Boondocking = Green

You’ve undoubtedly already made the connection between boondocking and a non-polluting, non-wasteful, natural resource saving, green lifestyle. About the only non-green activity associated with our green lifestyle is getting our rigs to our campsites. The mileage thing.

Manufacturers, however, are taking steps to reduce their waste and use of natural resources, and using sustainable materials in the manufacture of our motorhomes, trailers, and fivers, as well as now building smaller motorhomes with smaller engines. Winnebago’s Navion and View Class C motorhomes are producing mileage figures in the 15 to 19 mpg range. Freightliner has developed the first hybrid-electric Class A chassis, a mileage saving combination that became available toward the end of 2009.

Other chassis makers are testing electric and diesel hybrid combinations for commercial busses and delivery van fleets. These too will eventually filter down to the RV market. But given that our rigs, whether driving or towing, are not now miserly in the use of fuel, we are still conservative in our total fuel used since we usually go to a place and stay for a few days, rather than drive—or commute—everyday. Even though a passenger car will get higher mileage, a daily commuter drives more miles and in the end uses more fuel.

But what about the rest of RVing and the green lifestyle? When camping, we use fewer natural resources than when at home. The rig uses less heat to warm up the smaller interior, we use less water, less electricity for lights, a smaller refrigerator, microwave, and TV, unlike all the more power hungry electrical appliances and toys that we use in our frame houses.

We also tend to be more wasteful in our stick house when we don’t have to be concerned with running out of water, or filling up our holding tanks, or our batteries going dead. Try following some of the habits the next time you go boondocking that you follow at home--like not turning off the water between soaping and rinsing in the shower, or turning on all the lights, radio, and TV and leaving them on even when no one is using them, and see how long before your systems prove inadequate. When is the last time you had to cut down on water usage at home because your holding tanks were almost full? When you don’t have a sewer, you learn to use less very quickly.

Yes, boondocking—in fact all of RV camping—is far more environmentally friendly and much less wasteful than living in fixed housing with unlimited and too-easily obtained electricity, water, waste disposal, and trash pick-up. When boondocking we are, by the very nature of the lifestyle, forced to conserve and use less.

Learn more about boondocking with my new eBook, BOONDOCKING: Finding the Perfect Campsite on America’s Public Lands.