1) As my action project, I will be doing various oceanside cleanups around our community. I will be doing this project with other students in this class, which are Dorra and Chantal. We have already signed up as a cleanup group on the national organization of the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup. This organization helps us pick the areas that need it the most, as well as shows us the dates of when that specific area was last cleaned. As our plan, every two weeks, we will be bringing trash bags and tongs to pick up the most garbage we possibly can in order to positively impact the environment. We will clean up any garbage, recycling, and even compost that has not been thrown away or properly disposed of.
2) Nothing ever truly goes according to plan. That’s why it is important to remember that everything is complicated, and my action project will more than likely face many complications along the way. My group partners and I have already begun to discuss our biggest concern and complication about the weather. During this season we may experience rain, snow, cold conditions, and lots of wind. Therefore, any very harsh conditions will make it difficult for us to do our action project as it is outdoors and usually in colder areas. However, we believe picking a day with better weather and dressing for the weather will help us greatly with that problem. Another complication we find with this project is scheduling. Since we are a group of three, we all have different lives and different schedules of when we are available, so to find a day we can all agree on can be a small problem. Not only that, but we can’t control how much school work we get and how long it can take us to do. For example, if we have one day we have planned to clean upon, and someone found out they have a big test the next day, it’s completely reasonable to not be able to do it. However, I believe this might be our biggest roadblock along the way. Although we face many complexities, we are determined to overcome all of these complexities in order to complete and do our action project well and help the environment in our community!
3) Our action is sustainable for multiple reasons. Ocean cleanups can significantly reduce the concentration of plastic in the ocean patches and in polluted rivers. As ocean cleanups become more mainstream in our society and many people’s lives, more and more people are starting to help in their communities. Individually ocean cleanups make a small impact on our environment, but as a whole, consistent ocean cleanups have already started to create a big impact on our environment. Due to mass pollution and more plastic in our environment, there are many easy-to-access websites and organizations that help people with this process, just like the one we signed up for being the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup. One of the biggest ocean cleanup organizations is The Ocean Cleanup and their aim is to reduce 90% of the floating plastic pollution by 2040. That being the case, our action will help achieve that goal and create a big impact on our environment.
4) Ocean cleanups are definitely providing an opportunity. We decided to do this to bring more awareness to the importance of ocean cleanups and encourage people to participate. When we signed up for the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup it gave us an option of being a private cleanup group or a public clean-up group. We chose to be a public cleanup group so if anyone in our community is interested, they are able to come and help out! We will also be encouraging our friends and family to come and make a difference as well. Since we are doing this as a project, other students on butterfly effects will be able to read our posts, and since we have three people doing an ocean cleanup, there’s a bigger chance of more people learning about the importance of ocean cleanups. To guarantee that our project is making the best possible impact we will keep up with our consistent plan and ensure that we are cleaning up the areas that need it the most. The more people we bring awareness about ocean cleanups to and the consistency of our bi-weekly cleanups will have a greater positive impact on our community and the overall environmental well-being of the world.
My action project does not have an expert consultant helping us with our project.
Hello Itzel, nice post! I think what you’re doing is super cool and should be done far more than it is. Like other parts of our environment, our oceans are becoming more and more polluted, filled with microplastics, bottles, cans, masks, etcetera. Having people go out and contribute their time to clean up even a small part of our shoreline is a great thing! While it may be small, the difference you all are making is important for our oceans and the life within them. Keep up the great work!
Hi Itzel, that’s a great thing to do!
Plastic in the ocean is increasing each day. I always felt bad for the sea animals and wondered if I could do anything to help. I’m so glad someone stepping up. Your plan is very detailed and well thought of. Picking up garbage is such a good cause, but maybe we can also teach kids this too. As maybe they can help this cause when they’re older. Good luck with this action project!
Hey Itzel! I think this is such a cool and awesome idea. This is such an important thing to do for our environment. This great idea will help in many different ways. Also it will have such an impact on our earth and the animals on it. As well as it having an impact on the humans! I cant wait to follow you along with this journey! Good luck!
-Syd
Hi Itzel,
ocean cleanups are definitely a popular and very useful way to support the environment around us! I have done many ocean cleanups in the past and I can say that it makes such a huge difference to humans, nature, and the animals that live around there. I’m not sure if you have mentioned this before, but maybe next you can begin to take a closer look at which specific shorelines you could do the cleanup on. There are many beaches around us where families have large gatherings and barbecues, but don’t bother to clean up after themselves. Cleaning up on a popular beach is a much better use of your time than finding a remote area that less people know about.
Hope my advice helps!
Julie
Hello Itzel,
I love your idea for your action project. I really wanted to do something similar. I think your initiative can inspire others to clean up after themselves and pay attention to the garbage around them. The sustainability of cleanups is a little hard though because after this semester you will be done this project and will probably not be doing these clean-ups. Unless you think you can keep it going or continually inspire others to join you and continue when you are not, then this will not last forever. I still think it is very important though because the stats you provided showed the difference it made and I agree that it was significant! One thing I would suggest to make this as sustainable as possible would be to pick up garbage in your day to day life. That was it becomes a habit that it sustainable for life; for you and everyone involved.
https://www.thepersonal.com/blog/-/10-ways-to-reduce-waste-at-home
https://www.nature.org/en-us/about-us/where-we-work/united-states/delaware/stories-in-delaware/delaware-eight-ways-to-reduce-waste/
https://www.epa.gov/recycle/reducing-waste-what-you-can-do
Above are some links to how to reduce garbage pollution in your day to day life
Good luck!
-Shieva