*IMAGE COURTESY OF PENNSYLVANIA WILDS*
Whether you live in Lock Haven or not, if you live by a river, you most likely have seen trash floating on the surface or resting at the bottom. This is a problem which faces almost every river in America. To make matters worse, “According to the most recent reports, more than half of the lakes and rivers (in America) are considered ‘impaired,’ meaning that they fall short of standards for fishing, swimming, aquatic life and drinking.” (World Economic Forum.)
After reading this you might be feeling a few different ways.
– First: “DOWN WITH THE ENVIORNMENT!!! LET IT BURN!!!”
– Second: “That’s awful… Think of the children!” or
– Third: and most likely what most people feel. “Yeah I know about this stuff, but it is what it is”
I often fall into the third: the mentality of “yeah, I care about the environment, and I make sure to not litter or do anything to actively harm the environment, but what can I actually do to change anything?” “I’m not going to change much by myself, so why bother spending my energy to change things.” As Vincent Van Gogh points out, “Great things are done by a series of small things”
I can’t clean the river in a day (if I could trust me I would). However, by doing a little each week over time I will make a bigger impact. Imagine if others were to join me. If four or five people reading this said, “This guy’s got a point!” and went and picked up just two pounds of trash a week. Hey! Now we’re collectively picking up over ten pounds of trash every week! That’s 510 pounds of trash a year. Mind you with only two pounds of trash a week (If you find a TV, that’s enough for the next few weeks.) In ten years you will, with only 5 people, collectively remove 2.55 tons (5100lbs) of trash from the environment. Crazy right!? Now imagine many, many more people getting involved.
So what are some practical ways we can do that?
1. If you see a plastic bottle or a can laying around pick it up. If you see trash throw it away. Much of the trash which ends up in the river ends up there because the wind blows it in or it filters in through runoff water. Keeping trash off the ground can also contribute to the prevention of river pollution.
2. When you go swimming, be mindful of trash. If you see trash floating or at the bottom of the river, grab it and throw it away instead of throwing it out further into the river.
3. Volunteer with river cleanup efforts. There’s something about coming together as a community that inspires us to work together for a better cause. Volunteering with a local or regional effort to clean rivers is a great way to get involved, and you will collect more than your two pounds of trash for the week.
Rivers are a source of life, recreation, and beauty. By working together we can strive to keep them clean and thriving for generations to come.
