Step Four Action Blog Post:

1.) Where are you with your action?

This week my group and I completed another park clean up. It went pretty well and we had fun even with some challenges. This park clean up was the second one we did in Lafarge lake park. We circled the lake, the amphitheatre and the grass areas just behind that to pick up the garbage that we could within the time we were out there. Dorra, Itzel and I walked and cleaned for about an hour and filled our garbage bag about half way with miscellaneous small objects, such as masks, zip-ties, confetti and other things. Comparatively to last time we did not find as much trash on the ground, however we were still able to pick up a generous amount, especially considering that the majority of the objects were very small and consumed little space in the trash bag.
2.) What are some successes that you have had?

During this outing to Lafarge lake park the main success that we had was the amount of garbage cleaned. I realize that I often repeat this success when asked this question in past blog posts, but the way I look at it is every amount of garbage picked up is a success. Whether one clean-up we picked up a bit more or a bit less, it is still trash that is being properly thrown away rather than polluting our Earth and making our parks dirtier. Every park that becomes cleaner after someone picks up garbage is a success. Another small success is that unlike last time we collectively remembered all of the necessary supplies meaning we did not need to use our hands to pick up the garbage, we used gloves which is much more sanitary. Also unlike last time we were able to get everyone who physically could to come. Itzel, Dorra and I coordinated the meet-up and unfortunately Ceilidh could not make it because she is on vacation. But, it is still one more person who was able to make it compared to our last outings which is very beneficial. We were definitely more efficient with two people collecting trash and one person holding the bag. Hopefully we get even more efficient in the future and pick up even more garbage in a shorter period of time.
3.) What are some challenges that you have faced? 

A few challenges that we faced on our lean-up were rin and unforeseen construction. Since it is spring in Vancouver it does rain quite frequently. This makes a few things more complicated. First, the garbage that is on the ground gets soaked and often gets pushed into the dirt or grass making it harder to pick up and more difficult to spot. Another reason for this is when it rains the terrain becomes soft and muddy in some areas making it even easier for the garbage to get push into the ground. Despite this, we did the best we could to collect all garbage off the ground by being very attentive while walking and uncovering anything unusual we saw in the dirt. This strategy worked well for us seeing as we filled half the bag. Nonetheless, there probably was some garbage that was not visible to us due to the rain that we otherwise could have picked up. In addition, we did not realize that Lafarge lake Park was under construction before heading there to clean. This added a slight inconvenience as many of the sections we had planned on cleaning were blocked off. So, instead we simply worked around the construction and were even able to clean trash from outside the construction site area, this is where the garbage such as the zip-ties were coming from. In the end, we overcame these minor inconveniences and continued to clean Lafarge lake park.
4.) What are you doing next and why?

I am currently unsure of the exact location of our next clean-up, however we will definitely do one, if not two more clean-ups before the end of the school year. I hope that with the weather getting nicer this will help us be more successful in future outings. As for why, as I always say, the smallest clean-up makes an impact, and even if that impact is not big, it is still something being done to help our Earth. Especially because it is such a simple, yet effective task, I will continue to do these clean-ups, whether for Social Responsibility or on my own time. I encourage everyone else to do the same.