Let's ban stone stacking

Ever since we went to Canada in 2008 I've been an inuksuk enthusiast. Or to put it another way, I love stacking stones.

So imagine my shock when I read this article on the BBC website this week asking if rock stacking should be banned. 

According to the founder of the Blue Planet Society it is becoming a worrying trend and ruins the scenery and environment. Hmmm. He also says it could be confusing because in the past stone stacks have been used for waymarking. 

I think it's highly unlikely that a walker these days would be relying solely on stone stacks to find his way and most of the stone stacks I've seen have been in open areas, such as on beaches or mountain tops, where a waymark isn't needed so that seems a bit picky.

As for the damage to the environment, when I make a stone stack I am only doing what nature has always done: rearrange itself. The landscape is constantly being changed by the wind and the tide. (And apart from anything else, any construction of mine is not likely to survive more than an hour or so.)

So I shall continue to make my stacks.

But the really interesting part of the article is the bit about the stone-stacking championships - not for me; as I said my stacks are temporal in their glory - and workshops for schoolchildren, where even those with normally-limited attention spans can become deeply engrossed. What a fabulous idea and what a job! Why was stone-stacker not an option when I was considering a career?! I could have done that.