On Wednesday, due to the Vesak holiday in Sri Lanka, we did not have school. To make the most out of our day, my Father, Grandmother and I all decided to go East to Delaware and walk along the Cape Henlopen state park beach. It was about an hour and a half long drive but was very worth it as we indulged in delicious subs and a taste lemonade.

But this day trip was not all fun and games. We also brought a long a reusable trash bag in order collect any trash that we see along our walk and hike in the trail behind the sand dunes. We were not entirely successful as the beach was quite clean due to restrictions of bringing outside food. The state park also decided not to provide any trash cans, forcing the visitors to take their trash back home with them.

With this failed attempt at cleaning up the beach, we decided to go back home and try to make an impact on a more local area. At the basketball court I play at (refer to post prior to this one), in Gateway Park, there is a lot of trash scattered around. Even though there are trash cans placed by the entrance of the park, nobody seems to take the liberty of actually disposing of their trash responsibly. I noticed this issue and reached out to my Grandmother. She gave me her trash collecting bag and some gloves and I went to work. I picked up around 15 bottles of Gatorade, 3 lighters, many plastic trays and some other forms of trash. When I got home, I put all of the plastic bottles and trays into the plastic recycling bin and disposed of the rest of the non-recyclable trash.

LO6: Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance

I demonstrated engagement with issues of global significance as my service was targeted towards reducing the impacts of pollution on the local ecosystem. This service is a baby step towards reducing the amount of habitat loss due to human impact but it also helps children in need as all of the recyclable plastic that we collect is going to be distributed to a local organization that repurposes the plastic into new benches for school kids.

LO7: Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions

I realized that the park was in bad condition and decided that I needed to help in any way that I could. By coming to this realization, I considered the ethics of my choices and actions by providing my service of cleaning the park up. I knew that this action would result in better plant life as the park is heavily forested but also improve the overall cleanliness of the park resulting in less pollution.

Supervisor: Anna Hurd & Andrew Hurd