What will be your role in the community of environmental citizens?
Earth camp has opened my eyes to things I never bothered to look at. Its true that it is easier to live life in ignorance as appose to making informed decisions. I never really thought about what happens to my trash after I put on my sandals and walk out side to the garbage bins. I threw the bag of guck in a large metal box and later that week, a huge truck would come by with the initials WM painted on the sides and haul the garbage away. I knew the thrash would be taken to a land fill, but I never imagined the amount of trash that was being pilled into that landfill. Trash is a big problem at are school. Teens don’t think about where they’re trash is going, if they even bother to pick it up. We have a recycling system at our school; however, not many people know about it let alone pay any attention to it. I hope that when I get back to school I will be able to open the eyes of more students. I plan to join the committee in which our schools waste management is in charge of.
Another goal that I have in the society of the environmental public is to spread as much of the information I obtained as possible to the gardening club at my school. I am hoping that we will be able to learn from my experiences and we will be able to make more positive impact decisions. Such as not only checking what kind of plants can grow in our desert environment, but what kind of environment those plants will create. Also, I hope to create a way to compost foods from the hundreds of scraps left over from lunch that can also go to soil in the garden. I know these things could be challenging, not only with the school board, but with the student body as well.
One thing that I will do as soon as I return home without having to wait for the school year to start is I am going to join an animal shelter associated with the defenders of wildlife. We volunteered at O’Malley’s bar and grill for an all ages rock the earth event which defenders of wildlife was a big part of. I signed up to receive news letters about what is going on and what I can possibly do to help. I decided that this wasn’t enough. I don’t want to sit around waiting and twiddling my thumbs, so I am not going too. When I go home I am going to volunteer at a shelter where a friend of mine (Danielle Khambholjia) works. She has told me wonderful things about it and they have even already saved a species of bullfrogs who were in danger of losing their habitat. I am going to become a member of their crew.
I have learned that not everyone will accept the decisions I will make. During some of our Earth Camp challenges, we would get some of the strangest looks from people. Some were just totally blank stares when we asked someone to do something “out of the ordinary,” no aluminum foil on are burritos or reusing the same pizza box twice. Another thing that seemed questionable was using a cloth napkin for as many meals as possible, tucking it back into our pockets each time a meal ended. I know not everyone will support mw in what I will try my very best to do, but Earth Camp has thought me that that’s ok. Sometimes people will be brutally cruel, but in the end the cause of what I am doing will be worth it. It will be in attempts to reduce not only my eco footprint but that of others as well, so “its all good.”