Step 2 action post

As my action project, I will be doing many nature cleanups in our surrounding parks, public areas, and anywhere our community needs it. I will be doing these nature cleanups along with my two other classmates and friends in my class, this being Dorra J and Chantal M. We will be continuing our action project from last semester and planning to make a few changes as well. Since the weather will begin to get warmer soon, we believe there will be more trash in local areas, and therefore more of a need for nature clean-ups. Not only that but doing this action will be easier considering it won’t get dark so soon and there’s a greater possibility for more need for many nature cleanups. As our plan, we will be performing this action either weekly or bi-weekly (whenever our schedules allow us), for around an hour and a half in each location. We will have a large trash bag along with gloves to pick up the garbage and we will carry extras this time around. This semester we will not be registering with the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup for our nature cleanups as many groups already cleanup those specific areas and it becomes hard to coordinate. We plan to make a difference in our community by cleaning up the most trash, compost, and recycling that has not been disposed of properly to make our community cleaner!

After watching the TEDX talk, I learned that although you might have what you have imagined being a “perfect plan” many things can change. Therefore, most actions don’t always go according to the specific plan. I learned that I will have to keep an open mind and strive for solutions when problems arise during this semester’s part of my action project. My group and I have begun to discuss what our reoccurring problems were during last semester’s part of our action. To solve these complications we plan to communicate more frequently and to the best of our abilities as well as set more dates that we are available to get together and complete our action. However, our biggest concerns still remain in the process of scheduling. Since we have different classes, clubs, and extracurricular activities we found it very difficult to find days we had time to complete our actions. Not only that but, there are many times where something else can come up, for example, a teacher gives more homework than usual or announces a quiz for the next day or there’s another club meeting and we have to attend. These are things out of our control, which we will have to take into consideration when planning ahead. Therefore, we all agreed it’s perfectly fine to cancel whenever is needed, either for school, mental health, or stress overall. Although we face this constant roadblock, we are determined to overcome any complexities which we will be facing in order to achieve our goals of helping out the environment in our community!

Nature clean-ups are very sustainable! Nature clean-ups are an amazing way to connect with the environment, go on a walk to relax and benefit your community. Also, nature cleanups have been creating more traction with many articles and websites/groups many can be a part of to join nature cleanups. Individually nature cleanups can make a small impact on our environment but as a whole, more and consistent nature clean ups can lead to a greater impact. Due to mass pollution in our air and on our earth, many species of wildlife have been affected. For example, there are many organizations fighting this type of pollution for wildlife specifically such as World Wildlife Fund Canada and Wildlife Habitat Canada. With our nature cleanups were hoping that there is less trash in nature for these species to thrive and to avoid potentially dangerous for wildlife in there environments such as parks or forests. For example, reducing the amount of plastic so a deer does not accidently eat it thinking it’s food. Overall, nature cleanups are easy to do, with little supplies to be used and its decently easy to find locations which need the cleaning.

Nature cleanups certainly provide more opportunity. My group and I have decided to do nature cleanups because it brings more attention to the importance of pollution and the need for nature cleanups as well as to encourage more people to do this! We will constantly encourage more people to join in on this action by speaking from experiences, sharing stories and encouraging our own friends and families to participate. Although, it might sound boring it’s a lot more fun than it seems, think of it as a way to spend time with nature while you contribute to your community. Especially if you bring a friend, it can easily turn into many fun conversations as you walk and clean. Since other students read and comment on our blog posts, and my group is composed of three, meaning that there is a greater possibility for more people to read them, we encourage the students on butterfly effects to join us this action! To guarantee that our action is making the best possible impact we will be keeping up with our consistent plan and ensure we are cleaning the areas which need it the most. The more people who participate the more of an impact we will achieve! During our nature cleanups we hope to make a greater impact in our community and the well being of wildlife in our parks and forests!

At the moment we don’t have an expert, however, we are looking into companies we can work with and awaiting a response for one of them.