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A Spontaneous Quest: Local Litter Collection, Climate Change, and a Heart's Crucible Story at a Local School's "Nature" Park

My tried and true method of walking to recenter and focus myself was infested and corrupted by pests; a local, natural haven was obstructed and defaced by overwhelming litter. 

The issue of littering affects the aesthetics of our surroundings and poses a grave threat to the environment and wildlife. This morning’s impromptu litter collection at a local school's "nature" park not only cleansed the beautiful habitat but also sparked a wave of awareness in the community, so baby, it’s time for action.

Fist Box - 30 second search.
Abandoned School Supplies

What seems like arrogance to a simple act- a plastic bottle dropped to the floor to avoid walking an extra 10 feet- has long frustrated and perplexed me. I’m sure my track record isn’t without a mark or two, but the public ruining of a once enjoyed, peaceful, and thriving elementary school woods, peddled by feet to a disregarded beer box and surrounding piles of cans. 


After collecting and filling some boxes, discarded buckets, and flower pots, I was baffled at the volume of still-remaining rubbish and that most of my findings were alcohol cans and glassware. At a school. While other bottles were peaking out 10 years from underground, science supplies likely belonging to the school were cracked and left behind. Regrettably, I remembered seeing the glassware the Summer before the now-ending school year even began. I remembered thinking at that moment I should do something, but walked away and accepted defeat without a second thought. That image was since seared into my mind and a painful reminder of even our own strays from morals and beliefs. 


I can’t change what I’ve done, I thought, but I knew I could at least act now, not never. 


The garbage began piling in layers of documented 12 and 21-year-old celebrations. Cups and containers became new vessels for the transport of a never-ending mission. Despite remaining in the area, transfixed for another 30 minutes or so, walking away while garbage remained stung only almost as badly as the truth that most likely, nature would be trashed again within the Summer’s week. 


Intersection of humanitarian neglect

An act of seeming duty and casualness was interrupted and ultimately tainted by locals passing by. This was no show or affectation for public approval or expected involvement, let me make that clear. However, when a man recovering from tennis across the street simply said “thank you”, a sour punch hit my face to see an opening car door reveal a dumpster of a passenger seat. 


The punch hit hardest because I felt the force, too. No matter our commitment to our values, mistakes happen, and one so common as littering. Yet, I do not think it is hypocritical, only natural human error. I do however think, our awareness, pursuit of knowledge, and even out-of-body-seeming callings, are all culminations of our everyday choices and realizations. 


Now I certainly would love to, but am not, asking everyone to go grab a trashbag and head to a local river or meadow, I simply wish to remind myself and the world that even what we perceive as the most futile of disturbances can amplify or even attack the things we consider important. 

3rd search

Even if we don’t believe we can alter scientific expectations, I fear that jaded memories and giving up altogether is the likely cause of such common, world-changing lapses in judgment. 


It frustrates me that passion and conservation for the natural world is now commonly laughed off or considered illegitimate or delusional. 


I remember learning about thriving ecosystems in the now-tarnished outdoor classroom I was once blessed to have. While kids can now get samples of real-life negligence and “humanity”, they miss out on the not-to-be-taken-for-granted expeditions my elementary school peers and I embarked on to identify certain foliage or trees and fauna. Or to look at local nests or hatched robin eggshells that tantalized us like Tiffany’s.


It is sad for me to say I’m not exactly surprised- pick up your head next time you walk, and I hate to tell ya, you may feel repulsed after. Litter and pollution are not a problem I think will ever exactly be “solved”, but to contribute to such a dire, global emergency is hauntingly just adding fuel to our world’s ever-growing, dooming fiery hell of a future. 


It may be hard to face the crude details of reality, but doing so only keeps these bins perpetually full. Yet although, I'm haunted by contrasting images of a lush and plastic forest, they still drive me to repeat this weekly and even contact old my former club and organizations about the rotten treasure retired to our own educational institutions' backyards.

And now I await the installment of a recycling bin in the vecinity to at least try recycling some of these automatically waste-land deliverables.

Below are some organizations I have worked with through several years and continue to support and volunteer with:

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