Originally Posted by
Walter S
I think your outlook is admirable. Contrary to some of the accusations you've received here, I find that you want your freedom and you're willing to work for it to the extent that your work is dictated by nature, not people. For example, to get food you know that you need to expend the energy and earn money and/or forage, etc. You're not asking for everything to be served up to you just like you want it.
You got it. You work for what you get. You pedal for miles traveled. You carry your own tent and supplies to camp for free. You clean up after yourself and leave no trace. You do your own laundry. You build your own plumbing by digging a latrine (where applicable) or holding it until you get to a public bathroom. Animals do this work too, though they may not bury their droppings (though many do) and they can leave more of a trace. They also have a right to roam freely where they don't harm humans and their property, and people should respect that. Humans deserve the same respect.
But I also think that you're missing an important aspect of human society or more broadly, life itself. Life involves competition for resources. The fact is that you and I were born into a world that has billions of other people on it. All of these people have staked out their territory before we ever arrived. In my view, the planet was not "provided" at all. It is just here like the rest of the universe. It is not "free of charge". There's nobody to collect that charge. It just is.
Various European crowns staked out territorial claims on the new world prior to the US constitution. Then some people decided they didn't need to pay taxes to the British crown to live off the land in America. Indeed land and nature 'just are' but part of 'just being' is that there is no fundamental entitlement to charge others for using nature, unless there is some good reason to commodify something - as in the case of non-renewable natural resources.
For a long time before you and I were born, people staked out "their" property. Some areas are still public property and that's because societies have deliberately recognized that as appropriate and made it so. Be thankful for that! It's not true to the extent that I would like. But the world could be more unforgiving than it is.
Lovers of freedom can be just as unforgiving toward those who bully others who exercise theirs.
Morality was invented by humans, and (I think) is really based in the nurturing instincts of all mammals. But there is no absolute morality. Your morals seem to include the assertion that you should be able to roam and camp where you please. That would be nice but how are you going to convince the entrenched masses that it should be so? You were born into a world that doesn't work like you'd like it to. You have every right to struggle with these folks and try to get them over to your way of thinking. But after you manage to convince the people on BF about it you'll have a few billion more to convert too. I wouldn't give that good odds.
I don't want to get into a philosophical discussion about morality here but suffice it to say I disagree with you that it is relative.
I completely identify with your desire to camp freely. I very much want the same thing! I love the idea that I can have a free weekend of camping by raking some stuff out of the fridge and going to Dawson Forest which is some distance north of Atlanta where I live. Dawson Forest has free disbursed camping so I do this with no worry about getting caught. It gets a little old going there almost every time I camp locally. But that's the only place I know of around here where I can freely camp. I wish it were different. But OTOH I'm also quite thankful that Dawson Forest is there! It would not have to be so.
State governments should create no-trace biker/hiker camping permits that stipulate conditions for free overnight stays on public and/or private lands that protect land-owner participants against liability so that they can be free to offer the use of their property for hiker/biker camping.
The rules/stipulations would be things like maximum number of consecutive nights, curfews, noise prohibitions, fire prohibitions, conditions of legitimate eviction, etc. People who fail to respect their campsite could have their licenses revoked in the same way drivers' licenses are given points and eventually revoked. Private property rights should be honored but there should also be laws that facilitate availing of no-trace camping rights by private property owners as well as public land managers.
I also stealth camp sometimes and have to be more discreet then. Even though I'm never guilty of trespassing, I don't want to be woken in the night by an irate dude with a -g-u-n- ordering me off of his property. So I'm careful to go undetected.
Clear rights and responsibilities and a hiker/biker camping permit would be better than sneaking around in fear of armed assault, wouldn't it?