Earth Day is one of my favorite days of the year! I am always so excited to celebrate the earth we live on and try to promote and educate on everything that makes up a green living lifestyle.
In the nicer months, my exercise routine consists of running to and from my house to the gym. Its just over a mile run and every time I go, it seems that there is more and more garbage piling up along the way. I thought wouldn’t it be great to organize something this Earth Day to clean it all up?!
I started my adventure by getting a permit from Erie County to allow us to work on the road. Once that was set, I could start recruiting my volunteers. I had a great response from family and friends, and despite the crummy weather, we had a decent turnout and a successful clean up!
Here’s a recap of what went down:
In a .2 mile stretch of Wehrle Drive, seven bags of garbage were collected along with a ream of carpet during our earth day cleanup. Here is a list of just some of the items that were found:
-a ball of yarn
-a truck bumper
-spray paint cans
-a tub of car oil
-a towel
-countless cigarettes and cigarette packs
-countless soda/beer cans and Tim Horton Cups
-four (dirty) diapers
-computer parts
-hats, socks and a pair of boxers
-other things so gross I can’t bring myself to type
If this much is collected in a .2 mile stretch of one road, one town, one country think of how much garbage is spread all across this beautiful earth we call home. Each and every one of us needs to take a serious look at how we treat our earth, what we call “garbage”, where that trash actually goes once it leaves your home, and how we can reuse items. The disposable life we have created is not sustainable for a earth with clean air, land and water; all things we not only like to enjoy but need to survive.
The next time you go to throw something away please think if it is really trash or if it can be recycled. If it is definitely trash, please be a kind human and find a can.
Thank you to everyone who came to our Earth Day clean up! We appreciate your efforts more than you know!
As always, remember to reclaim, reuse and upcycle!
