

Interesting reading the variety of responses. First post on this board. Would be similar to responses posed 2 decades ago. Some well considered responses that don't paint with black and white like those of the OP. Then not a few that seem to be rather rigid. Maybe because they have limited perspectives and experience?

None of us embrace human caused environmental damage because most people have positive attitudes about being good stewards on the planet. Besides at a public community like this they would be run off the board. Well not including the occasional delinquent juvenile trolling the board for reactions. And none wants to be beat up and flamed by an online community for unacceptable behaviors or attitudes. So from that standpoint some will pose answers they think an online community wants to hear without really speaking from experience. The rest reflect on their experience and post from what they know.

Thus the very urban person that has visited some parks occasionally seeing our parklands only from carefully designed pathways and roadside scenic viewpoints only remembers seeing signs at such places like,

"Please stay on trails."
"Take photos of but don't pick the flowers."
"Don't walk on the fragile soils."

And from that some will post herein the same like Person #1 below. As though that is the scope of natural environments...isn't it?

Person #1: I always stay on trails and only take pictures.

Then Person #2: I visited a natural area where visitors were able to walk anywhere.

Person #1: Oh really, the other person asked?

Person #2: Yes it was on a natural ocean beach and shore at low tide. We made footprints all over the sand.

Person #1: Well yeah, guess that is ok. I've only been to city public beaches as I'm a city person and we don't have any natural ones.

Person #2: And we climbed up on the boulders but it was pretty slippery with green slime so had to be careful where we stepped.

Person #1: Well I don't know about that. You know that green was probably algae and by walking up there you killed some.

Person #3: Yes it is true walking atop boulders would kill some algae and also billions of bacteria.

Person #1: Hmmm? Bacteria, do we have to worry about them?

Person #3: Well if you think so then never spit haha. And that green slime would be right back atop that rock again in a few weeks even if you took sandpaper to it today.

Person #2: So where do we draw the line? What about scaring the seagulls? Every time my little brother Jimmy dropped some potato chip crumbs they yakked up a storm and then pounced in as soon as he walked a few feet. And guess we don't have to worry about the sand flies as they seem to invite themselves as soon as we sit down haha. Some friends want me to join them on a Meetups.com group where we have to hike across some fields where there aren't any trails. Like would be stepping on all kinds of things, even bugs.

Person #3: Go ahead and do it and you'll learn some things that just make common sense.

Person #1: That sounds like fun, I'd like to do that too!.