What is the environmental impact of your fun?

Most people don't consider the environmental impacts of the leisure activities they participate in, but each activity has an impact. Some impacts are small while some can be significant. Let's take a look at some of San Diego's popular activities and how they affect the environment. 

The Beach

Going to the beach is a tricky one environmentally as some people have no impact while others create significant waves (pun intended). The no impact group probably looks like someone local with their own beach equipment that uses bamboo mats to lay on (vs. towels that require washing and drying). They pack their own food in reusable containers. The high impact group on the other hand buy one-time use equipment, buy food in containers and most of it ends up in the garbage can (or the sand!) at the end of the day. 
Reduce your impact at the beach by renting equipment and choosing restaurants that use recyclable containers.

Padres Game

San Diego's last remaining professional sports franchise draws a lot of excitement to locals and visitors. Win or lose the amount of waste produced at these games is staggering. The team of course uses tons of resources to keep the park pristine but there isn't anything a fan can do to curb that and the team does its best to use green technology to reduce the upkeep impact. Fans should remain mindful of the trash they produce at the game and consider how you get to the stadium. The best way to reduce your impact for a baseball game is to take the trolley to the stadium. Driving, and especially circling/idling for parking, has a huge significance on the environment each time the team plays at home. 

Water sports

San Diego's bays are a great place for water sports from stand-up paddle boards (SUPs) to jet skis and more. This one is obvious but activities like sailing, SUPing, or fishing are very low impact on the environment while jet skis and other motorized water vehicles use lots of gas, give off fumes and other fluids that end up in our air and in the bay. These activities are a lot of fun and shouldn't be shunned, but next time you want to get on the water you can reduce your impact by opting for a human-powered option rather than one with a motor. 

Escape Room (A Quicksand one of course...)

An escape room is a no-brainer for people looking for a low-impact-on-the-environment activity. We are an indoor activity so we do consume electricity but we do everything we can keep our energy-use low. Like most escape rooms, we keep the rooms relatively dim and the bulbs we do use are LED. Many light bulbs have been with our company since day 1. Also, escape room are, by nature, reusable. The props move around but unlike, say, axe-throwing, that requires new wood targets per group, or golf which guzzles water to keep the greens green, we use the same materials over and over. We do need to replace props every now and again, but we do everything we can to create durable, resilient, clues that stand-up to constant use. More, when we build new rooms, the vast majority of the furniture we use is pre-owned and restored (or reverse re-stored depending on the scenario!). 

Don't feel bad if you came to San Diego to jet ski or play a round of golf, but always keep in mind that everything we do has an impact on the environment. Sustainability is important in all aspects of life, even the fun ones.