My heart sank when I came across this while descending Little Roseberry. Now call me a killjoy but is this really necessary in a National Park, “our most breath-taking and treasured landscapes”. It’s only a painted pebble left in a prominent place and asking finders to post photos to a Facebook page. A craze from America, harmless enough, effective in involving the kids in our countryside, and this one is to raise awareness for the Grace Kelly Childhood Cancer Trust, a very worthy cause but I do wish parents would consider the wider perspective. If the whole face of Roseberry were to be painted it would undoubtedly be classed as graffiti, as vandalism. Is this really any different apart from scale? All forms of graffiti, even if seemingly minor, disturbs the natural environment for other visitors.
And then there’s the question of the ecological impact. Now I don’t know much about paint but I suspect it is not natural and probably acrylic-based, a form of hydrocarbon, which will over time wear and erode ending up in our seas and contributing to the microscopic plastic nurdles in the food chain.
So what do I do with this rock? I did leave it there but do I go back, treat as litter, taking it home to put in the bin to end up in the council landfill?
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