Blog Post 5

1.) Where are you with your action?

My group and I have done 3 nature cleanups this semester. In total, we completed around 6, but I can’t really remember. For this cleanup, we decided to go to Glen Park. A location we have never been to. It was a nice park, with a playground, an open field, and a little forest. We managed to clean the entire park as it was not as big as the other ones we’ve been to. In the end, we were able to fill our garbage bag up 3/4 of the way. This was a very good amount, considering the size of the park. We did a very good job, and it felt really good to leave the park garbageless.

2.) What are some successes that you have had? Provide specific examples.

I think this cleanup was a very big success. In my opinion, the biggest success was the amount of garbage we were able to collect. The fact that we left with the garbage bag 3/4 of the way full made me classify this cleanup as a success. Another success that we have not been able to accomplish in our previous cleanups was cleaning up the entire park. We tried not to leave any pieces of trash behind, no matter the size of them,  This park was relatively smaller than the other ones, but we still count it as a success. Another success was that all the group members were able to come and help out. This made us work more efficiently since we had more hands. The last success was the weather. In all of our previous cleanups, the weather was always pretty bad. This was the first cleanup of the year where the weather was not bad. This definitely made the cleanup a lot more enjoyable. It also allowed us to stay out for a longer period of time.

3.) What are some challenges that you have faced?

This was one of the few cleanups where we did not face many challenges. I think part of the reason for this is that we’ve done many cleanups now. We’ve tried different approaches, we learned what works best and what doesn’t really work. We have also learned from our previous mistakes. Some of those mistakes were: not dressing appropriately for the weather, not bringing all the materials necessary, not being able to make it out to the cleanup and the list goes on. This allowed us to work a lot more efficiently, with the least amount of challenges possible. If I had to pick a challenge for this cleanup, it would probably be trying to find a suitable location to cleanup. Also, getting all of the members of our group together. We chose Glen park because we wanted a new location, something different.

4.) What are you doing next and why?

Since the class, as well as the school year, is coming to an end, my group and I decided that we are going to try to go out for one more cleanup before the end of the school year. As I previously mentioned, we’ve done about 6 cleanups in total. We tried to do each one at a different location. Some of the cleanups were done at the same location, but we cleaned up different parts of it. Although we’ve only done 6 cleanups, I truly believe that we did make an impact in our community, regardless of the size. I’m really proud of my group and I for staying consistent with our action project, and really caring about our community and its well-being of it. Hopefully, we will be able to squeeze that last cleanup in before summer!