1.)Where are you with your action? (e.g. what involvement have you had so far? Describe with examples)
I’m happy to say that so far, my group completed one ocean cleanup amongst many others we look forward to doing. We went out to Mundy Park in Coquitlam, BC after school, and wandered around the trail and even beyond the main trail looking to pick up garbage. We did this for an hour and a half. For the last half hour, we decided to go beyond the boundaries of the park because we noticed a lot of garbage on the main road. We decided to pick the garbage up there. Overall, it was a very successful first run. I am very happy with the outcome, and the small impact we made in our local community. We were aiming for one full bag of garbage by the end of the day, however, after completing our first cleanup, we came to an agreement that this is in fact not a realistic goal. We decided to minimize it down to 50 pieces of garbage per cleanup. I am very confident that we will be able to achieve this goal in the following ocean cleanup.
2.) What are some successes that you have had? Provide specific examples.
One of many successes that we achieved is that we were able to fill up a big garbage bag more than halfway in just an hour and a half. We considered this a success because the park was fairly clean. It belongs to the city so it is regularly maintained. In order for us to find garbage, we had to go off the trail into the actual forest. Even then, most of the pieces we found were very small. I think that if the pieces of garbage were bigger, the garbage bag would no doubt be filled to the brim. The pictures we took of the garbage bag at the end of the cleanup does not give it justice. We picked up around 80 pieces of garbage, but since they were mostly very small pieces, it does not reflect the actual amount. Furthermore, I consider it a success that my group was able to find a time in the day that works for everyone to go help out our community, as well as get started on our action. Overall, I consider our first ocean cleanup a major success, and I am looking forward to many more.
3.) What are some challenges that you have faced? Have you been able to overcome them? If so, how? Provide specific examples. If not, can you problem-solve some ideas that might work for next time or if a similar situation arises? Again, provide specific examples.
Every success comes with challenges. My group faced several challenges, but this did not discourage us. In fact, it pushed to keep persevering. Some examples of the challenges we faced is that firstly, the weather was not ideal for an ocean cleanup. On top of that, since we went emmideately after school, we did not have the right attire for this weather. We tried to work together to find solutions to our problems. It was a very rainy day, and we had to carry our backpacks on our backs. The problem was that we each had our laptops in our bags and they were starting to get wet. We decided to cover our bags with garbage bags. This worked relatively well, as we were able to keep going with the cleanup. Another example of the challenges we faced is that we got lost. We decided to go off the main trail as we were most likely going to find more garbage in the actual forest, and not on the main trail. We did not realize how deep in the forest we went, and we got stuck in there for a good 20-30 minutes. We eventually managed to find our way out, whch is good.
4.) What are you doing next and why?
We had our first ocean cleanup 2 weeks ago. Since we decided to do one every 2 weeks, we have one planned for this following week. Our plan is to try to go to a differennt location each time so we can cover more ground. This will increase the impact we make in our community. It also allows us to discover different areas of our community, without it being too repetitive. We chose to go every 2 weeks to accomodate everyone in our group. We all have very busy schedules, and it is usually difficult to make time. We disscussed and we came to the conclusion that going every 2 weeks is a reasonable amount.
Hey Dorra, great work on your active project; your group’s perseverance and dedication to your goals are great to see. Going out into the pouring rain and cleaning up a local green space is not something many people would be willing to do, so the fact that you all did is fantastic and demonstrates your love of the community. I look forward to reading your next update!
Hey Dorra! I’m glad to see that your action project is going well! Your group did an excellent job despite the whether being crappy these days. Thank you for doing do much for the community and I look forward to your updates!
Keep up the spirt!
xx
ronnie
Hey Dorra! It is so great to hear that your group helped our community and that you taught us something from it! I would love to hear updates regarding if you have been finding less or more garbage recently and whether our community is being nicer to our planet. Great job and I look forward to following you on this journey.