Zach Gilford is Bringing Backcountry Rules to the Big City

 

For three seasons, the rabid fans of Friday Night Lights have followed Zach Gilford from heartbreak to triumph and back. And in the forthcoming Sundance darling Dare, the Northwestern-trained thesp finally puts his bedroom eyes to work, playing the object of two teenager's affection. Off-screen meanwhile, Gilford has been seduced by the great outdoors; for several years, he's been leading backcountry trips for teenagers in his spare time. Here, he gives us his wilderness tips for the big city.

How long have you been working as a backcountry guide? And how did you get into doing that?

I went to summer camp, as a kid, and wound up getting really into the outdoors. So, I guess it's been six or seven years now that I've been working with Adventures Cross-Country; same basic idea as Outward Bound, but just during the summer and just for high school kids.

Do you find that working with kids forces you to be more conscious of your own behavior, eco-wise? 

I’d like to think I can inspire these kids the way my own trip leaders inspired me when I was their age. And it is my job to set a certain kind of example. Like, we’ll be walking through the woods and I’ll see a piece of trash, and it’s my job to say, "Well, it sucks that someone did that, and now I’m going to pick up that trash, and carry it around in my pack until I can dispose of it properly." And that way, that trash won’t be here anymore. There’s this principle, outdoors: Leave no trace. Outdoor ethics. Those backcountry rules have been drilled into my head. Now I’m trying to pass them along.

Read more of Zach's interview after the jump.

To get Zach's eco-friendly style, shop the Alternative Earth collection.

Do those rules have any application outside of the woods? Can they work in, say, L.A.?

I mean, on the simplest level, it’s like, don’t spit your gum on the ground. One of my friends will do that—we’ll be walking around, and I’ll go over and pick it up. I mean, how hard is it to chew a piece of gum for a couple extra minutes, until you find a trash can? Not that hard. More generally, I think living in a tent for five or six weeks in a row instills you with a pretty deep respect for nature. Out there, you can keep your carbon footprint pretty small—not zero, because you’re breathing—but you can minimize. And one of the ways you minimize is you plan ahead and prepare. If you’re going camping, make a plan in case it rains, so that you don’t have to cut down a bunch of trees to make a shelter. That’s common sense, and it absolutely applies to life in the city, it applies wherever you are. Buy a reusable water bottle. Pack a lunch. Reuse your tinfoil. Bring a sweater. And do your research! That’s a big one.

What do you mean, "do your research?"

It’s like, I just bought my own house. And as much as I’d like to install solar panels, I can’t afford to do that right now. But I can find out from my energy provider whether they carry a green option, and when I buy something like a new refrigerator, I can make sure it’s energy-efficient. You look for the little Energy Star logo, it’s not that big of a deal.

Are there things you'd like to do, to be more green, that you find a challenge in your daily life?

Well, I do live in L.A., so obviously I’m in and out of the car all the time. That’s unavoidable. But the driving isn’t quite as unavoidable as people make it out to be. I’ve gotten to a point now where I’m like, riding my bicycle, my foot-pedaled bicycle, is usually a faster way to get somewhere than driving my car. There’s no traffic. The only problem is, if I’m going to an audition or something, I can’t show up all hot and sweaty. But now, even if I’m meeting my agent for lunch, I’ll call and say, do you mind if I’m all nasty and sweaty? I think I’m going to run there. There are times when I’m going someplace, and I’ve got all the time in the world to get there, the only reason I would drive is that I’m too lazy to ride my bike. My big thing is, never let laziness be the excuse.

Comments

[Liana]

Great interview! I'm a big fan of Friday Night Lights and can't wait for the next season. Zach is such an amazing example and for teens.