This summer I started testing the water quality at a local lake for the first time. Once a week I packed a test kit into a canoe and paddled out to record new data points. The kit allowed me to test the alkalinity, hardness, and chlorine content of the lake. These indicators help very clever people understand how well the lake is buffered against changes in pH, and whether or not it's been contaminated by treatment plants. There are all kinds of living organisms that rely on a fine balance in the water that I was testing. Using those places for recreation requires that we exert a duty of care to make sure that they are well preserved, and that these creatures can continue to persist.

When I was out in the canoe I "drew" hearts, and maps, and wrote words for friends with my Strava lines, but my favourite was a "drawing" of a dragon. I think that if the Ogopogo or Loch Ness were real (I so wish they were), they would be good stewards of their environments.