By: Diane Dye Hansen

The principle of Leave No Trace is in use on trails, in the public parks system. It’s also one of the 10 Principles of Burning Man. This weekend, after the Nevada Day festivities, record amounts of trash laced our streets. I can’t ignore this fact. When a person has a voice and an audience, I believe it is their personal responsibility to speak up. So, this week, in a personal and business context, I want to talk about what it means to Leave No Trace.

To Leave No Trace is to leave something better than when you found it. It isn’t just picking up your own garbage. That is the idea in a surface level way. It’s to improve everything we touch. I try to do this as a coach. I make my best effort to leave people better off than when I found them.

So what does this have to do with Nevada Day? Everything. Sunday, I woke up to social media channels filled with laments about trash in our community. The blame game started. “It was the visitors.” “It was everyone drinking.” “Where were the trash cans?” “What could the Nevada Day Committee do?”

If you buy into Leave No Trace, which many of us do. We know that it starts with one person, ourselves. If I want to leave something better than I found it, I act to make that so. I don’t walk past a suffering person. I help. I pitch in. If I am filled with passion, I enlist others to do the same. I do not stand by and say. Wow. It’s sad there’s trash all over Carson City. Let’s see who I can blame. I say, OK. What action can we take so next year we don’t have this issue? What can we do now to clear the trash? How can our community mitigate the side effects of our cities’ popular celebration? How can we honor and educate people who drive hours to attend Nevada Day?

I am sad I wasn’t there this year to be by your side. My best friend of 17 years got married this weekend and I needed to be here for her. But I have been far from unplugged. I know what happened in my beloved Carson City. I am committed to reaching in and being there for you in whatever way I can.

So, if there’s a clean streets committee forming for next year’s parade, count me in. Please let me know if the city needs a consultant to develop a campaign to install the principle of Leave No Trace. I’m here to serve. I am here to leave it better than I found it.

This week’s exercise: Leave a place, person, or project better than you found it. Do this in a conscious way. Do this when you would have walked on by. Pause to feel the good you have created in the world.

What Works Coaching
Diane Dye Hansen is the Chief Inspiration Officer of What Works Coaching, a business coaching and marketing services firm based in Carson City. She has 20 years of experience working with top corporations, growing businesses, motivated entrepreneurs, and individuals hungry for a fresh start. Diane holds a Bachelor’s in Business Administration and Marketing from Cal State San Bernardino. She is also a candidate for a Master’s degree in Communications Management from the University of Southern California. Her column appears every Monday, and sometimes Tuesday, in Carson Now.