1.) Provide a summary of the action you are planning and how are you going to start.
The action project that my group and I will be doing are cleanups in our area and community. This will be a continuation of our action project from last semester. Our group right now only consists of Dorra, Itzel and I who will be going out and doing the clean ups. Just like last semester, we will organize ourselves and ry to go out every two weeks to different locations in our area to pick up as much garbage as possible from our environment. This will require gloves, tongs, and garbage bags, all of which we still have remaining from our previous work. Because this project is not new to us, it will be easy to start up again and continue to create a cleaner environment in our community. We also hope to broaden our reach this semester by potentially getting more people involved to be more effective. We have not sorted all the details yet about when we are going to start or how we are going to expand our reach, but we most definitely will get these things figured out and begin our cleanups in Coquitlam.
2.) One lesson in the talk is that ‘Everything is complicated’. Can you explain some of the complexity that you will face in your action?
There are many complexities when doing this action project as we have learned from last semester. The first, is arranging our schedules to allow time for us to do these cleanups. Especially if we collaborate with more people, this will prove to be quite difficult in the future. The next factor is weather. The conditions have already began to warm up, which is a great thing for us since snow was very difficult to perform cleanups in, but it still may present challenges. For example, in the Spring it may be raining very heavily, or in the Summer it may be unbearably hot. Not to say that we cannot do the cleanups under these conditions, it just adds an extra layer of complexity to our outing. It is also possible to forget supplies, have something break, not have an efficient way to reach our desired spot, someone getting lost or hurt. These are all plausible scenarios which can and some of which did happen during our cleanups. However, these situations only tested and improved our problem solving skills last semester. This is an incredibly important skill and one that is needed no matter what you are doing. I look forward to a facing a complication so that we are able to overcome the obstacle in our path and become wiser for it.
3.) Is this action sustainable? Provide some specific examples to support your reasoning.
Many people associate sustainability with making environmentally good choices, however this is only one of the definitions. Which is the (1) “avoidance of the depletion of natural resources in order to maintain an ecological balance.” The other definition of sustainability is “the ability to be maintained at a certain rate or level.” This action project covers both areas making it very sustainable. We are in fact reverting or at least aiding the depletion of natural resources by picking up trash that may otherwise end up in streams, rivers, or simply remain on the ground polluting rather than decomposing. We are contributing to the ecological balance in our community rather than taking away from it, which is very sustainable. Our cleanups are also sustainable when talking about the second definition. People have been doing cleanups for decades now and the act is only becoming more popular. As the effects of climate change have become more imminent, more people around the world have begun doing cleanups by themselves or in groups. This dedication can be seen especially at environmental event. (2) Last year in 2021, September 19th was National World Cleanup day. On this day, more than 8.5 million people in 191 countries joined the event to cleanup their communities around the globe. If this was just one event, imagine the amount of cleanups taking place around the world year-round. This proves that cleanups have maintained and even increased their reach, making it sustainable. Therefore yes, this action is very sustainable.
4.) Is this action providing opportunity? How will you ensure you are making the positive impact that you intend?
Right now this action is only Dorra, Itzel and I working together to create as much of a difference as we can in doing our cleanups around the city. However, we are looking into how to expand our reach to get more people involved and make more of an impact. Once we figure this out, we will set out to accomplish as many cleanups as we can. This may mean doing them every two weeks or whenever we can. The important factor is to keep doing the cleanups so that we clen not only one area of our community, but multiple and allow it’s population to enjoy the cleaner parks, forests and rivers. We will also reuse the materials that we can so we are not contributing to the waste. This would mean to reuse our gloves and tongs for the many actions to come. Lastly, one of the most important things we can do is educate ourselves. Educate ourselves on the different types of recycling, where there is the most garbage and the most efficient and effective ways to clean these areas. We will do everything in our power to ensure that this action creates a positive impact within our community.
At this moment we do not have an expert to consult with about our action. We may find one later on, or we may simply educate ourselves and do our best without the guidance of an expert. Last semester we did not have an expert and we were still able to accomplish a lot.
Resources:
(1) https://www.lexico.com/definition/sustainability
(2) https://www.worldcleanupday.org/about
